SAT Subject Tests
Encyclopedia
Standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a...
s given on individual subjects, usually taken to improve a student's credentials for admission to colleges in the United States. Student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s typically choose which tests to take depending upon college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
entrance requirements for the schools to which they are planning to apply. Until 1994, the SAT Subject Tests were known as Achievement Tests, and until January 2005, they were known as SAT IIs; they are still commonly known by these names. Every test is now a one-hour timed test. Historically, the exception to the one-hour time was the writing test, which was divided into a 20-minute essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
question and a 40-minute multiple-choice section; it was discontinued after January 2005.
A student may take up to three SAT Subject Tests on any given date at a flat rate $22 (+$28 for international test takers) and $11 per test (unless it includes a listening portion, then it is $21 plus $21 per test). Most SAT subject tests are offered on the same day as the regular SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
. The language tests with listening are generally available only once a year, in November. A calendar of test dates and registration deadlines can be found on The College Board's official website.
Current tests
| Test | Subject | Mean score | Standard deviation Standard deviation Standard deviation is a widely used measure of variability or diversity used in statistics and probability theory. It shows how much variation or "dispersion" there is from the average... |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT Subject Test in Literature SAT Subject Test in Literature The SAT Subject Test in Literature is the name of a one-hour multiple choice test given on English literature by The College Board. A student chooses whether to take the test depending upon college entrance requirements for the schools in which the student is planning to apply... |
Literature Literature Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources... |
583 | 111 | |
| SAT Subject Test in United States History SAT Subject Test in United States History The SAT Subject Test in United States History is the name of a one-hour multiple choice test given on United States History by The College Board. A student chooses whether to take the test depending upon college entrance requirements for the schools in which the student is planning to apply... |
U.S. History History of the United States The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The... |
601 | 116 | Formerly American History and Social Studies |
| SAT Subject Test in World History SAT Subject Test in World History The SAT Subject Test in World History is the name of a one-hour multiple choice test given on World History by the College Board. A student chooses to take it depending on the college entrance requirements. Until 1994, the SAT Subject Tests were known as Achievement Tests; and from 1995 until... |
World History World History World History, Global History or Transnational history is a field of historical study that emerged as a distinct academic field in the 1980s. It examines history from a global perspective... |
585 | 115 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 1 SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 1 The SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 1 The SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 1 The SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 1 (formerly known as MathI or MathIC (the "C" representing the use of a calculator) is the name of a one-hour multiple choice test given on algebra, geometry, basic... |
Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity... |
593 | 102 | Formerly Math I or IC. Consists of algebra Algebra Algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning the study of the rules of operations and relations, and the constructions and concepts arising from them, including terms, polynomials, equations and algebraic structures... , geometry Geometry Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers .... , basic trigonometry Trigonometry Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics that studies triangles and the relationships between their sides and the angles between these sides. Trigonometry defines the trigonometric functions, which describe those relationships and have applicability to cyclical phenomena, such as waves... , algebraic function Algebraic function In mathematics, an algebraic function is informally a function that satisfies a polynomial equation whose coefficients are themselves polynomials with rational coefficients. For example, an algebraic function in one variable x is a solution y for an equationwhere the coefficients ai are polynomial... s, elementary statistics Statistics Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.... and a few miscellaneous topics. |
| SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2 SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2 In the USA, the SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2 is the name of a one-hour multiple choice test. The questions cover a broad range of topics... |
Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity... |
644 | 105 | Formerly Math II or IIC. Consists of algebra Algebra Algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning the study of the rules of operations and relations, and the constructions and concepts arising from them, including terms, polynomials, equations and algebraic structures... , geometry Geometry Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers .... , trigonometry Trigonometry Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics that studies triangles and the relationships between their sides and the angles between these sides. Trigonometry defines the trigonometric functions, which describe those relationships and have applicability to cyclical phenomena, such as waves... , function Function (mathematics) In mathematics, a function associates one quantity, the argument of the function, also known as the input, with another quantity, the value of the function, also known as the output. A function assigns exactly one output to each input. The argument and the value may be real numbers, but they can... s, statistics Statistics Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.... and a few miscellaneous topics. |
