Most of the schools mention it under their ‘admission’ tab on the website and/or in the brochure. @6teenSearch - I remember a few from my research last year and they are mentioned wrongly in the link you posted… specially Exeter… Exeter median is 93% same as Andover. I happened to check Berkshire’s website today and noticed they mentioned the SSAT average 65% a compared to 58% mentioned in the post… feel that few others could be misleading…SSAT score does matter however it is no guarantee of acceptance… you can also ask schools what part of SSAT do they focus more on… like Exeter and Milton focus more on Math. Another worthwhile question is to ask whether they superscore.
I think it is also important to look at the breakdown of your child’s scores. Mine had an uneven score profile, in the high 90’s in verbal, while scoring in the lower 90’s overall. Her lower Quant score was not well-received at Exeter, where they are very math/science based. While most schools provide strong academic programs in all areas, some schools weigh heavier in verbal skills while others rely heavier on math.
Does anyone know in fact if Andover superscores?
Andover superscores.
CaringMom, The OP was looking for the post, I just reposted a link. Whether they were accurate or not at the time of posting, they are now stale. I suppose though that they are a good indicative range.
As far as superscoring, and correct me if I am wrong, it is less attractive then it sounds. I though that there was a way to send just the highest score from each section across multiple tests. But the SSAT does not do that. So, you are sending all of the test results and essentially the school says that they will discard the weaker ones and tally the strongest.
That’s a bit different and I think disingenuous. In effect, the “superscoring” schools are saying “send me all the SSATs results you’ve got!”. Of course it behooves them to see how you did over time, and how consistent or inconsistent you were. I don’t think they can really “unsee” a bad score on a given component, though, IMHO.
BTW, Hotchkiss also said that they superscore when we visited last spring.
Thanks, good to know – I think??? I guess my child will know in a week or so:)
I’m with @6teenSearch on this one. No matter what the schools say, I don’t think they really truly superscore. If someone at the front desk in the Admissions Office threw out the bad scores and only put the highest score for each section in the kid’s file, that would be one thing. But I can’t imagine that’s what happens – they put all the scores in the file. I don’t think they’re lying when they say they’ll consider the highest scores for each section, but like 6teen says, you can’t “unsee” the other scores. If there’s not a huge variation from test to test, then submitting multiple scores doesn’t really help (even if one section’s score is a bit higher than on another test) and it just makes you look neurotic. If there is a big variation between tests, I think it sends an unfortunate message of inconsistency.
No one said “superscore” means not seeing all scores. It simply means taking the best of each test section across multiple attempts. Andover explained that they want to give students credit for their best – how they perform on a good day. Nothing sinister about it.
Can I be a wet blanket/killjoy (again!) and say that if one is thinking about superscoring on the SSAT to get in the “admissible” ballpark of selective school X, then perhaps that school is going to be a far reach? Possibly a very far reach?
Sorry if it was hard to read my tone… I just meant that it may not be what people think it is, so I thought i’d share what I have read (I think on the SSAT website).
Also agreed, if it is that important to you, you may be cutting things awfully close and ascribing a false precision to SSATs.
PS Lol Soxmom on the “neurotic comment”. I do think that barring something really unusual, you should only take one a year.
IMO, the superscoring of this type is mainly for reporting purpose so the reported average/median score for admitted class will be based on superscored results. It could mean that they don’t care about one more sitting if you can do significantly better the second time, but If I were AO I’d be less convinced if a student scored 600/700/800 the first time and 800/600/700 the second time. In other worlds, an “across board” improvement the second time (not the third/fourth please) shows that the performance last time might be an abnormality, otherwise it’s just instability and fluctuation. So what’s the benefit of super scoring?
Super scoring is about improving reported averages. I would also take reported averages and medians for admitted and enrolled students with a huge grain of salt. Different schools follow different practices about what the reported number includes. For example, some schools exclude non-native English speakers from the data. All schools I am aware of also don’t include scores for students that weren’t required to submit scores for admission. You can guess which direct that skews the data…
Super-scoring is beneficial if your overall percentile is similar with few %ile points difference in different areas and there are no drastic drops in any of the individual parts. this will give you the advantage of showing that you have achieved higher scores in that area while maintaining consistency… you obviously don’t want to send a score sheet with one of the %ile very low… that can, and I repeat that can possibly raise an eye-brow in AOs mind… which is intuitive. Also, I think its not worth sending more than 2 scores… 3 sound too many… and more open to susceptibility- IMHO.
@dreamcatcher3 --Just curious: How do you know your daughter’s Quant score was not well-received at Exeter?
@itcannotbetrue …we were told by the consultant we used 
@dreamcatcher3 --that is very interesting. My son was the same profile as your child. I knew there was a reason why we didn’t apply to Exeter last year, lol! Where is your DC at?
BTW, with November SSAT scores out, we set about researching average school scores and admission rates. Here’s what we found (data from various sources, but all 2015 data to my knowledge):
Exeter- SSAT 90th% 16% admission rate
Groton- SSAT 90th% 12% admission rate
Andover- SSAT 94th% 13% admission rate
Choate- SSAT 85th% 19% admission rate
Hotchkiss- SSAT 85th% 16% admission rate
Kent- SSAT 70th% 35% admission rate
Episcopal HS SSAT 80th% 30% admission rate
Lawrenceville SSAT 89th% 16% admission rate
For whatever it’s worth!
@ itcannotbetrue…she’s at Loomis. Loving it!
I don’t know the average at Loomis, but I do know that the numbers are very outdated.
Deerfield publishes theirs in their quarterly magazine. It was listed as 85% which matches boarding school review.