<p>My son does extremely well on SSAT practice test for verbal and reading (90+% level). His math numbers are currently lower (lower 80's%). When schools look at SSAT %'s are they looking for overall or individual percent. Thank you.</p>
<p>They usually look at individual percentiles, but one relatively low score will definitely not sink his ship.</p>
<p>They look at it all, but you’d be surprised at how little math pulls down the overall percent. My son scored in the high 60s on math, and yet still had a 92% overall.</p>
<p>It is generally believed that the verbal scores equate most directly with IQ and academic potential. A lower math score within range (say anything above mid 70s) with high verbal/comprehension scores shouldn’t negatively affect your child’s application.</p>
<p>The best answer is that it depends in the school. Each school considers it differently as a part of their process and you should make sure you ask during the interview. An office that knows how to properly read and interpret a score report relative to their applicant pool can tell you exactly what part of the score matters most to them in predicting student success (it is statistically different for each school).</p>
<p>The SSAT % is a rank order for comparison purposes. It compares your child’s scores to other students taking the test who are in the same grade/gender over the last 3 year period who sre also applying to independent schools, i.e a pretty self selected group of bright kids to begin with! The students actual score (what was his/her performance on the test in terms of questions answered right, wrong, or omitted) is the SSAT Scale Score. This is the number you should look to (and the number that most schools look at too).</p>
<p>Did you child take a practice test during a formal SSAT administration or with a prep company? did your child take the Middle Level test? I ask these two questions because if the test was not given or scored by SSATB- you cannot guarantee that the score you’re seeing is valid. No one other than SSATB can give you an actual score. If your child took the Middle level test as practice, you should know that there isn’t a correlations between performance on the middle level test as a predictor of performance on the Upper level test. The middle level test is designed for kids applying to grades 6-8 so if your 7th grader took it at the end of the year- he/she was at the top end of the students for which the test was intended so a high score would be expected whereas an 8th grader taking the upper level test (which is designed for kids applying to grades 9-11) may be at the lower end of an expected score on that level.</p>