| SAT Subject Test in Biology E/M SAT Subject Test in Biology E/M The SAT Subject Test in Biology is the name of a one-hour multiple choice test given on biology by The College Board. A student chooses whether to take the test depending upon college entrance requirements for the schools in which the student is planning to apply... |
Biology Biology Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines... |
E-591 M-630 |
104 103 |
Students have a choice of taking either an ecological ("E") or molecular ("M") biology oriented test. |
| SAT Subject Test in Chemistry SAT Subject Test in Chemistry The a one-hour multiple choice test given on chemistry by The College Board. A student chooses whether to take the test depending upon college entrance requirements for the schools in which the student is planning to apply... |
Chemistry Chemistry Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds.... |
629 | 110 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Physics SAT Subject Test in Physics The SAT Subject Test in Physics is the name of a one-hour multiple choice test given on physics by The College Board. A student chooses whether to take the test depending upon college entrance requirements for the schools in which the student is planning to apply... |
Physics Physics Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic... |
643 | 107 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Chinese with Listening | Chinese Chinese language The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages... |
764 | 61 | |
| SAT Subject Test in French | French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
612 | 119 | |
| SAT Subject Test in French with Listening | French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
621 | 116 | |
| SAT Subject Test in German | German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... |
610 | 131 | |
| SAT Subject Test in German with Listening | German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... |
596 | 131 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Modern Hebrew | Modern Hebrew Hebrew language Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such... |
628 | 129 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Italian | Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia... |
654 | 122 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Japanese with Listening | Japanese Japanese language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an... |
696 | 134 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Korean with Listening | Korean Korean language Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing... |
754 | 68 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Latin | Latin | 613 | 107 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Spanish | Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... |
634 | 124 | |
| SAT Subject Test in Spanish with Listening | Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... |
638 | 115 |
Previously offered tests
- Writing Subject Test
- English Language Proficiency TestEnglish Language Proficiency TestThe English Language Proficiency Test was the name of a SAT II last administered in January 2005. It was a one-hour multiple choice test given on English language proficiency by The College Board...
(ELPT)
These were discontinued after January 2005 when the SAT II in Writing was incorporated into the SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
.
Scoring and admissions
Each individual test is scored on a scale of 200 to 800; however, some of the tests are scored on such generous curves that it is impossible to get a 200; for example, if someone gets every question wrong on the Mathematics Level 2 test, he/she might receive a score of 310; it all depends on the version of the test. The one and only exception was the ELPT, which was scored on a scale of 901 to 999.Prior to the first administration of the new SAT (which includes the writing section) in March 2005, some highly selective colleges required applicants to take three SAT Subject tests, including the writing test and two other tests of the applicant's choosing, in addition to the SAT. However, with writing now a standard component of the SAT I, most selective colleges recommend applicants to submit scores for any two SAT Subject tests. Engineering schools typically require Chemistry or Physics and prefer Math Level 2. A handful of the most competitive schools, such as University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, still require three Subject tests in addition to the three sections of the SAT, while schools such as Georgetown and Harvard, which earlier required 3 tests, now 'strongly recommend' taking three Subject tests.;
Schools also vary with regard to their SAT Subject test requirements of students submitting scores for the ACT in place of the SAT: some schools consider the ACT an alternative to both the SAT and some SAT Subject tests, whereas others accept the ACT but require SAT Subject tests as well. Information about a school's specific test requirements can typically be found on its official website.
In October 2002, the College Board decided to drop the "score choice" option for exams. They figured that it benefited wealthier students taking the exam who could afford to take it multiple times. Score choice means that scores are not released to colleges until the student approves the score (after seeing it).
As of the March 2009 test, test takers now have the ability to choose whether or not to send scores thus reinstating the "score choice" option.