@fire18 your kids will HAVE to take the SSAT with ABC in September. They did administer the ISEE also I believe for the NYC area but didn’t for Boston. They do encourage sitting both tests to see which one your child has stronger scores in. I signed up my daughter for the ISEE which she did electronically and we got the results the next day. The very next weekend, she sat the ABC administered SSAT. You should get the testing out of the way as soon as possible because if they have to sit it again, there’s time. One of my daughter’s friends received only one referral for this very reason— her scores weren’t available in time due to a resit. ABC won’t go forward with the referral if the scores aren’t above a certain percentage.
Question. I am in the Midwest Region my son was accepted into the cohort but we have not yet received his score from the SSAT placement exam. I have no idea what him preliminary score was. Has anyone else received scores?
We always receive the benchmark score within about 2 weeks of testing. Email your director. I’m sure they can screen shot it to you.
Last year ours didn’t come until about a month later.
Didn’t get the score either but my son been doing the free website and bought him the Kaplan SSAT/ISEE prep book 2018-2019 on amazon. Schedule to go on Sunday in Boston.
We received my sons scores Friday afternoon.
@Momto4kids we now have scores in hand and I hope you don’t mind a few questions. As you have children who have been placed in prior years, what would be a strong composite score for placement? My son was in the 90’s for verbal but just over midrange for math. (The opposite of your son) Also, what study methods and/or resources have you found to be most effective for improving the score?
What is your region?
Midwest. Wildcat as in Northwestern University?
Ha! No as in The Westminster Schools in Atlanta.
I ask for your region because it will have some effect what local scores/bar for day schools. Boarding schools, as you can imagine, need strong even/balanced scores - below 95 require a stronger app than above 95. I’ve heard scores as low as -80 for kids from elite days schools, demonstrated academic history, strong extra curriculars, and strong grades.
In Atlanta a “decent” day School will accept as low as 50 if all other areas are strong - and they have a “strong” need for Minority applicants
The Latin School of Chicago is our best local day school option. The Headmaster is an A Better Chance Alum. Now that we have begun the process we are hoping for a top tier boarding school. My son would like to find a school with an orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber music program and private oboe instruction. We are also hoping for a school that has a strong college prep curriculum, especially in the humanities. An IB program would be icing on the cake. Nothing wrong with dreaming big.
You won’t find IB programs at the top top schools (for a number of reasons). Maybe Capstone. All ABC member schools are going to be at least “good” in terms of College Prep, it’s more about theme/approach that suits your child. Reverse engineer - start from the most probable dream colleges and work backwards. Some schools are loved more by certain colleges than by other colleges. Mistake I made - My two oldest graduated from a school which did not have a history of placing students at the schools I wanted them to go… it was an “ugly” fight (loooong story). They ended up going, but with only a “modicum” of assistance from the school.
In my experience, either the music/arts program is “good” or unbelievable. You won’t find a “bad” one. Most will provide experiences that will more than please.
Thank you so much for your insight Wildcat2023. My learning curve is steep with regard to boarding schools. The CC boards have been invaluable in this regard. Our cohort welcome/orientation is Sunday and that will probably my son’s only chance to be observed by and interact with with the program administrators. He won a scholarship and full financial aid to two academic programs so he will not physically be attending the workshops this summer. I am just thankful that our regional staff is willing to accommodate his schedule. I will really be dependent on the parent connections that I hope to make this weekend and on this board to fill any gaps in information that we may miss. Attending the workshops via webinar will be less than ideal.
Gladly! I am new to this medium, feel free to reply to this thread. ABC is wonderful. This will be 9 Years I’ve had a child in the Program
I have googled how to read/understand the SSAT score…confusing me more. Any help?
I found the link to the SSAT website included with the score sheet to be very helpful. There is a video on the site specifically about the middle and upper SSAT.
@10boeMom followed the link but not clear on the percentile section
“•Scaled Score Percentile Rank: The scaled score percentile rank is a score which has values from 1 to 99. It compares performance to other students taking the same examination.” which is good higher percentile or lower? my son has an average of 80% to 10%.
Then scores basically mean that there is a percentage of children, same age, gender who sat the exam who did better. For instance with a percentile of 80, it means that 20 percent of kids scored higher. Therefore, higher percentile is more desirable. With that being said, test scores are not everything— the entire application will be taken into account.
@1OboeMom is your son willing to go anywhere in the country for boarding school? If so, it sounds like chances are great for him!