<p>Ok so my S took the SSAT this morning and a problem occurred..looking for feedback on what to do!</p>
<p>In a nutshell, arrived at site at 8:35. Doors locked, banging on door, banging, banging, banging some more to no avail.
Drive around testing site to see if another entrance is even a possibility.....nope
Return to front, bang bang again..nothing. Contact SSAT, tell them what's going on. They state they will contact test proctor via phone and call me back.
15 minutes pass...
Individual comes to open locked doors, advises me that test began at 8:45. What? Test is supposed to begin at 9 according to admission ticket. My S is then allowed to take test but bc he "missed" writing section in the beginning, he takes it last. Proctor allows him appropriate amount of time in each area.
Ok...so here is the question. After complaining to SSAT, they offer me two options. 1-accept scores and move on OR 2-cancel scores, pretend like this never happened, and take December SSAT free of charge. We have to decide in 3 days!</p>
<p>He says he doesn't know what to do and we think option 2 but unsure. He says math section was a breeze, reading was ok, verbal was terrible. HELP!</p>
<p>Verbal section scores tend to curve up. You could still get 800 with 2 or 3 wrong answers, for example. But it’s hard to advise one way or the other without knowing just how badly it was done. That said, If he feels he was not affected by the rough start, he should’ve performed as expected, with writing left at the end that could’ve only helped him.</p>
<p>If paying again for the test is not that critical of an expense burden, then I suggest just waiting to see his scores. As you say, you were more ‘bothered’ by the commotion than he was. He may have done just fine, and you’ll have saved youselves the stress of doing it again.</p>
<p>There’s no guarantee he’ll do better in December with no irregularity.</p>
<p>In fact one is allowed to have 7 questions wrong and get 800 for verbal;) Not just for verbal, but also for math and reading, SSAT is more forgiving to 95-99 percentile students than those below. </p>
<p>For many test takers, gut feeling immediately after the test does not reflect reality well. That’s why so many kids here seem to be surprised by their scores.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would wait and see the test results. For SSAT board, I would demand a credit for December test registration fee since it admitted its fault. I feel he deserves it. If $135 only amounts to a trivial expense for you, then please don’t bother with my second suggestion.</p>
<p>What a nerve wracking experience. My understanding is that not all schools require all scores to be reported. Many also super score. So I am wondering what the downside is to waiting to see how the scores come out.</p>
<p>If money is not an issue, I would probably wait for scores and then retake in Dec. if needed. He can super score at some schools. He may have done better than he thinks. I know that when my son had a huge distraction during IB testing (huge brush fire next to school, everyone but test-takers evacuated, smoke in room, helicopters hovering) I was way more upset than he was and he did great.</p>
I think you are right about verbal, but I am not sure about math and reading. The sample (actual test) I have here shows 2 wrong in reading would knock off 50+ points from the reading score and definitely get it out of 99%. Not a disaster of course, but just to show how things can be different for reading (maybe math too?) and for verbal.</p>
<p>Benley, it’s interesting. A real-life example in my hand shows 2 wrong answers knocks off 20 points and keeps the percentile at 99. I guess there could have been variations from one test to another. That the test is more forgiving toward the smartest kids stands true for reading and math:</p>
<p>For reading, there is an inflection point around 36 (raw score adjusted after deducting wrong answers). Above it, one loses a half percentile per point, and below it, 2-3 percentiles per point.</p>
<p>For math, inflection is around 45-46. Above it, one loses about one percentile per point, and below it, 2-3 percentiles per point.</p>
<p>Thank you for such great feedback. We decided we are going to accept the scores, see how he did and take December’s test. We’ll have to pay for it but before all of this happened we were considering taking December’s test anyway so I guess it really is not an unexpected expense for us. Now that I’ve had a day or two to calm down (!) and after reading your feedback and talking amongst each other, I think that is the best bet. Now I know, be at the test site at 8:15 just in case!!!</p>
<p>@ HarvestMoon1, you’re right. We didn’t request any schools to receive the scores–we were going to see how they looked before we sent them anyway so once we get them back we will see. That should be around the 23rd or so.</p>