Princeton Review (Firm) - The Princeton Review: cracking the SAT subject test in chemistry

The SAT Subject Tests are one-hour exams that assess a students knowledge of a particular academic subject. Not all colleges require the subject tests, and some subject tests are more appropriate for certain students than for others. The format and content of a given test falls within certain guidelines, and you should prepare accordingly. In this chapter, we will answer some basic questions about the SAT Subject Test in Chemistry and how you should prepare for it.

The SAT Subject Tests are a series of tests administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Unlike the regular SAT, the SAT Subject Tests are designed to measure knowledge in very specific areas. Many colleges require that you take one or more of these tests in order to qualify for admission; but even at colleges that do not require that you take them, administrators view student performances on the tests as an important factor that contributes to the decision to grant or withhold admission. Additionally, at some schools, a high score on one or more of the tests might enable you to place out of certain required college courses. For example, if you do well on the SAT Subject Test in Chemistry, you might be exempt from fulfilling the science requirement at one or more of the schools to which youre applying!

The colleges that do require you to take the SAT Subject Tests will expect you to take two or three of them. In order to find out which tests are required by the colleges to which youre applying, you can ask your guidance counselor, call the admissions office of the colleges, or check in college guidebooks. Alternately, you can visit the College Board website at sat.collegeboard.org and use their college search engine to look up the colleges youre interested in; each school on this search engine has a profile in which this information is provided.

Once you find out which, if any, tests are required, part of your decision making is done. The next step is to find out which of the tests will show your particular strengths. After all, the SAT Subject Tests are given in a variety of subjects: Literature, U.S. History, World History, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, French, German, Spanish, Modern Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and English Language Proficiency. You should take the tests on which you think youd score the highest. If youre fluent in Chinese, take the SAT Subject Test in Chinese. If, however, youre most comfortable in the world of moles, atoms, and titrations, take the SAT Subject Test in Chemistry.