AP'S VS SAT Subject Tests

High School Insights High School Exams
1

Hi there

Next year I am going into year 11 and I, unfortunately, do not have enough subject choices to choose all the subjects I would like such as History and Geography so I was planning on self studying them in Year 13 and taking schol exams for them however then I found out that results for schol exams come out after american uni applications so I have been advised to take SAT Subject tests or AP’s instead. I may still take them however I would definitely like to take an SAT test or AP before incase.

I need some advice on whether I should take AP’s, SAT Subject Tests or both? I was reading some requirements for US colleges and I noticed that SAT Subject Tests were required for some of them so I was more leaning towards SAT Subject Tests in terms of meeting those requirements. However I know that AP exams go more in depth and are more difficult so I am a bit stuck on what to do because I do genuinely want to learn the subjects History and Geography and possibly more such as government?

Thank you for the help in advance!

2

I suggest doing both if you are in a school that does NCEA. Are you?

I would suggest 3-4 SAT Subject Tests and then 6-7 APs. It really depends on what universities you are aiming for, how strong your academics are and what type of candidacy you have and therefore what types of students you are potentially competing with. I would suggest doing NZQA Scholarship Geography as well. Please send me your NCEA results if you are an NCEA student or equivalent and I can give some more specific recommendations - j.beaton@crimsoneducation.org