SSAT:
Total percentile
Grade percentile for each subject
Grade/Gender percentile for each subject
Which ones matter? Do they all matter or is it mostly one that schools are looking at for comparison?
Its anybody’s guess, but seems like a total percentile above the school mean (assuming no strong hooks) checks the SSAT box on the application checklist, without concern that the score has lowered one’s chances. Also, seems important that subject scores align with the applicant’s stated strengths. Grade percentile is mainly to show which pool an applicant applying to repeat a grade has been scored against. Gender seems only relevant to dinosaurs who still believe that boys are better at math and girls are better at humanities, so we need to score and consider them differently.
I don’t know what schools you are targeting, but when we went through the process with my two kids (now both in college), I was told by AOs at the most selective schools that “Anything above a mid-80s percentile and we know they can do the work.” Meaning, being in the mid-80s and up range means that scores will not be the thing that knocks them out of contention.
I got the feeling that they really only looked at total percentile…with the qualifiers that @Altras mentions above. FWIW, if you are trying to parse the scores this closely…I get the feeling like you are trying to put a positive spin on things, which to me feels like a red flag. I always advise people to use the scores to help target schools vs. hoping for better scores/hoping that scores are “good enough” for school X.
I’ve told this story ad nauseam, but my older girl was a 99th-ile scorer who went on to be an NMF and is a Deans List Chemical Engineering major at a top 10 school for the major. Yet she was rejected from one of the more selective schools frequently mentioned here (though she was admitted to another).
Thanks for the insight.
Parsing the scores this closely because I really don’t understand how this whole thing works and am even more confused when told which classmates are applying to the same schools. We have been assuming my daughter would go to public school until this summer so, unlike many, we have not been planing for prep school for years. As far as I can see my daughter is at or above the average SSAT score of the schools she is looking at, but as you point out SevenDad, seems like you never know what a school is really looking for until the kid gets accepted or rejected!
… but I am a worrier by nature hence the questions.
If her scores are at or above average SSAT for the schools you are targeting, you’re already way ahead of most people!
Yes, if only the child did not think she should get every math problem correct because math is her favorite subject 
And yes, working on the realization that perfection in all things is unattainable but she’s young.