<p>But that’s why percentages don’t matter all that much to the AOs. They are sent the whole package which includes how many you got wrong/right/missed, they judge according to that. </p>
<p>should a 750 vs. 800 not be worth at least 15%? Considering the lowest we can get is 500 per section no matter how many we can answer, that only leaves 300 points per section we can earn. </p>
<p>You know all those asian kids ‘skewing’ the math section? Yeah, I was sitting in a room with 150 of them taking the same test. Most of them were having ALOT of difficulty comprehending the questions because of how they are worded, in fact I had a bit of difficulty with one or two because of wording and I’m a native English speaker. </p>
<p>Sorry… rant over. I guess I’m a bit mad at people using score skewing as an excuse for not doing well on the SSAT (not saying you are)</p>
<p>Test results are “not skewed” when there is a bell curve with the mean/ median roughly corresponding to the middle of the range. Ideally, for each section, 95% of the scores should fall between 780 and 520, and mean/median should be close to 650. Due to self selection of the population taking SSAT, there is no bell curve, especially in math. There is a bimodal curve with one peak near 800 and another broad peak near the mean. Mean/median for math section are ~700. That is what I would refer to as a skewed curve.</p>
<p>Standardization of SSAT across different dates adds another dimension of complexity. Missing one question will reduce your score to ~770 in RC, ~795 in math and have no effect in verbal, depending on the composition of the test. So for overall percentile, it is better to miss questions in verbal than in RC. Interesting, right? I think I understand how it works at the molecular level, but it is tough to explain in one post.</p>
<p>@Craysian; That is true too. I’m sure the AOs do not use the percentiles as a major reference point to the applicant’s academic ability, but hey if you got 95+ that probably won’t hurt.
And about the Asian kids, I probably count as one of ‘those asian kids skewing the math section’, except I spent 8 years of my life in America. I got 794/800 in the math section, 99 percentile. The SSAT math is strangely easy if you’ve been taught math in China, even in international schools. Yes, the wording for a couple word problems may have been difficult, but as I recall not many of those problems were word problems. Also, on standardized tests such as the SSAT, you have a 25% chance just by guessing. I don’t remember having any difficulty with a particular problem in the math section and I finished about halfway through the time limit–enough time to check through the entire section twice. I’m sure there are many others like me out there, who are completely fluent in English but have been exposed to difficult math, what with Asian parents and all. I’m not saying that all Asians are just magically good at math, but there are a lot of insanely pro math geeks here in China–I don’t even count as mildly good at math here in a local school, while I’m one of the best in my grade at my international school.
By the way, I got a 98 percentile overall, so I’m definitely not using skewed scores as an excuse, just saying what I think.</p>
<p>@Dakshina; Wow that sounds pretty complicated. Probably 'cause I’m not familiar with some of those terms, but I think I get the gist of what you’re saying. I agree with your explanation of skewed curves and I think it’s a much better explanation than what I gave. xD</p>
<p>@ Aaralyn yep u r so correct! Most Asians are really good at math!</p>
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<p>aaralyn, I actually laughed out loud at this sentence within the context of the rest of your post. 
There are 5 answer choices. I know you were thinking that there 4, and that you really are good at math, but it’s still funny! :D</p>
<p>@neatoburrito; OOPS! haha I didn’t see that! Ah, I haven’t even taken a glance at any standardized test prep material since November, I was so sick of them after reviewing for so long. xD Thanks for catching that. I meant 20%. :)</p>