<p>Remember, no school has a 100% yield rate. 20 to 30% or so go to other schools. If it’s admitted, not enrolled students, a smaller group of high scoring students could be counted several times over.</p>
<p>Can sum1 chance me?
I have all As this term, and applied to Exeter
Verbal reasoning-888/940-69/99-6 out of 9
reading comprehension-891-64-6
quantitativ reasoning-862-21-3
mathematics achievement-870-29-4</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ah! That’s true. I hadn’t thought of that. But that could mean that the student is either really smart or that his school is really easy. There would be no way to tell. I guess that’s when recs come in.</p>
<p>They really do ask for everything for a reason. Finally, it’s starting to make a little more sense to me.</p>
<p>oh i took the ISEE</p>
<p>It would also be useful to know which schools superscore, as I know some GLADCHEMMS schools do. It could be that schools are using the combines scores from more than one test in their published averages.</p>
<p>In other words, Sally takes three SSATs.
On the first she gets 80, 80, 98. Her overall score is in the 84th percentile.
On the second she gets 80, 98, 80. Again her score is in the 84th percentile.
One the third she gets 98, 80, 80. 84th percentile.</p>
<p>St. Grottlesex, wanting to know Sally optimal performance level, combines the raw scores for her best performance in each section, the ones which put her in the 98th, 98th, and 98th percentiles. The result is a 99th percentile overall.</p>
<p>I don’t know if any schools do this. Just an interesting question.</p>
<p>Actually, very few top schools publish an average SSAT score of 90%+. As far as I know, the schools that do are Andover (94%), Exeter and Groton (both 90%). Did I miss any? And as Periwinkle pointed out there are a significant number of cross admits among top schools, and applicants to 11th and 12th grades are more likely to submit PSAT scores. So, Neato, the stats are not that unbelievable.</p>
<p>Before the conversation is carried too far away, I want to emphasize that I do believe in the “range theory”, meaning as long as one reaches a certain threshold in standardized tests, the few percentage points of difference don’t make much difference any more. However, make no mistake that except for a few outliers, that range or threshold is pretty high in schools like Andover. And with so many strong applicants vying for the limited spots, they do have the luxury to select the best of the best. (Read the college admission Q&A Periwinkle posted in another thread, and feel how the Yale AO takes stella stats for granted…)</p>
<p>so… can someone PLEASEEEEE help me? 
my interview is tomorrow and I want to be prepared for the school to decline me… :'(</p>
<p>@XDthinker…you should write your own post in the chances section if you haven’t already:)</p>
<p>how? im new here</p>
<p>@XDthinker: If you scroll to the top of the screen, you should see links to sub forums, which are Prep School Chances, Prep school parents, and prep school cafe. Then, click on prep school chances.Then click on a button that says “New Thread”. Finally, type out all your stats, but be wary of giving out identifying personal info and click submit. There, more people can see you post and respond.
Here is a link: [Prep</a> School Chances - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-chances/]Prep”>Prep School Chances - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Now let’s get back on topic from this tangent :P</p>
<p>I guess I never thought that such a large part of the high scorers applied to the same schools, but I guess that does make sense.</p>
<p>And Sue, I have been told by several top schools that they do indeed superscore the ssat. I assume that this is what they are reporting. But I remember reading somewhere that a fairly small percentage of students take the ssat more than once. </p>
<p>To the OP: First, my apologies for bringing this thread so far off track. To answer your original question: Whether your scores would improve or not would depend on why your math was low. You could have just misbubbled. You could have fallen for the many trap answers, (those that are correct if you solve the wrong way or if you don’t finish the problem). So, it may very well improve.</p>
<p>thank you! :)</p>
<p>I see. I was primarily curious as to what an AO would think when every aspect in the application was solid except for the SSAT score. Could some one answer this given my public school situation? </p>
<p>To clear some things up, I do go to a huge public school where academics are not the main focus and though it is easy for me, a small percentage of the school is on the A-roll.
So having solid grades isn’t all because school is easy, I apply myself, too.
My parents say that the SSAT is kind of unfair because it’s testing things I haven’t learned yet…I take responsibility for the reading scores, they were probably low because I didn’t study as much on that section as math.
As for the verbal, I have a well developed vocabulary and did study for this section. I could have just gotten a test with words especially difficult to me. I do feel like this section could be improved.
The math score was practically a blow to my self esteem… I love math, but I haven’t taken geometry so I would not necessarily know how to work those problems and hours of studying couldn’t make up for a whole course.</p>
<p>You’re not alone!! I’m in 9th grade and I got 48th in math! I was really upset at first, because I really like math, but I eventually realized that I knew how to do most of the math-- I just made stupid mistakes. Good luck and remember-- it’s not the end of the world!! </p>
<p>By the way, I took the SSAT this month and last month. Last month I got a 99 on verbal, but this time it’s probably going to go down; I thought the verbal on the January test was harder than the December one.</p>
<p>Do you got to a private school?
And what about your essay topic? I guess that’s just luck but I got a terrible one so another positive of taking the SSAT again would be re-writing my essay, and I’m a strong essay writer (I write for my school’s paper!)
Anyway, I just want to know what an AO, mainly the one who interviewed with me, would think if my interview was solid, my recs, my grades and state required test scores, and essays with the exception of my SSAT scores… I mean, they’ve got to understand that if I carry a 97 average in Algebra I, I can’t be too horrible in mathematics… besides, it’s my favorite subject!
And do you think they ever consider that students could be bad standerdised test takers? I never thought I was but these scores make me wonder…</p>
<p>I’m just a parent, so take this with a grain of salt. Some test takers are taking geometry in 8th grade. Your school transcript will show you haven’t had geometry yet.</p>
<p>You write very well. Good luck!</p>
<p>I asked my Exeter interviewer about the SSATs and he said that there were 200+ students who applied with PERFECT scores. Only three out of the 200+ got in.</p>
<p>Okay, so if I’ve got this right, the trick is to get (1) good grades, (2) do interesting ECs, (3) write amazing essays, and (4) study just hard enough for the SSAT to score high, but not too high.</p>
<p>And, if you’re really clever, find ECs that don’t start until Jan. 15 so they don’t conflict with Nos. 3 & 4 above! :D</p>
<p>
Let’s see. Suppose 200 students with perfect scores, by which I think the AO meant 99% instead of 2400, apply to Exeter and 3 is admitted, then the admit rate for this subgroup is 3/200 = 1.5%. It is a lot lower than its overall admit rate, which is 19%. Interesting. To be honest, I don’t think a 99% on SSAT is that much big a deal at all, but the AO’s statement makes it sound like these are a bunch of students with nothing more than a high score to offer to the school community while I personally know several active well-rounded kids with perfect SSAT scores, who of course got into top schools.</p>
<p>It is important to let the applicants know that high SSAT score is not all it takes to get into the top schools and lower score will not necessarily break the deal, but to put down students with high scores like this is disappointing, which in a way strengths a certain stereotype. And mind you, this is from Exeter, which boasts one of the highest SAT scores in its college profile. What happens to those perfect SAT scorers? 3/200 get in top colleges maybe?</p>
<p>I suspect that most applicants who have mostly or all A’s in school, read a lot, excel in math, have strong recommendations, great essays, strong EC’s, etc… also have correspondingly high SSAT’s. However, there may very well be kids who have very high SSAT’s who lack in these other areas. </p>
<p>If I was in admissions at a select school, I would look at the reading score as the most important, as it measures comprehension of reading material!Of course, if one is an avid reader, vocabulary should be high too. If reading score is low, and vocab is high, I would suspect rote memorization played a role.</p>