Question about SSAT Character Snapshot

Prep School Admissions
1

My daughter is applying for BS to start 9th grade in 2023. She has done SSAT. I remember the character snapshot used to be free with SSAT registration, but now it is $30 if registered along with SSAT (which we missed) or $60 if registered alone.

I checked many school admission pages, and rarely see it mentioned. I remember a couple of years ago (when my son was applying), more schools would say recommend taking the character snapshot. Is the test going to be reviewed during the application process at all for schools that have no mention of it? Or is it no use taking it? Thank you very much!

2

Three years ago when it was free and “recommended” by many schools and free for SSAT-takers, my daughter took it last minute and we never ended up submitting the results. She had 11 admissions and 1 rejection, and she applied to many “tippy top” schools.
Two years ago when SSAT was optional, next daughter didn’t take it and didn’t take the character snapshot. I don’t remember any school even really mentioning it.
Last year, next daughter didn’t take any tests either.
It seems to me that schools aren’t even caring very much about the SSAT testing, let alone the character testing.
Personally, I would skip it without any worries at all.

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3

I think schools realized that the character snapshot was a terrible terrible test. I wouldn’t take it and I wouldn’t worry. If it’s mandatory, it will say on a schools site.

I think there’s an old thread about it. I really cannot emphasize how bad that test is.

4

It is a terrible useless test with unreliable results. I can’t remember the exact details but I am pretty sure my kid got a super low score on empathy with more than 100 verified hours of volunteer work that year.

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5

And very easily gameable, too.

If any of you were around this forum ~3 years ago, you may have remembered my freaking out about my messed up scores (because I had already gotten in, so I didn’t feel like gaming it.): Character skills snapshot & recission

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6

Thank you all so much for responding! We will not worry about it then. Only 2 schools were mentioned as recommended, not required. I guess that is the reason.

7

Data Mining….If they really used it, at least half the kids we knew at Deerfield would not have been accepted….oh, wait :thinking: maybe that’s what happened - they chose the kids with the most character pathology!

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