<p>My son took the SSAT in October as a placement test for his current school (scores not released yet). He also took the test today for boarding school applications, and thought that is was MUCH harder than the October test. In addition, it had 5 sections instead of 4. He usually knocks standardized tests out of the park, but he's feeling unsure about this one. For those of you who also took the Nov. 10 test, what did you think?</p>
<p>Note that each test is scaled…so that a lower raw score on harder test may result in the same scaled score as a higher score on an easier test.</p>
<p>I took the test today, but had nothing to compare it to. I did think it was weird to have a mixed set of 16 questions at the end from all of the categories. My test prep book did not tell me about this. For me the math and reading sections were as I expected, but the verbal section a bit more challenging. Others in my group did comment that they thought it was difficult and they would receive low scores. </p>
<p>SevenDad: Is it true they scale a harder test? How do they determine how much to scale it?</p>
<p>I had written to SSAT a few years ago about regarding scaling (actually my question is whether it is ever impossible to get an 800 on a given section). Here is their response, which speaks to the existence of a a range of difficulty from test admin to test admin:</p>
<p>When creating many editions of a test, it is impossible to make them exactly the
same level of difficulty. Though the differences are very small, there will
always be “easier” and “harder” forms.</p>
<p>Therefore, SSAT statistically determines the “level of difficulty” of each new
test section through pretesting. Pretest takers write both a baseline form and
a new test form. The sections are scored and the resulting data allows SSAT to
create a difficulty factor. This factor indicates how much easier or harder the
new test form is in comparison to the baseline form. This factor, which
compensates for the very small differences in difficulty, is applied to a
student’s raw score just before it is converted to an SSAT Scaled Score.</p>
<p>If a form is easier than the baseline form, the raw score will be slightly
decreased. Likewise, if a form is harder than the baseline form, the raw score
will be slightly increased. At the SSAT possible score range extremes (low and
high) this anomaly is apparent, however, it can not be removed as long as the
“level of difficulty” of each form is taken into consideration. It is simply a
limitation of the scoring process.</p>
<p>That is very helpful! Thank you SevenDad!</p>
<p>I thought that it was fairly odd for there to be a 5th section. None of my books told me that so it was astonishing in some way.</p>
<p>Is the fifth section new, my princeton review book had NOTHING about it.</p>
<p>Here’s what I’d hazard…that fifth section may have been a “test” section that SSAT put on some forms to see if “pretested” questions have similar curves in the real world.</p>
<p>SevenDad, thanks for that great explanation. I told my son that the 5th section was probably some sort of baseline test. Other kids who took it with him also thought that it was more difficult than they had expected. At least it’s done!</p>
<p>I took the test in October; the 5th section was also on that test…retaking in December. We’ll see how that one turns out!</p>
<p>I took it today and the math section was really hard on me because I never took any geometry. Some of the verbal parts were really complicated as well, but the reading section was fairly easy.</p>
<p>I took the test in October and we had a 5th section. They told us it just random questions and not part of our scores. I am also going to take it in December to see if i can up my verbal</p>
<p>Did you guys do better or worse than you expected? I am just wondering for when I receive my results.</p>
<p>I thought it was pretty hard! I guess I’ll know in a couple of weeks. :/</p>
<p>It’s called “Experimental Section” and, although it doesn’t appear in practical tests, should be there in every real test. It’s 16 Qs in 15 min, as explained in the page 20 of the official SSAT prep book. It won’t be counted toward your score but used to develop future tests. This kind of experimental sections are common and you’ll also see in SAT, GRE, etc.</p>
<p>@Sharing – I knew it was an experimental section from friends who took it this year, but neither our dd nor her friends encountered it when taking last year’s tests, so perhaps it is only on “every real test” this year, or every few years, etc.</p>
<p>Anyone know if this is the case or if the extra section is “the new normal?”</p>
<p>does anyone know when we find out our results? i think i need to take it again in december:(</p>
<p>Maybe that is the case… my previous post was simply based on our experience (sample size=1) and what was stated in the official guide, which doesn’t say anything about the origin and frequency of the Experimental Section. Let me just quote what it says:</p>
<p>“SSATB is continuously creating new forms of the test to make sure it’s reliable and secure. This means that new questions have to be tested to determine if they are acceptable for the SSAT. Your exam might contain one of these sections, consisting of 16 questions. Although they don’t count towards your score, it’s important to take them seriously and do your best on them, since those questions will help build future tests for students like you. The experimental section takes just 15 minutes.”</p>
<p>I guess the word “might” in “Your exam might contain…” can be interpreted as it won’t necessarily appear in every test.</p>
<p>According to the guidebook, this section is scheduled to be the last section of the test. So even if the questions were unusual and weird to disrupt your rhythm somehow, students should be alright.</p>
<p>If you registered through the SSAT.org website, you should receive an email within 2 weeks with information about how to link to your scores. If you elected to have them mailed to you, it will take a bit longer. Students who took the Nov. 10th test can opt to cancel their scores before tomorrow (Tuesday, 11/12), but that should only be done if your truly think that you “bombed,” and fell far short of your abilities. If the scores are cancelled, you will not receive any indication of how you did. You can always sign up for the test in December, and then choose not to take it if you are happy with the scores that your received on the November test. However, I am not sure if you can get a refund for your test fees in this case.</p>
<p>SSAT scores are graded for each grade and gender group, so any given test might be more difficult, say, for an eighth grader than for a tenth grader. My eighth grader DD had felt her SSAT (practice and real) were quite challenging, in fact, compared to SAT but couldn’t be much happier with her scores in the end. </p>
<p>SSAT is a “standardized” test, meaning that prep schools need this test to calibrate academic performance of students across different schools in different states and countries. Without it, it’d be difficult to compare an A grade from one school to an A from another school. So my belief is that when a student have two quite different test scores - one good and one bad, prep schools take SSAT scores more aligned with classroom performance (GPA) and teacher recommendation letters more seriously than the ones that are not aligned. Of course, if a student’s performance before the test happened to be weak, then s/he should try the best to make it up.</p>
<p>Anyway, this is just my personal belief, but I think it’s quite reasonable. If a student wants to be certain, s/he should contact individual schools for exact policy; I don’t think one would be penalized for asking this question.</p>