<p>Taking it second time on January 8th. Nervous because i want to score in the higher 90s. Can anyone give advice in improving vocab and reading comprehension? Thanks for any answer</p>
<p>I’m using freerice.com for vocab.</p>
<p>For vocab, try memorizing some words… And reading comprehension, practice real questions and see if you can understand the diff types of questions and how to look for the answer. But if you really want to get a good score, then make sure you’re very focused on the day of the test. Don’t waste time making each of the circles perfect. Drink water at the breaks.</p>
<p>@dhurly- You haven’t studied, have you? If you’ve studied, then I’d think that you would know whether or not you can use a pencil/pen, or if you can use a calculator. Go look up that information in a book.</p>
<p>Been lurking for a while.</p>
<p>Tomorrow will be the first time I take the test so I thought I’d post. Any recommendations? I don’t expect to get higher than 60-70% overall after I did the practice tests; somehow my math is a problem. I do well in reading comprehension and the analogy part of verbal.</p>
<p>Seeing some of your scores is admittedly slightly discouraging, haha, but I don’t plan to get into top tier schools. I only want to get into a fairly good boarding school. And I don’t expect my scores to be that high, would this be a problem?</p>
<p>Also, good luck to everyone who’s taking the test!</p>
<p>EDIT: Oh, and I can only take the test once right? Since the school application deadline is coming soon. But some schools accept late applicants? Would be give me an opportunity to retake it in February?</p>
<p>quizlet.com is great for vocab to</p>
<p>@Teerin. There’s a Feb 5 test. Some schools you may consider will accept the Feb 5 test. If you’ve made the decision this late to apply, you may want to consider postponing for a year. What grade are you in now? If you’re an 8th grader, you may want to consider applying to a Junior boarding school for 9th grade and reapplying for 10th with a year of boarding under your belt.</p>
<p>@kraordrawoh </p>
<p>Hello. I appreciate your reply. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to postpone. I’m applying for 11th grade; I turned 16 a month ago. Is it really too late? Some schools state that they accept late applicants (and I’m not necessarily a late applicant, I can submit everything by the deadline bar the English/Math teacher recommendationsI do have a recommendation letter from the dean). I do realize it would be difficult. I do need to try and apply though as I’m currently “school-less”, long story.</p>
<p>Do SSAT scores matter that much? I’ve heard from some people that it doesn’t, while others say it does so I guess it depends.</p>
<p>I noticed the January SSAT has already begun in Oceania. They will begin very soon in Asia and if you have taken this test before the rest of the world, please do post your opinions about the test. </p>
<p>THANK YOU!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What an unnerving thought - that someone, somewhere in the world, is taking the SSAT right now. Uggh.</p>
<p>Teerin - My guess is that schools with a Feb. 1 deadline are likely to tolerate a Feb. 5 test date. Schools with a Jan. 15 deadline - probably not. But you should contact the schools directly, on Monday, to find out.</p>
<p>As for how important the scores are . . . we’d all like to know that!</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>@Teerin if you have your applications finished or close and can submit on time, then I’d say take your Jan test, register for the Feb just in case and keep right on studying through January. Have you thought carefully about your list of schools? Any special talents? (Sports, Music, Art, etc.)? These can be very important for fit as well as admission. There are also schools with rolling admissions which will take applications later on. Are you applying for 10th or 11th?</p>
<p>Please people who have already tajen it, please tell us how the exam was!!! DESPERATE</p>
<p>Hope it isn’t too hard. Ugh.</p>
<p>day of the exam… lets see how this works out</p>
<p>I did the test 9-10 hours ago, sorry I wasn’t home earlier. Here are my thoughts:</p>
<p>This was my first time ever doing the test. To be perfectly honest, it was surprisingly a lot easier than the practice tests I did on Barron’s. I do have the tendency to place high expectations on myself but unlike on the practice tests, I found the Quantitative sections very easy. The math was so unbelievably easy that I only omitted 2-4 questions while the rest was done with much confidence. And this is coming from someone whose main weakness is mathematics. If you guys do the same test, I’m sure you’ll do fine. </p>
<p>The Reading Comprehension was easy too, for me at least. I’ve always scored high on the Reading Comprehension section on practice tests so it’s not really that much of a surprise. Hope I’m not overestimating myself though. It’s basically common sense. There was only one poem too.</p>
<p>The essay topic sentence was “Small acts of caring are the ones that mean most to others” and they ask you to give your opinion on it—agree or disagree. I felt like I didn’t have enough time. 25 minutes only gave me time to plan and write a little more than half of the paper. And for some reason I referred to the film “Pay It Forward” in my essay; don’t know if that was a good idea. I couldn’t think of any other examples I could have used.</p>
<p>My problem was probably on the Verbal section. I could do analogies—most of them at least, like on the practice tests. But unfortunately I omitted a huge number of questions on vocabulary. Like expected, it started off with easy, familiar words, but then they move on to some words I haven’t even heard of (and I studied hundreds of words on Quizlet and Barron’s—maybe it wasn’t enough or I should have paid more attention to roots). I’m sure you guys would be fine though.</p>
<p>If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I’d be happy to help.</p>
<p>@kraordrawoh</p>
<p>I’m applying to 10th. I’m trying to look at schools with higher acceptance rate because I, at least, have to get into a school. I compete in division tennis and I’m very passionate for choir and filmmaking. I’ve looked at some schools that provide these extracurricular. Are schools with 30-45% acceptance rate difficult to get into? I’ve looked at Berkshire School and The Masters School (which attracted me since it has lots of extracurriculars like Glee Club and Film Club).</p>
<p>@dodgersmom</p>
<p>Thank you for your help. I’ve e-mailed the schools. I’m still patiently waiting for their reply though. I’m pretty sure school has resumed, is that right?</p>
<p>@teerin
which words did you find hard in the verbal ??
i found the reading quite hard actually</p>
<p>@minhtri1995 </p>
<p>Hi. I actually don’t remember. There were lots of words though. I’m sure most people here have a wider range of vocabulary than I do. I remember one word “chide”, and basically most of the other words on the last page bar “egress” which was in Barron’s.</p>
<p>What part of the Reading Comprehension section did you find difficult? If I may.</p>
<p>it was definitely the poem but I dont read poems much so thats why</p>
<p>@teerin: Don’t worry too much about the Verbal section. The percentiles are quite generous. I got 11 wrong, 3 omitted and still got in the 90s. Good Luck!</p>