<p>i'm applying to exeter, concord, andover, and a very selective day school near me. I am thinking about milton and st pauls.</p>
<p>You're all making me nervous for my test on December... I never would've thought it was that hard. And what's worse is I won't even have a chance to retake it. I hope I don't run out of time. I'm definitely going to practice more.</p>
<p>If you left it blank, do you get minus points??</p>
<p>I hope your scores are still going to be pretty decent. Maybe you guys just got a bad one... They change the questions at every test, right?</p>
<p>No, you're not truly "marked down" for problems left blank, but no points are added, either. Essentially, you lose 1 point, because the SSAT calculates the number correct, and then subtracts a quarter of a point for those left wrong. </p>
<p>If on the verbal portion of the test, for example, I answered 45 problems correctly, left 5 blank, and got 10 wrong, I would take the 45 correct problems and subtract 1/4 of 10 (2.5). My end result would be 42.5/60.</p>
<p>If you want to caculate your score by taking away the number wrong (which isn't advised), you would take 60 and subtract 1 point for every problem left blank, and 1.25 for those that are incorrect, I believe...</p>
<p>Thanks, Cinnamon.</p>
<p>Guessing won't do me any good then...</p>
<p>Yes, that's what I found frustrating. I'm the "answer-everything-no-matter-what" girl, and it was extremely difficult for me to leave a problem blank when I was unsure of the answer. They set up the SSAT to penalize guessing, which obviously isn't to our benefit in many cases...</p>
<p>Haha. I know. I also hate leaving problems blank. Even in minor quizzes in school, I end up writing down whatever sounds okay, even if I know my answer's going to be wrong.</p>
<p>Are you going to retake the test? Anyway, I'm sure you did better than you thought.</p>
<p>also, why is everyone saying the privave question was weird? It wasn't that strabge, it just connectd individual privacy to society.....whatever tho the reading was good for me</p>
<p>Statistically speaking, if you lose a 1/4 point for incorrect answers and you can eliminate some choices, guessing becomes your friend.</p>
<p>If you have a 50% chance of getting the correct answer -- having eliminated all but two choices and get penalized 25% for guessing incorrectly, you might want to consider guessing.</p>
<p>Guessing is a bad choice if you've run out of time and just want to bubble in answers. You lose 25% and only have a 20% chance of bubbling in the correct answer.</p>
<p>It's not the best strategy for all. Some people tend to psychoanalyze each question and lose valuable time wondering if they're being tricked into bubbling in the wrong answer after they've eliminated some choices. </p>
<p>But in terms of a return on your investment, if you eliminate 2 of 5 choices, your expected return is (.33 x 1) + (.33 x -.25) + (.33 x -.25) = 1/6 (a positive number). </p>
<p>And if you eliminate 3 of 5 choices, your expected return is (.5 x 1) + (.5 x -.25) = .375. That's pretty good for guessing! </p>
<p>And remember, these returns are weighed against a 100% chance of getting 0 if you don't bubble in an answer. Mathematically, your choice is to guess and get .375 or don't guess and get 0.</p>
<p>With just 1 answer eliminated, there's still some reward to guessing...though it's very dicey with a small pool of these "bets" to make over the course of a single test:</p>
<p>(.25 x 1) + (.25 x -.25) + (.25 x -.25) + (.25 x -.25) = 0.0625</p>
<p>Most test prep courses will advise you to take the .0625 return. I would think about this one. At the very least, I would mark this down for revisiting at the end if I had extra time. Getting a 0 on this wouldn't be so bad since that's close to the return you'd get anyway. But I would invest time in this one at the very end, after grabbing as many points as I could, by coming back to it and trying to eliminate more choices (or maybe even be certain of the answer by letting the subconscious puzzle over it while you're resolving other questions).</p>
<p>With 0 answers eliminated, there's no benefit to guessing:</p>
<p>(.2 x 1) + (.2 x -.25) + (2. x -.25) + (.2 x -.25) + (.2 x -.25) = 0</p>
<p>cate_intl: Personally for advice I would study vocab words, go over basic math, and the reading comp is just a build up over time. Practice writing an essay on less then a page in 25 min. The best thing to do when you take the test is just be awake and relax.</p>
<p>Good luck and I will tell you my scores when i get them. I think I did pretty decent.</p>