What are the subject-areas tested in the SAT?

The SAT offers students the flexibility to take subject-specific SATs if they are looking to target specific courses at colleges. The SAT subject tests allow students to select the subject areas in which they want to take the exam and prepare accordingly. College Board, the provider of the SAT, suggests that if you are applying for select colleges, you would need to submit your SAT scores in at least two subject tests. As an aspiring student, you would need to identify the specific subject areas in which you would like to take the SAT and make sure that you prepare accordingly. To make your job easier, we have laid down certain guidelines about what to expect in different subject-specific SATs and how you should go about preparing for them:

SAT Biology

The SAT Biology subject test evaluates the students’ understanding of general biology at the college preparatory level. The sections assessed under this SAT include a student’s ability to recall and comprehend major concepts in biology and the ability to apply the key subject-specific principles to solve specific problems in biology. The SAT Biology offers both Ecological Biology and Molecular Biology to the students.

SAT Chemistry

The SAT Chemistry subject test measures the students’ ability to organize and interpret results obtained from observation and experimentation with topics studied in Chemistry at the high school level. The Chemistry test also evaluates the students’ aptitude for drawing conclusions and making interpretations using experimental data, which includes data presented in graphic and/or tabular formats.

SAT Physics

The Physics SAT subject test assesses the student’s ability to solve critical problems with the application of physics principles learnt in high school (Class X, XI and XII). This subject-specific test also assesses the students’ understanding of simple algebra, trigonometry, and graphical relationships, the concepts of ratio and proportion, and how to apply these concepts to solving physics problems.

SAT U.S. History

The United States History Subject Test offered by College Board assesses the students’ ability to recall important historical events, familiarity with historical concepts, their cause-and-effect relationships in the context of the time, geography, and other relevant data necessary for interpreting and understanding major historical developments in American History. This test is not available at all geographical locations worldwide, however, can be taken by students aspiring to take up History as their major at the undergraduate level.

SAT World History

The SAT World History subject test is designed to test your understanding of the events and timelines in the context of global history. This test requires students to be well-versed about the use of basic historical techniques and terminology in order to correctly answer the multiple-choice questions and the students’ aptitude for the critical thinking, comprehension and interpretation of documented information and events.

SAT Literature

The SAT Literature subject test enables the students to see how well they can read literature in the English language, and interpret literature from a critical thinking perspective. The questions asked under this test focus on issues such as the theme, argument, tone, etc. of the passage and draw meaningful interpretations that satisfy the requirements for passing the test.

SAT Math Level 1

The SAT Maths Level 1 test evaluates students on several key mathematical concepts and principles. Some of these include algebra, geometry, basic trigonometry, algebraic functions, elementary statistics, logic, elementary number theory, and arithmetic and geometric sequences. The use of calculator in SAT Math Level 1 is not allowed.

SAT Math Level 2

The SAT Math Level 2 is similar in terms of topic covered to the Level 1 Math test as it tests students on the following parameters - algebra, three-dimensional and coordinate geometry, trigonometry functions, probability, permutations, combinations, logic, proofs, elementary number theory, sequences, and limits. The use of calculator in SAT Math Level 1 is allowed.

SAT Foreign Languages

The SAT can be taken in foreign languages as well. This option may not be available for students from across the world, however, the US and Canadian student may take up the SAT Foreign Language Tests to assess their reading ability in a specific language. Languages available for testing in this exam include SAT French, SAT German, SAT Spanish, SAT Hebrew, SAT Italian, SAT Latin, SAT Chinese, SAT Japanese and SAT Korean.

Foreign Languages with Listening

The SAT Foreign Language exam can also be combined with the ‘listening’ component for students to assess their listening skills in a foreign language, in addition to reading skills as offered in the SAT Foreign Language SAT. Foreign Languages available for testing include SAT French, SAT German, SAT Spanish, SAT Chinese, SAT Japanese, and SAT Korean with listening component. The listening test is designed to assess the students’ listening ability as well as their ability to make sense of verbal data to correctly respond to the test questions.