<p>Our family is new to the private school application process and looking for advice from parents who may have encountered similar issues in the past. My s would like to attend private high school. He is a straight A student who scored very low on the math section of the SSAT. He is a solid athlete (not D1) and has other quality ec's. He is very personable and has had great interviews, and (I suspect) will have equally great recommendations. He has prepped, will prep some more and will retake the test but he is not going to end up in the 90th percentile. </p>
<p>I realize these scores will knock him from contention at the top schools but what are his chances at other schools. Has anyone else had a son or daughter not do well on the test and still have options?</p>
<p>Have him take it again. Tell him to recognize:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>hard questions shouldn’t take longer than a minute. There are no extra points for sticking with a problem he doesn’t understand until he solves it. Move on and come back to it.</p></li>
<li><p>a single low score on an otherwise strong set of scores isn’t the end of the world</p></li>
<li><p>take it over. Some schools will pull the best scores from multiple tests.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It happens and it’s not a deal breaker. Some students have test anxiety, or just blank out. Do try to test again though. If you are nervous you can report the scores after you see them (it costs more that way, but it might give you peace of mind).</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouragement. He will take them again and I did wait to send them which turned out to be a good thing. I think a large part of it is the test taking strategy as he did not omit hardly any. Hopefully he will improve the next time around.</p>
<p>Are his scores truly “dismal,” or merely disappointing? Often, especially on this site, people have unrealistically high expectations for test performance. Was the numerical score poor, or were you simply dissatisfied with his percentile ranking. The percentiles are based on other boys in his grade. My older son’s percentile ranking for math was much, much lower than for verbal, although the numerical scores were similar. He had a great eighth-grade algebra teacher, though, and so he improved his score by 50 points and his percentile by 24. His first score placed him in the 55th percentile, which one admissions officer said was typical for American public school students - international students (no surprises here) dominate the upper deciles in math.</p>
<p>No, it was truly dismal. I would not be worried about a 55th percentile since I think his school record, recs and interview would compensate. Also, I am not sure what a “bad” numerical score would be but I thought it was acceptable. Obviously it was lower than the verbal scores. I am hopeful that it was just test anxiety and he will do better next time. Did your older son end up where he (and you) wanted?</p>
<p>I think there are many schools that accept kids with non-stellar scores. They just don’t happen to get covered much here on CC because of the general obsession with ACRONYM schools.</p>
<p>That said, I would reach out to the AOs at schools he loves and ask point blank: “Is this going to be a deal breaker?” They probably won’t simply say “No” or “Yes”, but instead give you some unsatisfying “It depends…” type answer. But you can read between the lines and make your judgement then.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, this might be a situation where an educational consultant could help immensely.</p>
<p>My D did not do well at all on her SSAT, but she got in to a great BS as a day student (no, it is not one of the ACRONYM schools though 
) Her grades/recommendations and interview outweighed the SSAT according to the admissions office.</p>
<p>Dramamama - Our family history with boarding schools is somewhat complicated. My husband and I both attended traditional, single-sex boarding schools. I felt I benefitted enormously from the experience; he has always been ambivalent (he certainly felt that the all-male environment was unnatural). We live in a town with a very highly-rated public school system, and we expected to keep our kids in public school here. Middle-school was one uninterrupted nightmare for our elder son, and I decided that - even if we had to eat cat food and live in our car - he needed to go away. He was not altogether crazy about the idea, but after some successful experiences away from home at summer camp, and some campus visits, he warmed to the concept. He is a very bright, talented underachiever, whose grades deteriorated steadily. He also got into trouble at school regularly. He had excellent extracurricular activities, and his SSATs were strong. He did not apply to the very top tier, or “ACRONYM,” schools. The most selective was the school his father, uncle, and paternal grandfather attended (we skipped Andover, where the men in my family went). He wasn’t accepted anyplace, but one school (the least prestigious, but the one he actually liked “second-best”) deferred their decision, pending final grades and behavioral report. They offered him a place that summer, and he is now a senior - it has not been a smooth ride, by any means, but he’s still there. Our younger son had solid, but unspectacular SSATs - all in about the 75th percentile, but was a much stronger student. He graduated from middle school as a Presidential Scholar with High Honors, and also had a wealth of extracurricular activities, and yet his first two choices rejected him (he was well ahead of the statistical curve at one of them), while the third accepted him with no financial aid. He received a nice aid package (about 45%) from the school his brother attends, and he is also thriving there as a sophomore. So, two very different boys are at the same school, although it was not a top choice for either. It is convenient for parents to have them together, and the school is not too far away. Things have a way of working out.</p>
