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Does anyone know how much colleges care if my third sat II might be MathIc-- if I already took IIc?

I got 770IIc, but I need a 3rd sat2 and I'm terrible at history and science...

i'm specifically looking at penn who doesn't specify about what the other satIIs have to be (besides writing, of course)

thanks
j

By Chrisy (Chrisy) on Sunday, September 07, 2003 - 08:57 pm: Edit

if you're looking at penn then you can probably take the IC. but dude you should take a science. it'll look better on your app.

By Wharton1986 (Wharton1986) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 11:50 am: Edit

yea jasontoff..me too...

i asked penn about this..
they said that it was ok to take 1c 2c and writing.
however they preffered if you didnt do that.

might affect ytour chances like 1% or so i guess if you took 1c instead of a science.

i might end up doin that in the end if i cant finish prepping for my physics sat2.

By Hsimpson2k4 (Hsimpson2k4) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 05:13 pm: Edit

Jasontoff, I was in the exact same situation as you a couple weeks ago. I didn't want to take physics or history. However, you should really take physics. Get a book, like Kaplan, and study it. It is pretty basic and easy to understand. Here is the sweet part, the Physics curve is even more generous that the Math IIC curve! You can get about 20 out of 75 wrong and still get a 700! Just imagine if you can get 10 wrong...

By Wharton1986 (Wharton1986) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 05:52 pm: Edit

yea well the exact number is 60 out of 75. to get an 800..

hsimpson you started your physics?.....
i got like 2 weeks to do it.........

By Hsimpson2k4 (Hsimpson2k4) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 06:05 pm: Edit

Yeah, I started. I read I'm on page 90 of about 200. Two weeks is ages! I did the 90 pages in one day. I just need another day to finish it. That is a sweet deal. BTW have you ever visited Wharton? It was always my dream school until I went there. Everyone was so morbid! I was waiting on this line to get a sandwich and there were two guys behind me. They were discussing what grade they needed to get their GPA above a certain kid! I was horrified!! I, myself, actually do this as well, but only in my head...

By Wharton1986 (Wharton1986) on Tuesday, September 09, 2003 - 12:48 pm: Edit

no hsimpson.

actually im international and the only universities ive visited are ucla,usc ,ucberkeley and umich.
yea i know 3 guys who go there and have told me that philly is a good city .and location is not really a big factor for me.
which sat2s are you giving in october.

awesome sat1 score btw


ever done a physics practice sat2 test?..75 questions seems like quite a bit..im pretty slow so i think i might have trouble completing it.

By Giraffe (Giraffe) on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 05:52 am: Edit

I took the physics SAT II:

The bad news: 25th percentile
The good news: 580 score, higher than my reading and verbal on SAT I. Talk about generousity :D.

By Polly (Polly) on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 08:50 am: Edit

What do you mean by "25th percentile"?
But I think SAT II Physics is much easier than Chemistry.

Actually I took Chemistry and got a really bad score. If I have three more good scores including Physics on SAT IIs, do you think I'll have less opportunities to get in colleges?

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 09:00 am: Edit

Oh.....geez i just registered for chem yesterday and not physics!!

By Kissy (Kissy) on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 10:47 am: Edit

Jason- Penn will accept ACTs in lieu of SAT I and IIs. So, you could take the ACT and submit that while holding your SATII score if you're not satisfied with it.

By Dadx (Dadx) on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 11:12 am: Edit

Polly

He means that 580 is the 25th percentile on the Physics test, which means that 75% of the people who took the test received a higher score (answered more questions correctly).

This happens because the people who take the test are a self selected group which is a great deal different than the total group of SAT I takers.

See this for SAT II percentiles

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/cbsenior/yr2002/pdf/twelve.pdf

Note that for Physics and Math IIc, and 800 only gets you to the 94th and 91st percentiles, while in Chinese it is only 70th. You have to look at how many people take the test and know that they are not a random selection of the college group.

By Polly (Polly) on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 12:09 pm: Edit

Thanks.
hmm.. so getting 800 on Japanese isn't so high enough.

By Jasontoff (Jasontoff) on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - 06:41 pm: Edit

Someone mentioned about visiting Wharton...I was there this past summer for 4 weeks for LBW-- a summer wharton camp thing. Wharton is awesome-- at least the new Huntsman building...it's seriously the coolest building equipped with the most beautiful technology. The classrooms are all spacious, nice looking, and completely automated. The chairs swiveled in 15 different directions. The podium had a built in computer, microphone, camera, phone...it had everything. There are tons of "study rooms" that have 2 floating flat panel monitors, a computer, tons of inputs for laptops, etc, a dry-erase board, and i think possibly a projector!

the food court wasn't bad-- the pasta and pizza were actually quite good...and they have an inexpensive Creperie too! The food trucks are great and VERY cheap...and there are quite a few of them.

the Wharton professors that taught us were absolutely BRILLIANT.

shoot...i don't really want to convince any more people to apply...my chances are low enough...but yea, it's a nice place.

anyways, what I understand from what people are saying is that I CAN take Writing, Math IIc, AND Math Ic...but it's not a good idea? I mean.. I'm planning on retaking the Math IIc too (since I didn't finish I got a 770...so I plan to finish this time)...so doesn't getting an 800 on IIc kind of makes a Ic score pointless? I might try my hand at French since I know more than the average kid's worth of French...and the scale isn't AS BAD as Japanese or Chinese... I'm terrible at physics...but maybe some good mathematics will get me a 700?

I don't know, thanks for the advice. I might just ask my regional Penn admissions officer what they think....hmm but how should I get in touch with them? I feel like if I call and say "Hey I was wondering if I can take 2 math satIIs...it'll sound like I'm just a lazy shmuck (which I may in fact be)...and they could just respond "While you can, we don't recommend it."....ahhhh i dont know...any more advice?

thanks-- jason