Education About.comCollege AdmissionsSearch College Admissions Plan for CollegeChoose a SchoolApplySharePrint Free College Admissions Newsletter!Sign Up What's a Good Biology SAT Subject Test Score? Learn What Biology Exam Score You Need for College Admission and College Credit By Allen Grove Ads: Marine Biology Biology Course Molecular Biology Help Good Credit Score Range How to Credit Score Cell Biology and the Brain Cell Biology and the Brain jepoirrier / Flickr Ads College Admission Experts getintocollege.com/CollegeCoach Get a Personalized Application Plan For Your Child With College Coach! Top Related Searches Subject Test Scores Ecological Biology Middlebury College Biology Exam Admission Faqs Elite Colleges More SAT Subjects: Biology | Chemistry | Literature | Math | Physics Is your Biology SAT Subject Test score good enough to get you into a top college or to earn college credit? The answer will vary a bit from college to college, but this article will give a general overview of what defines a good Biology SAT Subject Test score. The chart at the bottom of the page shows the correlation between Biology SAT scores and the percentile ranking of students who took the Ecological Biology and the Molecular Biology exam. Thus, 83% of test takers scored a 700 or below on the Ecological Biology exam, and 69% scored below 700 on the Molecular Biology exam. SAT Subject Test scores can't be compared to general SAT scores because the subject tests are taken by a higher percentage of high achieving students than the regular SAT. Primarily elite and highly selective schools require SAT Subject Test scores, whereas the majority of colleges and universities require SAT or ACT scores. As a result, the average scores for SAT Subject Tests are significantly higher than those for the regular SAT. For the Ecological Biology SAT Subject Test, the mean score is 591, and for the Molecular Biology exam the mean is 630 (compared to an average of about 500 for sections of the regular SAT). Most colleges do not publicize their SAT Subject Test admissions data. However, for elite colleges you will ideally have scores in the 700s. Here are what a few colleges say about the SAT Subject Tests: MIT: The middle 50% of students scored between 720 and 800 on SAT II Subject Tests in science (from MIT's admissions statistics for the class of 2013) Middlebury College: "We are accustomed to seeing ... SAT IIs that range from the low to middle 700s" (from Middlebury admission FAQs) Princeton University: the middle 50% of admitted applicants averaged scores between 710 and 790 on their three highest SAT II Subject Tests (from the 2006 - 07 Princeton Profile) UCLA: about 75% of admitted students scored between 700 and 800 on their best SAT Subject Test; 19% scored between 600 and 690; for admitted students, the average score for the best SAT Subject Test was 734 (675 for the second best subject) (from the UCLA Profile of Admitted Freshmen) Williams College: For the class of 2013, 33% of students scored between 750 and 800; 22% scored between 700 and 740; 21% scored between 650 and 690; 13% scored between 600 and 640; and 8% scored between 550 and 590 (from the Williams class of 2013 profile) As this limited data shows, a strong application will usually have SAT Subject Test scores in the 700s. Realize, however, that all elite schools have a holistic admissions process, and significant strengths in other areas can make up for a less-than-ideal test score. Very few colleges use the Biology SAT Subject Test to award course credit or to place students out of introductory level courses. A good score on the AP Biology exam, however, often will earn students college credit. Data source for the chart below: the College Board website. Biology SAT Subject Test Scores and Percentiles Biology SAT Subject Test Score Percentile (Ecological) Percentile (Molecular) 800 99 98 780 98 95 760 96 90 740 93 84 720 89 77 700 83 69 680 77 62 660 70 55 640 63 47 620 56 40 600 48 34 580 42 28 560 35 23 540 29 18 520 24 14 500 19 11 480 15 9 460 11 7 440 8 5 420 6 4 400 4 3 More on the SAT What Schools Require SAT Subject Tests? Are SAT Prep Courses Worth the Cost? When Should You Take the SAT? SAT Scores What's a Good SAT Score? SAT Score Comparison for the Ivy League SAT Scores for Top Engineering Schools Top Colleges and Universities Top Universities Top Public Universities Top Engineering Schools Related Articles What's on the SAT Biology E/M Test? Low SAT Scores? - Strategies for Getting into a Good College with Not-So-Go... SAT Test Information - Everything You Need to Know! College Preparation - Guidelines for College Preparation from Middle School... Optional SAT Scores - Should SAT and ACT Scores Be Optional? Allen Grove Allen Grove About.com College Admissions Sign up for My Newsletter Headlines Advertisement Advertisement Ads: Getting Your Credit Score Cell Biology What Is Credit Score GMAT Score GRE Score Explore College Admissions Must Reads A to Z College Profiles Scholarships for June Waitlisted? What Now? SAT Scores - What's Good? Rejected? Can You Appeal? Most Popular Are Your SAT Scores Good Enough? Are Your ACT Scores Good Enough? See All the Ivy League Schools Compared by SAT... 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