<p>Good luck to everyone who is taking it tomorrow!</p>
<p>How did you guys prepare for it?</p>
<p>On my day off today I'm cramming in 100 new words.</p>
<p>Thanks! I’m really satisfied that I am prepared to the best of my abilities, except for on the essay which I am cramming for today also.</p>
<p>I have both the Kaplan and Princeton review books, and love them both. I have done two practice tests and gotten good scores on both, but I heard that the Princeton vocab is harder than on the actual test? Is there any validity to this statement?</p>
<p>Anyway, I have my vocab flash cards to study and I’m very confident about math and reading. </p>
<p>One question to those of you who have taken it before: how do you calm down before? I know that I will inevitably be crazed tomorrow at 6 am., and I want to remain calm for the test.</p>
<p>Thanks and good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>Same here and good luckkk! ^___^
I’m just going over some vocab/math…nothing new today. Keeping my mind sharp for tomorrow.
I have some tips particularly for the math section, if anyone’s interested.
- make sure you pay attention to the units on the question.
- just read carefully. there’s a lot of small details. sometimes i think the math section tests your reading skills more than math !
- process of elimination.</p>
<p>Sometimes on the verbal, I think, just try to get a feel of the word. Like how does it make you feel/what kind of connotation might it have? Of course this method is far from foolproof but it could help.</p>
<p>And to calm down–forget about your goals, boarding school blahhblahh, just concentrate on doing well on this test. One step at a time. </p>
<p>remember—we’re all rooting for you:)</p>
<p>@dramaswimmer: As the parent of an 8th grader who took the test last month with good results (higher scores than practice tests), here are my suggestions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I would actually advise you to use your nervous energy to stay pumped and positive for the test. Don’t try to fight that feeling, use it to your advantage.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know that I’d bring your flash cards in the car with you. Clear your mind.</p></li>
<li><p>Get a good night’s sleep. As in, lights out by 9 PM.</p></li>
<li><p>Get to the test facility on the early side, so you don’t have the stress of finding the right building.</p></li>
<li><p>Eat a balanced breakfast maybe even on the heavy side (so you don’t get hunger pangs mid test), but nothing that might cause a stomach ache.</p></li>
<li><p>My daughter has this thing about “motion that crosses the centerline of your body”…it’s supposed to engage both sides of your brain. So you basically throw punches across a centerline. If you have friends that are taking the test the same day, get them all to do it before the test and even during.</p></li>
<li><p>A lyric my daughter thought would be a good “Psyche Up” song for test takers:</p></li>
</ul>
<p>“Don’t be afraid, this is your year
It’s gonna be alright, you’re a performer
Just take your time, but not too much time”</p>
<p>It’s from the last track on the solo album from the Killers frontman Brandon Flowers…go and buy it NOW.</p>
<p>But most importantly, and in all seriousness, try to to stress about the SSAT and don’t let your parents stress you over it. On test day and even after you get your scores. This is just one component in the mix of your application. And stressing is not going to make you do any better.</p>
<p>Right before my daughter walked into the test room, I gave her a hug, looked her in the eye and said “You’re going to do great!” She accepted my enthusiastic high five with minimal embarrassment.</p>
<p>As intrinsically said, “We’re all rooting for you.” Go kick some butt.</p>
<p>Sevendad- thanks for the advice! (:</p>
<ul>
<li>I would actually advise you to use your nervous energy to stay pumped and positive for the test. Don’t try to fight that feeling, use it to your advantage.</li>
</ul>
<p>I never thought about it this way. It will probably work for me, since I generally tend to work well under pressure.</p>
<p>@SevenDad, you did mean lights out by 9 <em>PM</em>, right? I hope so… :P</p>
<p>@Markalex1: Good catch! Corrected.</p>
<p>I left out the part about, upon completion, slamming your pencil down and saying aloud “Well, that’s got to be a 2400!” JUST KIDDING.</p>
<p>Be well, Nov. 13th test takers.</p>
<p>@SevenDad-
Thanks! I’m going to try the motion exercise and I think otherwise I’m ready. We went to visit the test site today because I’m sure otherwise we’d get lost!</p>
<p>You’re right- I probably shouldn’t bring flashcards. It would stress me out when I should be relaxing.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! Good luck tomorrow everyone!</p>
<p>What should I wear/bring to the testing center?</p>
<p>Water for before and after?</p>
<p>There are breaks during the test - bring water and a snack. (You might have to leave the snack off to the side of the room, but you can certainly eat it during the break.)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I’m going to be sick for the test tomorrow. Fever, chills–the whole 9 yards. And I’m visiting a school the next test date. That leaves me January. 1 shot. Right now I’m kinda hating my immune system. At least it gives me more time to study… :(</p>
<p>Good luck everyone who is taking it tomorrow! Lights out at 9 for me tonight. And some advice, bring ibuprofen and some antacids. One of my friends who took the ISEE recently got a headache during it. Hope everyone else does well! :)</p>
<p>I had a major headache today. nose got all blocked up. couldn’t breathe. Anyone from South Africa here? private message me i forgot to ask for your email addresses.</p>
<p>I just got back from the SSAT. I found the math to be incredibly easy. I guess tutoring does pay off! Any other impressions?</p>
<p>So halfway through the critical reading section I realized that I had already heard or read all of the passages. I then came to the realization that the critical reading for the SSAT today was the same exact critical reading section in the January 2010 SSAT. All of the passages and the questions were exact duplicates.</p>
<p>wow 2010, what a stroke of luck! Did that help you any?</p>
<p>Honestly, I was surprised by the difficulty of all of the sections. As for math, I believe I skipped 3 questions. Some of the reading selections were more difficult than the others, which is to be expected. I skipped 1, and I think I may have gotten around 2 or 3 wrong. Verbal was the easiest section for me. I skipped around 4 or 5 of the questions, and breezed through vocabulary except for the last 2 questions. </p>
<p>I scored 95%+ on all of my practice tests. Overall, I’m not confident in my performance.</p>
<p>I have a really strong memory, so I remembered most of the main idea of each passage from January. I just focused on the details this time around. I did really bad last time (around 60%) so I’m just hoping that I didn’t make the same mistakes. </p>
<p>The verbal and math sections were different than before. I found the math section really easy and I’d be shocked if I didn’t get a 99%. </p>
<p>On the way to my test center, I drove through one of my top choice boarding schools (it was on the way) so it really gave me inspiration to do well on the test.</p>
<p>Yay! Just got back. 'Twas slightly more difficult than the ISEE, but I’m still confident :D. My essay was MUCH better this time though…</p>
<p>Wow-I am very confident in my testing. The essay prompt almost guided you into a thought of how and what to write about and I’m hoping it went as well as it felt. I feel that even though they are very different, taking this now will reduce stress when I take the ACTs and SATs in high school.</p>
<p>Great tips, everyone! Thanks!</p>