Anyone familiar with Subject SAT

[luv2homeschool]

Some of the colleges my dd is thinking about would like for homeschooled students to have subject area sat's in science and history. Does anyone have any experience with these? She has finished Biology and Marine Biology and will finish up Chemistry this summer - she wants to work in this field!

[WhaleinGaloshes]

I do, I tutored students preparing for them for many years.

To apply for engineering/science programs, she might consider Math (1 or 2) Bio and Chemistry.

Barron's is IMHO the best prep. books available.

Does she have specific questions?

[luv2homeschool]

Thanks for your input. As we get closer to college, I get worried that we aren't doing all we can do! I am having her do the biology, chemistry and possibly math. Since she wants to go into sciences I think this will really help her acceptance into the school of her choice. She is also going to do the PSAT, as I was told that it really is taken for merit scholarships.

[WhaleinGaloshes]

Originally Posted by luv2homeschool

She is also going to do the PSAT, as I was told that it really is taken for merit scholarships.

Yes that's right, the PSAT is also the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test. Certainly worth taking.

I would start with a Barrons guide and do a practice test, timed. Then she'll know exactly where she stands with it, and can outline a plan of attack.

Good luck!

[lach]

Go to a bookstore and get the SAT II prep books in the subjects she'll be taking them in, and have her read it and do the practice tests. That's all she'll really need to do to prepare. I don't know how old she is, but the biology one is usually taken by 9th graders so it's not terribly hard so long as she knows the material. The prep book will cover everything that the test asks about, so she can make sure that her course of study didn't miss anything.

When I applied to college, most asked for 3 subject tests, and one of those had to be the writing one. However, now that there's a writing section on the actual SAT I don't know if that's changed.

If she hasn't taken many standardized tests before, you might also want to get a prep book for the PSATs or sign her up for a class. It's definitely a test about taking tests, and the prep book will teach her all the tricks about what to do and what not to do. For example, on these sorts of tests even if you have no clue what the answer is it's almost always possible to narrow it down to 2 if you know what sorts of tricks the test writers use: and then you have a 50% chance of getting it right if you guess from there. The PSAT is hardly life-altering, but a lot of financial aid is based on it so it wouldn't hurt for her to try to be as prepared as possible. It's also good practice for the SATs.

I always preferred Princeton Review when I was in high school. But there are a bunch of different publishers of these sorts of books, including a few that weren't even around way back then.

[luv2homeschool]

We have the Official SAT study guide by the college board. I got it cheap at a used homeschool store. She has done a few chapters but will continue with it through the summer.

Since she had gone to PS through 6th she is well versed in testing. We also have done the Iowa's which are one of the tests accepted by our state.

I will go to the book store and look at the study guide for the subject tests.

The colleges don't seem to worry about the writing anymore because of the SAT's.

Thanks for all the info!