So my DD is in 10th grade. She decided just a few weeks ago to begin the process for applying to BS. 11th grade spots are tough to come by, but we live in the North East with tons of schools so I’m still hopeful. With her high honors status, I thought she was a candidate for the top schools. However we got the scores today and they are in the 70s. Only one school want her SSAT scores, the others want her PSAT scores. We won’t get those scores until mid December. What would you do? Have her study 10-15 hours in the next couple of weeks and re-take the SSATs or just cross my fingers that this score was due to not studying and the PSAT scores will prove better? She certainly could use those 10 hours to work better on her applications. Or come up with an entirely new list of schools to apply to and delete PA, SPS, Deerfield, Groton? i need your community support! Any words of wisdom would be great.
For what it is worth, DS improved his score significantly to high 90s by retaking SSAT and did not devote much time in preparation beyond a few practice tests and getting familiar with a few word lists…none more than once. What helped was getting his analogies right even if he made few mistakes in the synonyms section. Overall the time he devoted in preparation must have been about 8-10 hours or less total spread over 2 weeks…So, I would say no harm in retaking SSAT with a bit more preparation, if you have the time…Being familiar with the test format and style and a bit of practice could be quite helpful especially if she is a good with the subjects in any case. However, I am not sure if SSAT even counts for kids applying to the 11 th grade…I think PSAT is expected and is the way to go…if you were to choose where to spend the time.
I wouldnt bother it will be unlikely to move the scores from 70s to 90s and merely moving to 80s doesnt make a difference for the top schools. Wait for the PSAT scores. Some kids are better students and weaker test takers. Some kids are better test takers and weaker students and some are good at both… It doesn’t necessarily rule out the best schools but be forewarned that if she does poorly on the PSAT it is likely she will not have great SATs either. Many schools look at the test scores as validators for the grades.