The Big Tests: The SAT Subject Tests

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The College Board offers one-hour subject matter tests in addition to the SAT in subjects ranging from biology to Hebrew. Like each of the three parts of the new SAT, the SAT Subject Tests are scored from 200 to 800, though the average scores vary widely and are usually much higher than the 500 average for the SAT sections. About 150 colleges require or recommend that students submit scores from one or more of these tests, including most of the colleges defined as selective by our criterion. Some colleges allow students to submit ACT scores in lieu of both the SAT and the SAT Subject Tests in recognition of the content-based nature of the ACT. Almost all colleges requiring or recommending Subject Tests ask students to submit scores from two different tests; only Harvard, Princeton, and Georgetown currently ask for three.

In contrast to its position on SAT coaching, the College Board has always encouraged preparation for the Subject Tests. As content-based tests, they are designed to measure a student’s mastery of a specific subject. Studying and reviewing can result in big improvements. The major test preparation companies offer courses to prepare students for some of the Subject Tests and, of course, private tutors do this as well. Many test prep books and software programs are also available. The latter two can work just as well as more expensive alternatives, if a student is willing to put in the time and effort to use them. Also, of course, just studying the material in school can be enough preparation to do well.

On most test dates, students can take either the SAT by itself or up to three Subject Tests. You cannot take the SAT and Subject Tests on the same day. When you do register for Subject Tests, you don’t have to specify in advance which test or tests you are going to take. The SAT is offered on all test administration dates, but Subject Tests are not offered on the March date, and some specific tests are offered on certain dates only. It pays to check the College Board Web site at www.college board.com to find out for sure. The basic registration fee for the Subject Tests is $20, plus $9 for each individual test; fee waivers are also available for these tests.

Students should choose their Subject Tests carefully and plan to take appropriate tests when subjects are freshest in their minds. Most students take the Subject Tests at the end of their junior year. However, depending on which ones you plan to take, you may want to take one or more a year earlier if you have the right preparation. For example, if you take chemistry as a sophomore and feel you have mastered the subject, it makes sense to take the SAT Chemistry test at the end of your sophomore year rather than wait until you are a junior. As a result of the recent policy change, as described earlier, the College Board allows students who have taken the SAT in March 2009 or later to choose which test scores, including Subject Test scores, they want a college to see. You can get a booklet about the Subject Tests from your guidance office; the same information is posted on the College Board Web site. Read it carefully and decide which tests make the most sense for you, keeping in mind the requirements of specific colleges that interest you.

As a final note, you can certainly take three Subject Tests on the same day, but that can make for a tough morning. You can spread out your testing if you plan far enough in advance. If you take more than two Subject Tests, the colleges that require only two say that they will consider only the two highest scores, though they will see all of them, unless you use Score Choice.

A Special Word to Parents About Standardized Tests

The SAT and ACT generate a lot of anxiety. High school students sometimes feel that their future and their self-esteem depend on the outcome of one test taken in less than four hours on a Saturday morning. This is not healthy for them, nor is it true. Please help your children understand that the SAT and ACT are just tests, and flawed ones at that. Encourage them to prepare thoroughly but reasonably for the tests in a reasonable way and to do their best, but try to keep standardized tests from becoming an obsession for you or them.

Some students dread receiving their scores for fear of disappointing their parents or, at the other end of the continuum, providing their parents with a reason to brag or embarrass them. Avoid both extremes. Be the supportive parent your child needs and that you want to be. The history of the ACT is less colorful, but the same caveats apply.

A Postscript on the Future of Standardized Testing

For now, the SAT (or the ACT) is a very real part of college admissions at most—but not all—selective colleges. Slowly, over time, an increasing number of colleges are making these tests optional, leaving it up to students to decide whether to submit scores. The ACT has positioned itself as an alternative test with fewer problems than the SAT, but not everyone shares that assessment. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing (commonly known as FairTest) is very critical of standardized testing and sees little difference between the ACT and SAT in terms of its core concerns.

Standardized testing remains a very controversial area. As noted earlier in this chapter, the growing list of colleges that do not require standardized tests, or that make them optional, can be found online at www.fairtest.org. The site also provides background about the controversies surrounding the whole issue of standardized tests in college admissions. It makes for fascinating reading regardless of the conclusions you may ultimately draw.

In Fall 2008, the National Association for College Admission Counseling released the much-anticipated report of its Commission on the Use of Standardized Tests in Undergraduate Admission that was chaired by William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard University. The report, which is available online at www.nacacnet.org, provides a wide range of perspectives and recommendations on the use of standardized tests in college admissions. The following statement comes from its concluding section on future directions: 

Colleges individually will always try to build the strongest entering classes they can, often measured by test scores, but collectively they bear a larger responsibility to make the American educational system as good, as fair, and as socially beneficial as possible. By using the SAT and ACT as one of the most important admission tools, they are gaining what may be a marginal ability to identify academic talent beyond that indicated by transcripts, recommendations, and achievement test scores. Is this modest addition of predictive validity counter-balanced by the arguably significant social and cultural costs of the growing weight of the SAT and ACT in college admission processes?

Now more than ever, colleges are being asked to consider how they would answer this question.