Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment SAT Subject Test - Math II

DS is currently taking Pre-Calculus so should be ready to take Math II in the spring. My question is whether he should wait until high school when he has had Calculus even though Math II only goes up through Pre-Calculus. Another issue is the crazy percentiles - you need to score a perfect 800 to reach around 80th percentile! Do you need a perfect raw score to reach 800 or can you miss a problem or two?

I think when my son took it you could miss 5 or 6 and still get an 800.

I remember picking him up and asking how he did and he said "fine". Then I asked if he answered all of the questions and he said "of course not". I said "Wait, what?!? Why in the world would you not answer all of the questions?" He said "I answered enough to get an 800".

Sure enough, all of the questions he chose to answer were correct and he scored 800. A score of 800 was the 81st percentile for the January 2016 administration.

The Math I Subject test is much less forgiving. I believe he had to answer every question correctly to score an 800. A score of 800 was the 99th percentile for the June 2014 administration.

I have no idea about the percentiles, but fwiw my ds' counselor recommended taking the Math II subject test after pre-calc. There isn't anything further he'd be learning in Calculus that would help on the test. Not sure what grade he's in, but one reason to take it sooner rather than later is that if you leave subject tests until junior year... chances are your ds might also be trying to take SAT/ACT/AP tests etc in the same time frame, and that's just a ton of testing to deal with, so getting what you can out of the way early can be a really good idea

Best wishes,

polarbear

I think that some people are confusing percentile and percentage.

Thanks, CalvinsDad! That is very helpful. Good strategy on your DS' part. My DS is still not the greatest with strategy and has been known at times to get stuck on particular problems rather than moving on efficiently during competition math. That is why I prefer that he take the Math II after it becomes "easy" to answer every question correctly. I will check but I am assuming that there is a penalty for a wrong answer and/or time is tight.

It's a relief that you can miss so many and still score a 800! However, it does beg the question of why they don't use those 5-6 questions to differentiate the top scorers so that you don't have almost twenty percent of students with the same top score.

We are not bothering with Math I since it is low level and not meant for STEM students.

That is crazy - isn't it? I couldn't believe I read it correctly the first time I saw that either. To be fair, mostly students who are strong in math/science take Math II. Other students take Math I. Of course, the percentage of students scoring perfect 800s wouldn't be so high if they limit a score of 800 to students who miss 0-1 questions like on the math portion of SAT I.

That is good advice regarding timing issues for all the different tests in high school! In DS' case, it would be a question of taking it in 8th grade versus 9th grade. One reason I was considering waiting another year is so that he could take two or three subject tests on the same day rather than just one. By 9th grade, he would be qualified to take one or two other subject tests besides Math II. I wasn't so much thinking that he would learn helpful concepts in Calculus but that he may mature mathematically and improve as far as timing and accuracy.

Who? Me?

Yep - at least 19%.

The test may be meaningless for college purposes if taken as an 8th grader. Different colleges have different requirements, but some require that tests were taken in high school (even AP tests).