<p>I just found out today that I'm taking the SSAT next week (eek!) so I only have one week to study. I just started looking over the Princeton Review and I'm a little intimidated, especially by the vocab. English has always been my strongest subject by a long shot, but I'm kind of worried now. Maybe my brain's just slow because it's because I've had 3 months of mental hibernation haha</p>
<p>What I'm doing is focusing on prefixes and suffixes and I thought that was working really well until I tried to take the practice vocab test and I did pretty bad. I'm did very well with the analogies though.</p>
<p>What methods did you guys find helpful for studying for the vocab? And do any of the words on what PR calls the "Hit List" actually show up on the actual SSAT?</p>
<p>loubear: Yikes! (on the timing of your SSAT).</p>
<p>Based on my daughter’s review of SAT (not SSAT) vocab when she took the SATs as a 7th grader (for JHU CTY), she reported that NOT A SINGLE ONE of the “must know” words she could recall was on the test she took. But that’s just one kid and one test.</p>
<p>If you have time/access/funds, get the McGraw-Hill SSAT book…there are at least 2 upper SSAT sample tests in there…AND they explain why each answer is the correct answer.</p>
<p>FWIW, my daughter scored roughly the same on the McGraw-Hill compared to the Princeton Review sample test.</p>
<p>When you say that you “did pretty bad” on the vocab, what exactly do you mean? I ask, because you can get something like 10 wrong and still score in the mid to high 90’s on the vocab. The most unforgiving curve is the math. Apparently, the math is easy and the vocab is hard for most kids.</p>
<p>Why are you taking the ssat so early? It must be with a consultant? You can take it again during the regular administrations if you aren’t happy with your score. I don’t think any school would penalize a candidate for taking a test again in an effort to improve. All this assumes that you are in the US where the test is given every month Oct - Feb.</p>
<p>Good luck. Try not to stress too much over it, though. Personally, I am of the opinion that you either know the words or you don’t. My kids rarely miss any analogies, but find the synomyns more difficult. I guess it’s because there is no context so you don’t know which definition they are asking for. Freerice.com is good practice for synonyms.</p>
<p>Yeah it’s with a consultant, and I’m gonna take it again anyways in early December. I missed 10 exactly on the vocab, so that makes me feel better that there’s a curve of some sort. I’m still not really familiar with the SSATs and the scoring in general.</p>
<p>@Loubear: FYI the approximate percentiles are in the Princeton Review book…near the front (and not the back, where they tell you how to convert raw score to XXX score).</p>
<p>If you only missed 10 verbal you have nothing to worry about. If you are in 8th grade, it should put that section over 95. You’ll be fine. Take the test with the consultant and don’t register for the Dec until you know these results. You may do well enough the first time! </p>
<p>Haha I’m entering 10th grade, which I feel like puts a lot of pressure on me since I’ll be taking the same test as 8th graders. Oh well. Whatever happens, happens.</p>
<p>But your score is compared to other 10th graders of the same gender as you. So even though you are taking the same test as the 8th graders, you are competing against 10th graders of the same gender as you.</p>
<p>My way of studying the SSAT vocab was just by memorizing alot of words then comparing their definitions to words I already know (ie. halcyon and calm are the same) and apparently it helped because vocab was my highest score.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are REALLY good at vocab so that’s a big plus…
I didn’t answer like half the vocabulary questions…and i got around a 76% which brought down my test alot but you’ve got that covered</p>
<p>Make sure you are all set with math…the questions last year were pretty standard, but make SURE to check over ALL your answers, because some may ask you something different than you would think. </p>
<p>For the writing section, (what i seem to remember is that it isn’t graded, but the schools look at it, correct?) try your best to keep ORGANIZED! Boarding schools are REALLY looking for persuasive, well organized, and interesting essays! If there is a pretty ‘common’ question that you’ve heard a few times, chances are boarding schools have read essays like that one A THOUSAND times…if you feel comfortable, try taking a different approach than what would come to you first.
One thing that really helps me personally with persuasive essays is the conclusion, and what my 8th grade english taught me was to include “bandwagon” adjectives…it sounds superr silly, i know!
The whole idea of bandwagon adjectives is they are implying “everyone else is doing it, so you should too” but in a nice way
If you were writing a persuasive letter to a parent trying to convince their child to take violin lessons, part of a conclusion using bandwagon adjectives might say:
“Many honest, dedicated, and affectionate parents who truly care about their child achieving their highest potential in music and other aspects of their life have already signed their children up for violin lessons”
Does that make sense or is it still unclear? </p>
<p>One lastttt thing (i’m sort of rambling i know)</p>
<p>are you SUREE you want to take the test with your consultant next week? Have you taken a practice test IN an ‘official’ setting yet? (Consultant’s office, ssat prep offices, etc)
When you are taking the test in december, is it with a consultant again? or is it a group test? If you take one with the consultant, and don’t like your score, you can take it again in a group setting and it will only show up as taking the test once on your school applications.</p>
<p>Hope i helped! (to you loubear, and anyone else who might stumble upon this!)
if you have any questions, feel free to PM me</p>
<p>Chicky: Haha well I took it this past Friday. I thought the math was the easiest, which was weird because that’s usually the worst for me. THere were some insanely easy vocab and some impossible ones that I’d never be able to guess right. </p>
<p>I took it with a consultant last Friday, and if my score isn’t up to my standards then I’ll retake it with a group in December.</p>
but you’ve got that covered</p>