Does anyone have any suggestions for books and strategies for SSAT preparation? My daughter needs to get her scores up to be competitive for admission next year. Practice test was really bad for reading comprehension - that is where we need the most help.
Anecdotal. My daughter had a few terrible practice tests with RC. Tried to re-calibrate with tutor to use “her” method (not my daughter’s). Daughter refused. I was annoyed. But it was her choice. Daughter got an 800.
Go to Amazon. Pull the three most commonly sold prep books. Use them. Hope for the best. A chill kid is the best approach.
Your local library likely has copies of several of publisher books and multiple years’ worth.
The SSAT redesigned the test a few years ago. This site describes some of the changes–but keep in mind this was written before the changes took effect: http://www.varsitytutors.com/blog/the+updated+ssat.
I would recommend the SSAT guides written by the SSAT, available on the website. The SSAT states they never release their tests.
To increase reading comprehension, perhaps it would be best to work on that. Give her an essay to read every few days. Ask her to summarize it in a few sentences. Private schools work on “active reading.” This description from Princeton’s McGraw Center is a good guide: https://www.princeton.edu/mcgraw/library/for-students/remember-reading/[/url.] There are probably other good pointers on that site–that just came up on a search for active reading.
Reading also helps. If she’s too busy to read, she needs time to read. Choose both books she enjoys, and can read well, and books which she finds somewhat dry and challenging. Something which advances an argument is useful, because she will need to discern whether the argument is persuasive.
I have always recommended that one use SSAT scores (even on practice tests) to help shape your “apply to” list, rather than hoping for higher scores.
I know that some have reported using tutors/multiple test sittings to successfully raise scores and ostensibly raise chances for admission to the more- and most-selective schools. But IMO, and for SSATs moreso than SATs/ACTs, I think letting the results be the results is a wise choice.
Because let’s say your daughter gets a 99%-ile score after multiple sittings and a lot of tutoring/prep. She might find herself admitted to schools at which she will really have to fight every day just to keep her head above water in terms of workload/rigor.
Again, IMO, RC is one of those things when someone asks me how to raise the scores, I can only say “Start your kid reading as early as possible and encourage them to read as much as possible as soon as they can read.” Real working vocabularies and comprehension don’t come from flash-cards. Again, just my opinion.
Yup, lots and lots of reading helps R/C.
I wonder if “above-level” testing/prep would help.
My kids took SAT in 7th grade January for talent search programs, CTY etc. They did not prep a lot but did look at a couple of official SAT tests over several weeks, one section per week or so. Afterward, I think, SSAT seemed much easier to them.
I actually enjoyed reading some of the texts in SAT R/C. They are good reading material.
DC says the best thing was taking lots of full-length practice tests to get used to the pacing. Hated doing them, but still thinks it’s what helped the most. Helped DC feel a little more “chill” when taking the real thing.
@SevenDad, I respectfully, and heartedly, disagree with this comment:
“Because let’s say your daughter gets a 99%-ile score after multiple sittings and a lot of tutoring/prep. She might find herself admitted to schools at which she will really have to fight every day just to keep her head above water in terms of workload/rigor.”
If your kid is getting a 99% they didn’t start at a 60%. Maybe they started at a a 75- 80% and they were unfamiliar with the test, weren’t big on studying vocab lists, or whatever the thing is between 80% and 99%. And in many cases, they might not have seen the material yet, especially for math. Furthermore, the implication is that the SSAT is the lead determinant of success in BS and the average SSAT of the incoming class (85-90% for the top schools) is all “natural” and somehow your kid is the one tutored up to that 99%.
All these scores, and averages, need to be taken with a grain of salt. There are plenty of kids with 85% on their SSATs who do absolutely fine and plenty of kids with 99% and atrocious work habits who don’t. I would hate a parent or kid to read this online and worry that somehow, taking an SSAT class, doing well with it, and then getting into a great school would somehow be a bad thing and they should go to a school where the average SSAT score was lower based on this fact pattern.
I do agree that the school, and more importantly the parents, guides the student to take an academically appropriate workload in high school. Taking Honors or AP courses just because they are the most rigorous thing offered can be an error. Transcripts, advisors, and intellectual honestly help there. No one wants these kids to fail. So if a parent has concerns about this, err on side of conservative freshman-year academic placement. There’s plenty of time to adjust that once they understand the rigor of the institution.
I would add: There’s probably a difference between some tutoring and “A LOT OF TUTORING.” We used a tutor, and the biggest thing that the tutor helped with was a) content that yet to be taught in the curriculum and b) test strategies (guessing vs. leaving blank–makes a big difference).
I think these are meaningful distinctions because a) the math content taught was still taught in the schools, but just after the test dates–so it’s been “learned” prior to high school and b) SSAT test strategies are a legitimately unique animal. For example, there is no correlation to understanding the optimal way to guess for score maximization and success in high school–and in fact, it’s viewed as such an anomaly that the SAT has now removed the assymetrical guessing “benefit” as it was viewed to unduly penalize kids who didn’t get tutoring.
I do believe that for most students if you are going back to the well 3 or more times to eke out an incremental point or two, it doesn’t matter. Two tests seems to be the sweet spot for the vast majority of kids we know, with some tutoring on the above points that were highlighted after the first test.
@“Mr.Wendal”: I can totally see (and agree with) your POV. Thanks for chiming in to give online info-seekers another perspective to temper my own.
I guess my main concern with folks who “over prep” their kids is that they are chasing some mythical score threshold that they think will unlock the gates to the most selective schools in the land. I’ve shared my own family’s story that our older daughter was a 2380+ SSAT scorer and still got rejected from one of the more selective schools…point being that scores ain’t everything.
