SSAT Weakness

<p>I am taking the SSAT Upper Level as a 10th grader this november and again this december.
I have been doing vocabulary review for 5 days. I decided to take the practice Upper Level SSAT for the first time today. I completed it within the time limit, had no difficult problems except on the reading portion.</p>

<p>I got 800s on both the Math and Vocab. But on the reading a 722. Instead of the 2400(99th percentile) I thought I would get, I ended with a 2322(93rd percentile).</p>

<p>It just seems that my other scores are great but that reading brings it straight down(You can miss up to 4 on the vocabulary and still get a 800(but missing 4 on the Reading means a 722(knocked me down to a low 90 percentile))).</p>

<p>Any tips on this reading section? I read the section slowly and while answering questions I return to the sentence where the answer is in the text. It is killing me and I have plenty of time until my november and december test dates to reconsider my approach.</p>

<p>First of all, the score you are talking about is raw score. You have to look at the SSAT percentile. There are two scores: one is national percentile and SSAT percentile. SSAT percentile is the relative percentile among the students who took the SSAT. SSAT percentile is lower than national percentile. BS looks at the SSAT percentile. The score on the practice test usually turns out to be a bit higher than the real test. Keep in mind that the real test results are usually lower than the
practice test. Some times, if you feel that the test is higher, then the result
may be better. The score is determined by comparing other students score
for last three years. The +/- 10 percentile difference. I took three times last year. I got 89 SSAT percentile at the first two tests, and I got 97 SSAT
percentile at the third test. Of course I sent the last one(the best one). But top BS like Exeter does not count SSAT score very much as long as it is higher than 85 percentile. 85 percentile is the minimum they accept.
with 97 percentile I did not get admission. Of course, my school reports are perfect( straight As). I got admission from Midlesex, Saint Mark's, Taft, Concord, and Loomis. I was waitlisted on Andover, Exter, Groton, Choate, Hotchkiss, and Deerfiled. I am going to Saint Mark's School since many people recommend that school and I like it better among the schools I was admitted. I am packing now! I wish you a good luck for BS application. Feel free to ask!</p>

<p>Ok, is it really true that anything over the 85th or 90th percentile is basically equal?
I am applying to Exeter, Andover and schools like that.</p>

<p>i got an 89 overall in the ssat.... 93,89,65(reading)... and i got into all of the schools i applied to, Taft, St. Georges, Andover, and St. Andrew's....
if you have one score that isn't amazing, you won't be rejected by a school... i don't think the SSATs are a HUGE factor in acceptances.</p>

<p>erkybk:</p>

<p>You mentioned you took SSAT 3 times and sent the 3rd one to the schools. How did you do that? I am new to this and a mother of two S's starting this journey. I just registered SSAT for them but entered all the schools for October. They are planning to take more tests in November and December, how do I send only the best scores to the school?</p>

<p>Thanks very much in advance, if the questions sounded too silly, please bear with me on being ignorant. I did searched and read the SSAT.org web site and try to figure it out, but did not get the clue.</p>

<p>Are you also taking the PSAT?</p>

<p>This year I am.</p>

<p>crazychildren,</p>

<p>I took the first test in October, the second in November, and I got overall 89 percentile from both of the tests, and I took another one in December, and
I got 97 percentail overall. All of the BS accept December test. </p>

<p>When you register, I strongly recommend you to buy score reporting bundle
score. Then they notify your score by email and later they send the whichever score you like to the BS you apply to by email. And you can send the score upto 12 schools without extra charge. That is actually cheaper.</p>

<p>By receiving the score by email, you know the test results quicker than regualr mail(usually you know in about 10 days after thye test). For the December test, I received the test results more quickly since they send the score in a hurry because it is close to Christmas and they all take vacations right after they take care of the test score. And I requested SSAT to send my score to 11 schools that I appled, and all the BS received the official score reports from SSAT by January 15(deadline). Even though the score report is late, they accept the late score as long as they know you took the December test.</p>

<p>When you take the SSAT test, do not tell SSAT oe mark the school codes on the test answer sheet to send the score. Always arrange the score reporting after you know the test results.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

<p>You can take the PSAT and only submit that if you're applying for 11th grade.</p>

<p>Don't worry too much about the SSAT, I got 87% overall and I got into Exeter, Concord, and Pomfret. I think reccomendations and grades at school matter more than anything else. I used Kaplan's review book for a few months before I took the test, and it helped a lot; initially, I got a 58%.</p>

<p>Best tip for any reading test: read the questions before you read the passage.</p>

<p>Who cares if you have no idea who Jimmy is yet? Or that he spilled some milk? You will know what to look for and it will cut off your time A LOT! Helped me a ton.</p>

<p>crazy children - From my small sample (folks I know), most take the SSAT/ISEE only once, but with a moderate amount of prep. It does take up a half a Saturday, so you might want to consider if taking it three times over so short a time will improve the scores enough to matter. If your sons don't have any experience with tests of this sort, have them try a sample and see what the result is, then make your plan.</p>

<p>erkybk,</p>

<p>I got it. At the initial SSAT test registration, don't check any school codes, and at the test, let kids not check any school codes. After getting the scores by email, if satisfied, we'll add the school codes in our SSAT account, then they'll send the reports to the designated schools. If my understanding is correct, please reply with "Y". </p>

<p>I bought the bundle service, it looks convenient and reasonable. </p>

<p>Thank you so much for the detail explanation.</p>

<p>nemom,</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice. Kids are actually determined to take the test multiple times to get a good score. I'll persuade them to reconsider. They do have a lot of activities to go to and their school work load is not that light. So I do agree that taking the tests each month does sound crazy esp. for the young kids like ours.</p>

<p>believe me, the SSATs don't make a big difference overall.</p>

<p>starrynite,</p>

<p>I believe what you said when the score is above certain range. This "range" is different for different schools. I just read yesterday that Roxbury Latin School's ISEE acceptable score is 99%. WikiAnswers</a> - Does Roxbury Latin give an IQ exam to applicants. </p>

<p>There is not much room above 99th percentile. Think about the stress this created. What are the "ranges" for other schools for SSAT? </p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>I hear anything about 90% is gravy with every school.</p>

<p>that is true. however, i got a 99% in reading and vocab, and a 53% in math (yikes!), and i got into thacher, cate, taft, emma willard, and was waitlisted at choate.</p>

<p>Don't worry...an applicant does NOT need to get a score of 99 SSAT % to get accepted to good schools. There are applicants with high scores who get rejected, even. Most people seem to think that if you score above 80 or 85 SSAT overall %, you are in the ball park for admission. Finding the ranges for specific schools is not that easy.</p>

<p>crazychildren,</p>

<p>Yes, you understood exactly what I said.</p>

<p>One thing about the statement,
"Roxbury Latin School's ISEE acceptable score is 99%.".</p>

<p>There are two scores. One is national score and the other is SSAT or ISEE percentile. Probably the 99% of thye Rozbury Latin school is national score.
SSAT or ISEE perecntile is the relative ranking among the students who actually took the test while the national test is the realtively estimated ranking among the all the students in the nation. SSAT 85 perecentile is close to 95 or 86% percent national score, because the students who take SSAT/ISEE are usually better students than public school students.</p>

<p>So if SSAT is above 90%, that will be probably about 99% national score.
All the BS looks at SSAt(not the national score).</p>