What SAT IIs Should You Take if You Plan to Pursue Pre-law, Pol Sci, or International Relations?

If you are interested in world affairs, politics, and law, a major in either pre-law, political science or international relations might be a good fit for you. These majors all deal with the interactions of the world’s governments, how politics influences real-world outcomes, and governance and policymaking processes. Some students in these majors go into politics and world governance, working for organizations like the UN or the World Bank; others continue on to law school or pursue graduate degrees.

These three majors are all in the social sciences, which means that they are largely theoretical and reading-based; however, these subjects do also include math- and statistics-based subfields and methodology. That means that you’ll need a wide array of skills to pursue this major at a selective college. One way to demonstrate these skills is to take SAT Subject Tests, also known as SAT IIs. Which SAT IIs should you take if you want to pursue pre-law, political science or international relations? Read on to find out.

Prioritize College- and Major-level Requirements

Sometimes, a school that you’re applying to—especially if it’s a top-ranked institution—will require you to take and submit specific SAT Subject Tests. These requirements can apply to all applicants, or can be specific to your major of interest. For example, a college might require all of its applicants to pre-law, political science or international relations majors to take Math Level II and US History. Alternatively, they may require that you choose two or three tests from a selected list of SAT Subject Tests.

If a school on your list has college- or major-level requirements, satisfying these requirements should be your top priority. You must take the exams they specify unless you want your application to be considered incomplete. Any college- or major-level requirements supersede other considerations when choosing what SAT IIs to take.

A further complication is that some colleges have shifted from requiring certain SAT Subject Tests  to only recommending them. If a college simply recommends certain SAT Subject Test, you can still submit an application without it and be considered for admission. However, it is still in your best interests to take the recommended SAT II tests, unless you believe that you will perform poorly on those exams.

As noted above, some colleges do offer guidelines for the categories of tests you should take, while others require specific exams for specific program applicants. However, most colleges won’t specify exactly which exams you should take. This means that you’ll likely have some freedom to choose the exams that best showcase your abilities.

Because each school has slightly different requirements, you might worry that meeting each school’s recommendations and requirements will force you to take a bunch of different SAT Subject Tests. However, that is rarely the case. You’ll find substantial overlap between different school’s SAT Subject Test requirements for similar majors. By carefully researching the requirements of each school on your list, you’ll likely find that it won’t take more than three exams to satisfy your various schools’ SAT Subject Test requirements.

What Are The Goals of SAT Subject Tests For Future Pre-Law, Poli Sci, or International Relations Majors?

SAT Subject Tests showcase your skills and mastery of specific subject areas. Your Subject Tests are an opportunity to demonstrate your preparation for your major or field of choice. So what skills and strengths should a prospective pre-law, political science, or international relations major show?

Show writing abilities. Much of your work as a pre-law, poli sci, or international relations major will involve absorbing ideas and facts from texts—and communicating your own understanding and theories through written work. Admissions officers will pay particular attention to writing and reading abilities of prospective social science majors.

Show textual comprehension skills. You also need to show that you can quickly comprehend, pull facts from, and draw conclusions from dense, lengthy texts. These skills will be essential for everything from day-to-day course readings to term papers to research and case studies that you might read or conduct.

Show math and data proficiency. Though reading and writing will form the foundation of your work as a pre-law, poli sci, or international relations major, these majors (and all of the social sciences!) increasingly rely on data analysis and statistics. This means that the strongest applicants to these majors will demonstrate a firm grasp of basic math and data analysis.

Show language and cultural skills. Prospective international relations majors can boost their applications by demonstrating language and cultural skills. International relations majors can go on to varied careers, from policymaking to academia to diplomacy. In all these settings–and during your undergraduate studies–an ability to engage with other cultures (and ideally understand other languages!) will serve you well.

With these goals in mind, let’s take a look at which SAT Subject Tests you should consider.