<p>Reading was the hardest for me. Math i skipped 3-4 cause i read it too fast and mistaked perimeter for area. Verbal was easy for me.</p>
<p>Son replied. raw point would be Verbal:30, Reading:32, Math:49. Anybody can help to tell me roughly overall percentile? I know there’s a benchmark in the books but I do not have them handy. Thanks.</p>
<p>@7718377: According to the Princeton Review book, here are the equivalent scores: Verbal: 670 (51-60th); Reading: 720 (90-95th); Math; 795 (99th).</p>
<p>National Overall: 84+ </p>
<p>All Percentiles are estimated (the book does not list every score and corresponding percentile.) I used the 8th Grade Boys chart.</p>
<p>if i don’t feel too confident about my results for Saturday’s SSAT, do you think I should take my schools off the list?
But overall I did pretty well. I’m just worried that I won’t get past what I am achieving for. </p>
<p>Also, can you add schools to get your SSAT scores after you get the results yourself?</p>
<p>@chelgirl,
Yes you can add schools to get your SSAT after you get your results. It’s what I’m doing, I’m waiting to see how they came out and then I’m deciding whether or not to send them. And don’t worry, you can always retake the SSAT in December and January so you have two more shots.</p>
<p>@sevendad: Son is a ninth grader, what will his percentile be? Thanks.</p>
<p>It was okay, I guess.
I omitted 2 math (probably not good) and 4 verbal.
What was the hardest section for you guys?</p>
<p>@7718377: Verbal 48-55th; Reading: 92-95th; Math: 99. </p>
<p>National Overall: 77+</p>
<p>@Chelgirl: I had originally put two schools down, then removed them the Monday after the test (just in case she did worse than she had on practices). After we got the scores, I added the schools back in online.</p>
<p>@All: I wouldn’t worry too much about skipping a few in the Verbal and Math sections. I think you can skip up to 5 on the Math and up to 9 on the verbal (assuming you get all the ones you answered correct) and still be above 90th percentile (I’m reading this from the 8th grade girls chart in the PR book.</p>
<p>Is the 10th grade boys cutoff much harsher or are they all pretty much similar?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>@2010 Hopeful: A scan of the charts looks like they are ratcheted down 2-3 percentiles. </p>
<p>For example, for the scores listed above:</p>
<p>10th Boys (from Princeton Review SSAT/ISEE Book)</p>
<p>Verbal: 48-53th; Reading: 89-93th; Math: 99. </p>
<p>National Overall: 65+</p>
<p>what test guides/ books did you guys use?</p>
<p>SSAT for Dummies, Hogwarts Press. jk. jk. Other than knowing the format of the test, most of what you need to know is what you have been learning in school for the last 8 or so years. But some people said PR is good for vocab and Kaplan for Math, but I didn’t find them that useful compared to what I am learning in school. PR and Kaplan may provide psychological comfort though. BTW, some have said they studied SAT 1000 words vocab available online.</p>
<p>What was your essay question??
Mine was “failure is not defeat until you stop trying”</p>
<p>!</p>
<p>@polodolly et al: Here are the BS-related books I bought for my daughter:</p>
<ul>
<li>Princeton Review SSAT/ISEE</li>
<li>McGraw-Hill SSAT/ISEE</li>
<li>Up Your Score (SAT strategy guide…stuff like “the fastest way to fill in answer form circles”…don’t laugh, my daughter thinks this is the best one of all)</li>
<li>College Board Campus Visits & College Interviews (there isn’t one for boarding schools that I know of).</li>
</ul>
<p>Here are the books that I bought for my wife and I:</p>
<ul>
<li>Behind the Walls: A Parent’s Guide to Boarding Schools (Timothy Hillman)</li>
<li>Through the Woods: A Mother and Daughter Passage (Liz & Holly Menten)</li>
<li>Black Ice (Lorene Cary)</li>
</ul>
<p>I will also list these last three in the parent section along with some comments/opinions.</p>
<p>Hey, I took my ssat as well. I thought it was pretty helpful to drink a cup of hot BLACK coffee before the test because it gets you jumpy and aware. Well, i guesss thats just me but it actually helped me stay on track :)</p>
<p>I thought if you are jumpy, you go off the track.</p>
<p>@Sundlun
Are the essay topics different for all people taking the test? Because my topic statement was very different from that.
But in a way I am glad, as I took the SSAT test probably half a day earlier than the US.</p>
<p>There are multiple versions of the test. Some of you may find you had the same essay or reading selections or math problems - and some of you will have tests that are completely different. The idea is that people sitting next to each other (at the same test center) will have different tests so there’s no incentive to try and copy what your neighbor is writing.</p>
<p>Is anybody else willing to share what their essay topic was? I’d like to compile some for future study sessions.</p>
<p>My daughter said her essay was “No good deed, no matter how small, is wasted”. She took the test in McLean, VA. A PP said that one of the critical essay sections was from a Jan 2010 test - do you remember what it was about roughly? I can’t tell from the practice tests in different books when they were given. Was the Jan 2010 test in one of the PR books?</p>
<p>My daughter also said she thought it was much easier than the PR practice tests, and she scored really well on them. But, even though she’s a straight-A student at a GT Center, she’s applying to the “big 3” in DC, so fingers crossed. She also said that most of the kids she took the test with said they left questions blank in almost every section. Is that a technique?</p>
<p>It will be great to have a few years off before the SAT prep angst!</p>
<p>@greatfallsmom: I think there is some strategy which advises “if you are shooting for an XXth percentile score, only answer XX questions per section.” But then again, the kids in her testing center may have just not been able to answer those questions or ran out of time.</p>