<p>My Son's score is Verbal/Math/Reading 800/800/692 Total 2292(98%) ㅠㅠ</p>
<p>Because of Reading, he will take test in November.</p>
<p>How he can raise score of Reading ?</p>
<p>It’s not easy to improve on reading within such a short period of time. He may take a few more practice tests and try to apply the “strategies” he has learned. What’s the percentile for a 692?</p>
<p>Plus, who cares? Once you’re over 90%, the school doesn’t have to worry about ability. It can (and will) focus on the important stuff, like what sort of impact your child will have on the community, what other important qualities and skills he will bring to campus.</p>
<p>Well, I think a significantly lower score in one section - reading in particular, can be of concern. However, reading can get “curved down” pretty drastically. That’s why I am asking about the percentile, which is more meaningful than the scaled score.</p>
<p>woow~~I think that’s a really high score. i think the SSAT score is just a part. 98% is very good. Maybe it is more useful to improve his sports or community experience than his reading score.</p>
<p>Reading percentile is 75%(692)</p>
<p>I dont understand why do you have to take the test again while you already got a sky-high-score? 98% is almost the best…???</p>
<p>I also took the ssat in October and was surprised to see an extremely low reading score. I got math 96% verbal 94% reading 76%!!! Maybe it was just that particular test, and I will be retaking it again in December</p>
<p>While Benley’s point is valid, I wouldn’t still bother retaking the test. Total score will only go up to 99% or by 1%P if you do well in reading. </p>
<p>I would rather focus on ECs and application essays which are of equal importance. They are, along with teacher recommendation, the factors that characterize your son as a person. And as Thacherparent pointed out, the schools will look into your son in terms of his fit and potential to contribute to the school community. </p>
<p>Having an Asian background, I saw many kids around me with super high scores and grades and they were denied by top schools. I believe that is partly because they may have given the school a wrong impression that all they did was study and became a test machine, nothing else. </p>
<p>BTW, when did your son take the test? My friend’s son took the test about 10 days ago.</p>
<p>I received similar scores as triangles. Not sure what happened in reading. I did feel it was much harder than practice tests. Though my overall score is a 97, which I’m pretty happy about, I don’t think top schools will like to see a score in the mid-70s anywhere.
Plus I had major issues in writing because the proctor told us wrong times… still not happy with that either. Thank god writing is not scored >.<</p>
<p>My son took October 12. </p>
<p>If Verbal/Math/Reading score is 96/99/93(overall 98%), he will not take test again.</p>
<p>However, I have heard that reading is the most important among three section, so he may take again next month.</p>
<p>I know that other factors are critical, but by the application deadline, time is sufficient to prepare other things.</p>
<p>Jeilham, do NOT have your son take it again. Even if he gets 99s across the board the next time it will not make any difference AT ALL. </p>
<p>I repeat, do NOT have him take it again. Take the 100+ that you would spend on the test and take him to do something fun or just let him sleep in that morning. </p>
<p>I higher reading percentile will do nothing whatsoever to help his application.</p>
<p>^^Maybe. I am a little bit of a perfectionist myself. I like to see things in one’s control to be done as well as possible so as to reduce the “noise” as much as possible. My concern in this case is that it may put too much pressure on the kid and an improvement in reading would probably be not much more than a luck of draw given the time to prepare for it.</p>
<p>I think if there is any concern regarding the reading score, admissions will compare it to his grades in English, history etc and if those grades are solid, the reading score becomes a non-issue so I would probably not retest unless his application shows a weakness in reading somewhere else. Is English his first language? Schools will also be more lenient if he is not a native speaker I would guess. That said my dc did get a huge jump in her reading score when she retook the ssats for this same reason and honestly she did not do much prep in between tests. No idea why she was so lucky</p>
<p>OP, if your son is, say, a Korean native, 75 pctl reading is in fact quite good. Keep in mind that “reading” should in theory measure one’s ability to comprehend what s/he reads, presented in any language. For SSAT, it just happens to be in English. So in reality it measures both reading AND English language skills.</p>
<p>Since his verbal was 800, AOs might be looking into his performance in a class equivalent to English and recommendation letter from his native language teacher. If they are good, he might be considered to have enough brains (based on verbal and math) and it would be a matter of time and exposure in English-teaching environment. </p>
<p>My D gets 99 pctl without breaking a sweat, but it’s not something she has picked up during last few months. She is native and her eyes are always onto letters (that is, when they are not on canvas:D). If she had to learn Korean and take Korean-equivalent SSAT, I’m not sure what pctl she could get.</p>
<p>So my advice is, as long as his scores are consistent with those figures he had from practice tests, move on with other important components of application.</p>
<p>I agreed opinions that he need not to take the test again.</p>
<p>SSAT score is among a number of admissions criteria.</p>
<p>However, he took 10 times practice tests before taking an actual test; the range of his reading score is from 85% to 97%. </p>
<p>So, I think that 75% is too low percentile, compared with results of practice tests.</p>
<p>In June middle level SSAT test on 7th grade, his reading score is 92%(overall 98%).</p>
<p>Therefore, I believe that he will get the higher reading score regardless of stress.</p>
<p>P. S1: My son is Korean, but has lived in the U.S for 10 years.</p>
<p>P. S2: My son’s dream school is Lawrenceville and Hotchkiss.</p>
<p>By all means, give it a try. There’s a big difference between 97 and 75. Good luck to your S.</p>
<p>You can also submit the June scores as evidence of his ability by enclosing a copy and a note with his application. Many people here seem to be hinting that the reading on the October test was unusually hard.</p>
<p>I am going to offer an alternative viewpoint, don’t get so obsessed with the ssat scores. There are 2 percentile ranks- kids who take the ssat and the national sampling of all students. I know that everyone on this board obsesses about their scores. I say it is only used to validate the report cards. When a school like Andover, has an applicant pool that is 75% admissible, you are grasping at straws to think that a slight improvement in a score will be the deciding factor. I doubt it. If 75% of the applicants are admissible then it comes down to what other attributes does the candidate have that can contribute to a well rounded student body along with what kind of personal characteristics will the student bring to the campus. I firmly believe that the teacher recommendations carry more weight than the scores and you have no control over what the teacher writes. I have a nephew who obsessed about his scores, took the test twice, improved the second time to near perfection and he did not get accepted into any of the “so called” top tier schools. I am convinced that his teacher reports revealed some of his personal characteristics that would cause an AO to take them into consideration. Remember, these teachers and administrators have direct contact with these student after they begin school and any potential problem could stare them in the eye 9 months down the road. He is enrolled in a BS as a legacy and I know that there are certain things being asked of him that he does not like to do. So he ends up having a love relationship with some classes and a hate relationship with others. The bottom line, he needs to learn that life is not only about doing what I like to do but doing what is asked of me and doing it well- whether you like it or not!</p>
<p>@firstgenbsp112: Look back at the thread and you’ll see that in posts #3, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 15, different posters give the OP variations of the “don’t get so obsessed with the SSAT scores” advice. Whether or not the OP heeds this advice (which I agree with) on his/her quest to help son get into Lville and Hkiss is up to them.</p>