Parents of high school students often feel overwhelmed and bewildered by all the information about the standardized exams students must take in preparation for college. At Academics Plus Tutoring Center, we are often asked questions such as: When should my child take the SAT? What does the SAT measure? What are the SAT subject tests? How many SAT subject tests must my child take? Which SAT subject tests should my child take?
We figured the questions our students ask are most likely the same questions our readers have, so over the next few weeks we will post the most frequently asked questions and our responses. Feel free to post your own questions in our comment box, and we will do our best to answer your question as well.
Which SAT subject tests should my child take?
Unfortunately, with regard to SAT subject tests, there is no set answer that will work for everyone. That being said, there are certain guidelines that we can offer to help you in the SAT subject test decision-making process.
In general, you should base your decisions on two factors: one is the University and/or specific academic program your son or daughter is interested in, and two is your child’s particular academic strengths and weaknesses.
As for the first variable, certain universities have requirements regarding the specific SAT subject tests students need to take. For example, UPenn strongly recommends the Math SAT subject exam. Many engineering programs require the Physics or Chemistry SAT subject test as well as the Math test. Both Georgetown and Duke Universities recommend a foreign language SAT subject test. The take-home point is, do your homework! Find out what schools your child would like to attend and make sure they are prepared to take the appropriate SAT subject tests.
The second variable is the student’s particular academic strengths. If your child is particularly strong in science, then he or she should consider taking one of the science SAT subject tests. If he or she is fluent in another language, then consider encouraging him or her to prepare for the language exams.
One suggestion we can offer without qualification is to ensure that your child does some outside preparation. It is important to know that the material in high school courses typically is not designed to help students excel on the SAT subject tests and often, some to much of the material covered on the exams will be unfamiliar to those students who haven’t done any outside preparation.
The best method for studying for these exams is to work one-on-one with a tutor who can guide students through the specific material covered on these exams. If that is not an option, consider a SAT class or at a minimum, purchase some of the preparation materials available at your local bookstore or amazon.com.
Our goal is to make this blog the most helpful and informative blog on Academic Success and SAT preparation. To do this, we need your help, so please give us your feedback and make comments to our blog!!
For more information, FREE articles, resources and audio files, visit: www.howtoacethesat.com and www.academics-plus.com
