<p>Ive talked to numerous schools and they have said that the SSAT is not that important, its just one of the many things they look at
Is that true?</p>
<p>Im just wondering because i will be doing the SSAT soon and Ive never done an exam like it, Im not american so im not used to the exam format, eg losing marks on questions</p>
<p>One other thing, its off topic but i dont want to make a thread for it,
“Of the elite boarding schools(just say top 10, maybe top 15 schools) which ones are the most relaxed, in terms of coursework,number of exams and even things just like friendliness of teachers?”</p>
<p>It’s only important if you get above or below a certain line. If you think about it, it is the only foolproof way adcoms can tell your academic ability–by statistics. Grades or teacher recs are not foolproof.</p>
<p>That being said, it is only one part of the admissions process, which is why so many students with 99 SSAT percentiles get rejected and say, students with lower 80 SSAT percentiles still get accepted sometimes. </p>
<p>So don’t freak out over it, but don’t underestimate its importance, either.</p>
<p>On some recent thread, someone pointed to the SSAT as a good predictor of how a student might fare at a given school.</p>
<p>For example, if the student is a 50th percentile and the school’s average is 90th, then that kid might really be struggling to keep up with his/her peers. So one can think of them as a component in the elusive “fit” equation.</p>