<p>Stagemum, I agree that things have a way of working out. Testing aside, he really is a top student. We have looked at a range of schools and he has a solid list of reaches, possibles and probables. Even before he received his scores I was doing my best to manage his expectations. I am not worried about his getting into the “best” school but I do want him to attend the school that is best for him. Both my husband and I went to public school and then went on to top LACs. My older son also went to the local hs and is now at a top LAC but although the hs is highly rated it is still a public hs and my older son often got lost in the crowd.</p>
<p>Obviously you’ll want to be sure the rest of the application provides enough assurance that your son is every bit the student you believe that he is. I would inform his math recommendation person of his SSAT score and ask that s/he include an comprehensive assessment of his math skills that could help overcome the scores. If he took other national tests over the past year or two, and the numbers paint a different picture from the SSAT, the recommendation will ideally include those scores and a confirmation by the teacher, based on firsthand observations, that the other test scores are, in the case of your son, a more accurate depiction of the kind of math student and analytical thinker he is in the classroom. Sometimes students have the aptitude but lack test experience or they haven’t blossomed in mathematics yet…but are beginning to do so. A teacher can address these things and move an admission officer past one set of numbers that you believe may be a road block.</p>
<p>Just to give you some comfort that SSAT scores are not the be-all and end-all of the admission process, my son scored 99% (maybe a 98% for one section…it’s been a few years now and, frankly, these things don’t matter so much over time so I can’t say for sure) and he was flat out rejected by plenty of schools! And – in retrospect, knowing what I know now and after speaking with several admission officers – I think they made wise decisions at those schools that rejected him. It wasn’t even one of those “well, it’s just a crap shoot” deals. They carefully considered the entire application and – as far as I’m concerned – did him (and us) a huge favor by taking their school off the table as an option he might have latched on to.</p>
<p>A stellar and credible math recommendation that provides lots of detail and juicy information will reveal more than a number. That recommendation could easily swing the balance. So consider scheduling a meeting with that teacher if it’s feasible to discuss your son’s math abilities. You don’t have to go so far as to press hard for specific items. But if you have a discussion that probes hard at your son’s strengths and limitations with math and analytical thinking, it can’t help but become a mental reference point for the teacher as s/he sits down to write the recommendation.</p>
<p>But if he doesn’t get in to the school he’s charmed by now, consider that it may not be on account of his SSAT scores or even on account of fate. There’s always the possibility that schools that reject him are helping you make an informed and wise decision because those schools may not be best-suited for him.</p>
<p>Yep,</p>
<p>Schools are quietly acknowledging that many “coached” and “tutored” students are skewing the overall averages. One need only look at the recent arrests in NY of students who paid people to take their SAT’s and SSAT’s.</p>
<p>The schools will look at the entire child’s application not just the scores. Public school students tend to score lower especially if their schools are stuck chasing the State exams to meet their annual No Child Left Behind Objectives.</p>
<p>Get a test prep book, read the front matter (all of it) which talks about how the test is structured, then go over some sample questions in each section with him. I’m tutoring urban students on ACT right now and the number one cause of low test scores for them is not knowing what the test was asking them to do. </p>
<p>For one student, the problem is severe test anxiety. Knows the material backwards and forwards, then tests and crashes. She said she felt like throwing up during the test. So we’re working on strategies she can use to stay calm and centered during the test.</p>
<p>If you go over some questions with your son (use a timer because being able to do a question in the time limit is key) and see where he stumbles. That might help.</p>
<p>But don’t sweat it too much. Do your best. Then apply to a wide range of schools that fit his personality. Sometimes its not the scores that impacts an applicant - just that there isn’t enough space for them all.</p>