But that said, I was told by an AO at one of the selective schools that “Anything in the mid 80%-ile and up and we know they can do the work.” So if applying to one of those schools, shooting for an 85%-ile isn’t a bad idea.
But what if your kid is just a 75%-ile test taker? My advice in this case is to NOT chase the higher scores nor chase the most-selective schools. Look past the “big names” at schools where you kid might be a bigger fish.
I’ve espoused this POV for years but it always seems that new folks come to the forum with their hearts set on the biggest names — even if their scores/grades might not put them in the top of the applicant pools for those schools.
BTW, is your name some nod to the Arrested Development song?
@skieurope I am noticing above that SevenDad tried to tag Mr.Wendal as I have unsuccessfully tried in the past, but it didn’t “complete”. Is this because of the “.” in the name? Any way to make it work?
@SevenDad We’re on the same page. I think that admissions’ officers comment is spot-on and I agree it is challenging to be intellectually honest about best fit when the perceived prestige can be varied.
And I would also agree that as much as one can understand intellectually that “half of each class admitted will be in the bottom half of the class”–there is a parent’s reflexive pre-matriculation response of “yeah, but not my kid.” They can’t all be right. This isn’t Lake Wobegon.
There was a great comment from the Admissions’ Dean at one of the revisits we attended, “Trust us. Your child deserves to be here.” I do believe that 99% of the time, if your kid gets into a school, the Admission office had adequate information to make an informed decision about their likelihood of academic success.
And yes:
Mr. Wendal has freedom
A free that you and I think he’s dumb
Free to be without the worries of a quick to diss society
For Mr. Wendal’s a bum
And FA.
Hitting the sweet spot of 85% might not be good enough at the most competitive schools if you need significant financial aid. As most folks agree that the applicants with FA needs are in a discrete admissions cohort, standardized tests are one of the best ways to get some notice and some cash. If you(r kid) can get the high high 90s on the SSAT, that’s not gonna hurt 'em when it comes time for the FA admissions decisions, especially if you(r kid) is not otherwise attractive because of a superior non-academic talent.
For the FA applicants, the @SevenDad strategy of checking out the mean and median SSAT data at some schools beyond the most famous can help give you some idea of where you(r kid) might be a standout and (possibly more) likely to get the big FA offer–as long as you are sincere about wanting to attend the school and show genuine, believable interest in the school and don’t act like you’re treating their school as a safety cuz you really wanna go to Andover or Choate or where ever even though you got a low 80 somethin’ on the SSAT.
(Especially for FA families) getting an admission to a boarding school you(r kid) really want(s) to attend is a game, so learn the rules and play smart and play hard.
No one would argue that SSAT is “everything”. Just because it’s not everything doesn’t mean a high score wouldn’t give one a competitive edge in admission and FA. A rigorous school would gladly accept a student who has excellent grades, good recommendations and meaningful EC involvement AND who has achieved a high 90% in SSAT with “a lot of prep”. That student wouldn’t be the one who would fail academically, to say the least. On the other hand, with or without prep, if a high score is about all one can offer, chances are they wouldn’t be admitted. The point is that one shouldn’t judge one’s ability to succeed in a rigorous school only by looking at the initial SSAT scores they get. If they can achieve a higher score with the prep they can fit in their schedule (sometimes for a young teen, to be able to handle all the school work, test prep and ECs is a challenge), a high score with a second sitting is nothing to be ashamed of and might be what’s needed.
I am a 10th grader and I have never commented on the parents board before but for this topic I couldn’t resist :-S :-? . I took my SSATs last year and I used was the Kaplan book but I was really struggling with my public school vocabulary. I started studying the Greek and Latin roots to help with the verbal section. I loved it so much I am now taking an online Latin course! If your child has time just to learn same basic roots I know that my verbal score shot through the roof. Just a thought! 
@Applenotfar I fixed the post for @SevenDad . Yes, a period or a space will not let the tag work correctly. One can get around it by putting a quote sign after the @ and another one at the end of the name.
I just needed to put my two cents in here for what it’s worth. I’ve been frequently taken a bit aback by comments stating that one should look for schools with an SSAT average lower than yours, particularly if one is requesting FA. My DS attends one of the “big name” schools and actually had an SSAT score a few points lower than the average and we receive loads of FA. I think that the SSAT score can be a bit misleading at times. I have come to see that the education that many kids are receiving at the public middle schools in not equal to the education that many are receiving at the top private middle schools. I personally think that a kid who gets a mid 80s score and is coming from a not so great middle school shouldn’t be compared below the person coming from an excellent private school (who has been prepped since kindergarten for the test) who gets a high 90s SSAT. There are numerous factors which affect one’s scores.
I’ve heard some parents say that their kids took the test cold and received fantastic scores and that in some way means that they would be more successful at XYZ school. I know that in my kid’s middle school they aren’t even offering Algebra to most kids, where at most private schools it is a given that a child will finish Algebra by 8th. We shouldn’t be too quick to judge parents who use tutors to improve scores when perhaps that child hasn’t come from an affluent private school. Is it fair to compare a math class or English class in different types of schools. Many kids have been prepped for this test from a very young age, in our case we hadn’t even heard of an SSAT until the summer before my son’s eighth grade year.
I think this is why many AOs will report that an 85 or above is considered a reasonable score.
The SSAT isn’t just testing one’s academic potential. In many ways it is affected by one’s early educational experiences and in no way are all eduational experiences equal!
^^ I’ll raise my hand as well with first-hand experience.
when do most kids start SSAT prep?
From what we saw, most kids that knew they were going to take the tests in the fall would start some sort of prep over the summer (maybe a book or two or a diagnostic practice test) and then intensified it in certain areas in the fall once they got a handle on their strengths and weaknesses.