<p>There assuming that you didn't get any extreme help for your application essay as well, my SSAT verbal teacher told me that the essay is only used to decide over two applicants they would really want to accept but only have space for one of them, in other case its used more as a last resort kinda thing.</p>
<p>Your SSAT verbal teacher!!?? You have a teacher for every section lol. Is that really necessary?</p>
<p>I have a teacher for every section, and it really helps.</p>
<p>I come from a rather more priveleged economic background and city, in the community I live in, almost EVERYONE gets prep for school work, standerized tests, and college.</p>
<p>Ya so do I, but I don't have a teacher for EVERY section lol. But ya thats crazy, you taking it this saturday?</p>
<p>It's pretty common actually I think haha...</p>
<p>Taking it on a flex in 2 weeks, how long you've prepped?</p>
<p>Ive already gotten 98% on it with about 2 months of non-rigorous preparation. I'm taking it again cuz my parents already paid for it and my math could be better.</p>
<p>i took five practice tests,
and got a 96.</p>
<p>wow all of you have teachers for the ssat???
does it really help that much?</p>
<p>i just got 2 prep books and studied for it... for about 2 months before the test (because that was when I decided I wanted to go to BS)</p>
<p>Dang... I only have one book to use... And I'm taking it in January with hardly or no prep at all...</p>
<p>which book do you have? i hardly used the peterson book anyways, the princeton one was way better.</p>
<p>on the whole, how important would you say SSAT scores are?</p>
<p>I'm using Kaplan's, but it's not very helpful because I need help in ALL of my subjects; and most of it talks about vocabulary and ISEE stuff.
I would say not THAT important. The admission officer told us that just if it wasn't really bad and the recs and grades were good, then it didn't matter much.
She said she would rather have an average scoring SSAT and fab. grade ( a kid who works hard ) and she stressed having it over a 99% SSAT score and low grades ( a student who isn't working as hard )</p>
<p>But the grades really depend on the type of school and how hard it is.
( I'm not applying to the top ten though, so it may be a different story )</p>
<p>BTW, when are you taking yours and how are you studying? Did you take it before?</p>
<p>i've only taken the november one... and not considering on taking any other one since I haven't got started on any of my essays yet (i decided to go to BS quite late- few months before) </p>
<p>i've never taken it or even heard of it before, and as for how I studied... well... for the verbal part I just made flashcards for the words in the princeton book (though I lost heart at about the 2nd page and looked over the words and got them into my head instead, which is what I did for the Kaplan words). </p>
<p>the analogies part in the princeton book I read over and understood the concept to it. I didn't really study the reading part much, just did their excercises (since reading is my best subject, I found that not much problem and scored really high on it), and the math wasn't that much of a problem either, since we had done most of it in school. I just went through all their excercises. The part I really bombed was the verbal part. I got in the 90's for both reading and math, but 70's on the verbal...</p>
<p>which schools are you applying to? good luck!</p>
<p>When I took the SSAT, we sat in the dining hall, around these big tables. Everyone at my table got a different essay topic. Mine was "Sometimes moving backwards is the way to move forwards" The girl next to me got "silence is better than noise" and someone else got "simple questions are the hardest to ask". hope this helped.</p>
<p>dining hall?</p>
<p>we all got different ones too- I think mine was by far the easiest! "Learning from experience is important"</p>
<p>yeah. there was this huge dining hall, and we sat at round tables. kind of like the harkness tables but actually a circle. and they had to 2 layers of spinny things on them (I'm assuming to pass around food) and during the break, there was like this mini buffet breakfast! with bagels, hot chocolate, oatmeal, fruits, and other stuff. yum!</p>
<p>I am SUCH a naive parent...We didn't consider boarding school until October.</p>
<p>My son had NO prep for the SSAT --He didn't even look at the practice questions on the website.</p>
<p>If I knew (and had the funds) to have a tutor for each section, my kid would have went off the deep end and opted for tech school -- </p>
<p>Seriously -- with tutors for each subject how do you find time for ec and regular school work?</p>
<p>I'm starting to panic and think my son isn't cut out for BS -- if this is how you study to get in, how time consuming is the academic workload once you are in? Would he get any sleep?</p>
<p>Not everyone has tutors, but most - I believe - do find the test prep books from Amazon.com or Borders and do some practice tests before taking the test (so I guess you are a little naive in that sense). Students at BS do have to work hard especially when you have to deal with the academic workload and participate in lots of EC's at the same time. It can be stressful. I know a family friend's child in his junior year of a top tier BS. He is doing great there but did mention that he hardly gets enough sleep and sometimes it is "not fun at all". Well, think about it and more importantly talk to your son and have him talk to "insiders" so knows the truth (or sometimes just possible scenarios) early on.</p>
<p>My daughter decided to consider boarding school a little before Thanksgiving last year. She worked on SSAT practice questions from the application a day or two before, but was too busy with regular school to do much. It all worked out fine. Remember that this board selects for people who may be slightly obsessive :)</p>
<p>Yes, you definitely don't need tutors to get good scores on SSAT. On the other hand, you want to be prepared if you are shooting for top tier schools. Although you don't have to score really high to get in one, but in such a competitive race you want every piece of your application to be as good as possible (remember the average SSAT for PA is 93%? just an indication of how competitive it can be.)</p>