July 10, 2007 – Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
July 10, 2007 – It’s mid-July and the June ACT and SAT scores have been sent. AP scores are trickling in. At this point a lot of students are saying to no one in particular, “I would like to apply to one of the UC’s, which require SAT-II’s, but I didn’t even know there WAS an SAT-II Single Subject exam in such-and-such an area. Why didn’t anybody tell me? Why didn’t anybody tell me?? Arrrggghhh!!” Well, it’s probably too late to worry about that now. If you took biology as a freshman, someone might indeed have told you to take the Biology exam in the spring of freshman year. If you aced US History as a junior, someone might indeed have told you in advance to take the SAT-II in that subject in the spring. But”they” didn’t. So we move on.
What now? First, don’t despair. Whereas most of the Single Subject exams are best taken at the end of the academic year, some can be taken at almost anytime. Literature, for instance. And, if you are fluent or near-fluent in French, German, or Spanish, the Listening exams for these languages are offered in November (and November only). If you wanted to take the Math I exam last spring but missed it, you can probably take it (or even Math II) in the fall without risk to your score.
That being said, here’s some advice for you freshmen (’11), sophomores (’10), and juniors (’09): Do not make the same mistake your senior colleagues made. Even if no one in your class knows about the Single Subject exams (including the teacher), go to the College Board website (www.collegeboard.com) and do some research on Single Subject exams. Sometimes the content of these exams is nothing like the content of your classes, but sometimes there is a close match. Be alert! Take advantage of the May or June (2008) test dates to show colleges what you know!
Testing, testing, one, two, three!