Thanks @swparenting! Our kiddo took both the middle level as a 7th grader and the test as an 8th grader. The middle level Reading was fairly consistent with the content being covered in 6th-7th grade - with some passages actually from books read in school. As our middle school was a disciple of Common Core, by the 8th grade the Reading section material on the “upper” SSAT was more sophisticated than what was read in class. Kiddo’s experience was that the Reading was a bit more difficult on the SSAT as an 8th grader. Also variability between tests.
We had to provide a review of earlier math skills on both tests. If your child is a year or two ahead in math, they may need to brush up on some earlier skills from Pre-Algebra or Algebra-1. Hope this helps :bz
We have been told that the scores of a 7th grader taking the middle level SSAT are fairly predictive of an 8th grader taking the upper level SSAT.
We were told that if your child is not so strong at math, they may find the upper level SSAT math more difficult than the middle level, but for kids who are good with math, this is usually not an issue.
My child got the same scores as a 7th grader as he did as an 8th grader.