In the dozen or so years I’ve been helping thousands of individual families get through standardized testing and into the colleges of their dreams, I’ve noticed several trends. And among the most notable trends is this: for the majority of high schoolers, SAT II Subject Tests just might not be necessary for your testing timeline anymore!
So, amidst the current changing college admissions climate, especially in light of COVID-19, I’m writing this so you know if you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to worry about Subject Tests, and what to do if you ARE still required to do them.
As of this writing, there are only a handful of colleges or particular degree programs that flat-out “require” that you take SAT II Subject Tests. Others “strongly recommend” or “recommend” taking them. And let’s be clear: if you want to go to an elite institution that’s competitive as HECK to get into, that might as well read “require.” You don’t want to do the bare minimum to “just get by” if you’re serious about getting into one of these super-selective institutions (trust me—getting my students into exactly those kinds of schools is what I built my business on). So first, let’s review the lists of schools that mean that you’re going to want to consider SAT IIs as an important part of your application package.
College that Still Requires SAT II Subject Tests
McGill University (only if you take the SAT, and then you’re required to take any two Subject Tests of your choosing; if you take the ACT, you’re exempt)
Colleges that “Strongly Recommend” that you take SAT II Subject Tests
Duke University (2 SAT II Subjects Tests are “strongly recommended ” only if you take the SAT; you’re exempt if you take the ACT)
Georgetown (“strongly recommends” 3 SAT II Subject Tests OR 3 AP tests)
Colleges that “Recommend” you take two different SAT II Subject Tests:
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University (from 11th or 12th grade only)
Dartmouth College
Emory University
Harvard University
Princeton University
Rice University
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
Webb Institute
Yale University
While it seems you only have to worry about SAT II Subject Tests if you have one of the above 13 colleges or universities on your college list, you DO need to do more research if your intended major is STEM- or business-related. Oftentimes, specialized medical, business, engineering, science or math programs will require Subject Tests, even when the university at large does not. Usually, these requirements will also come with specifics: must one of the Subjects be Math? Specifically Math Level 2? A Science? Specifically Chemistry or Physics? These are the usual specifications, though you’ll find out everything you need by exploring and researching the standardized testing requirements on your school’s website.
In addition to these top-notch institutions and any extra requirements by your intended degree program, 60 more top colleges will “consider” SAT II Subject Tests if you submit them. What this means is that if you want to stand out by demonstrating superb ability and super high scores in subjects that you plan to study, adding in Subject Tests can help make your case for you. This is especially relevant if you’re not the tip-top of your graduating class, don’t have perfect SAT or ACT scores, but CAN shine in a particular subject and want to make sure your colleges can see it. For instance, if you KNOW you can ace the US History and World History Subject Tests, and you plan on being a historian in college, these would demonstrate superb ability in the areas of YOUR expertise…which you couldn’t show off with your regular SAT or ACT scores.
College that will Consider SAT II Subject Tests if you submit them
Amherst, Babson, Bates, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin, Bucknell, Carleton, Case Western Reserve, Claremont McKenna, Colby, College of William & Mary, Colorado College, Columbia University, Connecticut College, The Cooper Union, Cornell, Davidson, Franklin Olin College of Engineering, George Washington, Ithaca College, Johns Hopkins, Kenyon College, Lafayette College, Macalester College, Northwestern University, Oberlin, Occidental, Pomona, Reed, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Smith, Stanford, Stevens Institute of Technology, Swarthmore, Tulane, Union College, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, University of Chicago, University of Delaware, University of Michigan, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Notre Dame, University of Rochester, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Wake Forest, Washington University in St. Louis, Wellesley, Wesleyan, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
There are also a few colleges out there that have flexible or “alternative” standardized testing requirements. These rules are always changing and are different for each school, but for the following schools, you could use 2 or 3 SAT II Subject Tests to fulfill your testing requirements…and bypass the SAT I or ACT entirely! Here’s the short list as of this moment.
Colleges with flexible or alternative standardized testing requirements
Drexel University (2 Subject Tests will suffice)
Hamilton College (3 Subject Tests will suffice)
Middlebury College (3 Subject Tests will suffice)
New York University (3 Subject Tests will suffice)
So, if you’ve determined that you either SHOULD take SAT II Subject Tests for your college or degree program or you could add to your application by submitting them to a college that will consider them, where do you go from here?
Determine WHICH Subject Tests to take! If your college or specific program as a specification, make sure to follow it to a tee.
If you don’t have specifications and are trying to show off superb academic ability, take the tests that correspond with your proclaimed “academic interests” and that fit in with your application’s Organizing Principle.
When in doubt: take either Math Level 1 or Math Level 2…and Literature! I say this, because you’ve already had to study math for the SAT or ACT anyway, and literature comprehension is kind of like general Reading comprehension…which you’ve also been studying.
Luckily for you, if you need help in the SAT II Subject Test Math department, I’m here for you!
If you need help choosing between the two tests, you can purchase my ebook Math 1 or Math 2?. And if you’re already decided on which level Math you need to take (or you want to try my crazy and amazing strategy and TAKE BOTH—yes, I DO explain why that’s a strategy that helps my students get the scores they need to get into their dream schools) you can nab my Math 1 Cram Plan and my Math 2 Cram Plan.
Or, if you’d like help with the Math (either or both!) or the Literature Subject Tests, you can contact me for private tutoring. I’d love to help you out!
