Boarding School Test Scores

Hello,

I am a rising 7th grader and the public school I go to isn’t that great academic wise. I’ve always ranked the top of my class and have been put into the gifted and talented program at my school because I would always excel in my classes. I am applying to top boarding schools/prep schools this fall for 8th grade placement but if I don’t get into the schools I want I will apply for high school because during high school there are more options. During admissions to these schools, you have to take the SSAT and/or ISEE. I am taking the SSAT in 2 days and the ISEE in 8 days. I have realized that the current school I go to does not do well teaching fundamental topics you need in order to answer majority of the questions on the ISEE and SSAT. I have been doing poorly on my SSAT and ISEE practice tests because I don’t have a full grip on those fundamental topics. The first time I took an SSAT middle level practice test, my overall score was the 1st percentile. The last SSAT practice test I took, my total score was the 19th percentile, my verbal section percentile was 41st and my reading was 24th but my math sections don’t look too great, therefore it brings my total percentile below 30. I plan to take full practice tests again so I can improve because again I wasn’t 100% focused on the last practice test I took.

I took an 8 week SSAT practice course with Test Innovators this summer that went over math, verbal, writing, and reading questions that you would see on the test and how to answer them but it was during the summer; plus it was 3 hours a day covering all sections of the SSAT and I didn’t take full advantage of the course because I didn’t take it as serious as I should have. They recorded each class so I am going to go back and watch the recordings of the areas I am struggling with. I don’t think im going to do well on the SSAT or the ISEE because I fail to grip onto those core topics you need to get a high percentile on the tests.

I am also in the A Better Chance Cohort if anyone is familiar with this program. If not, it’s a program that helps POC get into the top prep schools. ABC wants you to get the 30th percentile or above on the SSAT and no less than a 4 stanine score on the ISEE.

Please let me know some ways I can intensely study so I can raise my total percentile. I take the SSAT in 2 days and I probably won’t do too well but I have more time to intensely study for the ISEE so worst case scenario I can always submit whatever test I do better on because usually people do better on a certain test.

PLEASE HELP!!

Oh boy! Well if it reassures you, the reading and verbal sections are totally random. I was able to increase from a 50-60 ish reading to 90 between tests, so it’s possible you get easier questions and words.

But one can only bring up their score by so much in such little time. If it’s in your interest, I suggest looking at schools more around your highest official ssat score.

You are only in 7th grade right now, so you won’t apply for another year. That could explain the 1-40 percentiles. That gives lots of time to improve that score for when you apply to high school.

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At this point, the best thing you can do is take official practice tests. Print them off, answer all of the questions, then score them. When you’re scoring them, mark what ones you got wrong, but do not write down the correct answer. Then go back to the questions you got wrong and try to answer them a second time. Most reading and verbal questions are written with two obviously incorrect answers, and two answers that are fairly similar. And redoing the math questions should lower the chance that accidental calculation errors are messing up your score. After answering the wrong questions for a second time, check the answer key again. For the questions that you got wrong the first time, but correct the second, ask yourself why you made an error initially, and make sure that you understand the concept. If there are still incorrect questions, use the internet to find similar examples or explanations, and make sure that you understand why the correct answer is right.

I would also not recommend that you time yourself on the practice tests. Judging by your scores, I think it would be most benefial to work through the problems without the stress of time constraints. Your main issue seems to be learning the actual concepts, so adding in time management won’t help until you learn the topics you are struggling with.

I also cannot help but ask what you are considering “top boarding schools”. Even if you are able to improve your score into the 30s range, I would suggest casting a very wide net, and searching for schools beyond the one’s most commonly mentioned. ABC should help you with this.

You seem to be a decent writer, based off your above post, and I know that you mentioned that the academics at your current school are subpar. I think that if you want to do better on the SSAT you really need to force yourself to sit down and study. You’re unlikely to improve very much in two days (one now), but I assume that you plan to retake the test again at some point. You need to indentify exactly what topics you struggle with, and put in the work to learn them. Try setting up a calendar and mapping out exactly when you plan to study leading up to your next exam.

Best of luck!