What's a Good Physics SAT Subject Test Score?

Is your Physics SAT Subject Test score good enough to get you into a top college or to earn college credit? This article will provide a general overview of what defines a good Physics SAT Subject Test score.

The chart at the bottom of the page shows the correlation between Physics SAT scores and the percentile ranking of students who took the exam. Thus, 77% of test takers scored a 740 or below on the Physics SAT Subject Test.

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 Physics SAT Subject Test, the mean score is 643 (compared to a mean of about 500 for individual 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 Physics SAT Subject Test to award course credit or to place students out of introductory level courses. A good score on the AP Physics exam, however, often will earn students college credit (especially the Physics-C exam).

Data source for the chart below: the College Board website.

Physics SAT Subject Test Scores and Percentiles

Physics SAT Subject Test Score	Percentile
800	92
780	88
760	82
740	77
720	71
700	64
680	57
660	51
640	44
620	38
600	32
580	26
560	22
540	18
520	14
500	11
480	8
460	6
440	4
420	2
400	1