<p>What in general did you do to study for the SSAT? Any recommendations?</p>
<p>This may be an unpopular opinion . . . but I think studying for the SSAT should be kept to a minimum.</p>
<p>The purpose of the test is to reflect your “true” academic ability, so that you end up at a school that has the “appropriate” level of academic challenge for you. Can you raise your score - perhaps significantly - by studying an enormous amount? Possibly. But I personally think it would be heartbreaking for a kid to study an hour or so a night, and more on the weekend, for several months, in order to greatly raise their score. For what? To end up at a school where the academics are really too difficult, and you have to study every single free moment, and not really be able to enjoy all the great things that high school should include, besides just academics?</p>
<p>A month or two before you plan to take the test, I do think you should get a prep book, and learn about what the test will include, and how it will be administered. I think it is a good idea to take practice tests, to help you get over some of the nervousness that comes with doing a new thing. And I think it is a great idea to do vocabulary study - that’s just a good idea in general for anyone - I still do “word a day” at my ancient age! </p>
<p>But I think a couple of hours a week, for a month or so, should be more than enough time to prepare. Once again - your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>Ditto. Study the test so you know that the questions are really asking, and so you get a sense of how much time you have to answer each question.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with Mountainhiker. My own daughter only reviewed the math sections in practise tests because the questions are so very different from the kind of math she does in school. Even so, her math section is the lowest, thought still above average, making it only a relative weakness. Consequently, her ssat scores are a fairly accurate reflection of her abilities. The ssat is not an achievement test so the best way to prepare is probably to figure out how to outwit it, which might but you in the boat mountainhiker described. Besides, aren’t there like a million other things you’d rather do?</p>
<p>But don’t the people that seem score high on the test, study at least from one prep book? Do they just go in and take it without any preparation?</p>
<p>Many people use the Princeton Review SSAT test prep book. I think the most useful part of using the book is the practice you will get. I believe there is at least one whole practice test in the book. If you take it and time yourself you will have practiced for the SSAT. Hopefully, this will serve to demystify it’s contents for you and give you the comfort of not going into the real test cold.</p>
<p>I checked the amazon reviews and it said the book had alot of errors and also it had 1 star? Should I still purchase it though?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It depends. Some kids go to middle schools that actually have ssat prep as a part of their curriculum and naturally, they would do better. My d got the book from ssat and took each section separately, just to get an idea of how she’d do. It was apparent that verbal and reading wouldn’t be an issue so she didn’t do anything further to prepare for those two. She was mystified by how easy the math seemed but then still got about ten wrong. So, she spent time carefully dissecting the questions to see how she should go about them and did all the practice tests she could find to get used to doing it quickly and accurately. Her math did end up improving quite a bit but still, it’s the only section she did any prep for and while her score is fine, it was her lowest section So no, not everyone who scores very high prepares a great deal.</p>
<p>The best preparation is strategies for answering the questions in the allotted time. </p>
<p>I wish she would have spent some time practicing writing an essay in 25 minutes, but there were too many other things that she had on her plate.</p>
<p>PS: I’d like to think that the people who read her file realize that her verbal/reading scores are high because she has read tons of advanced books and don’t think it’s because she memorized lists of words (yuck!)</p>
<p>Our son prepped maybe a total of five hours the month before the test - and that includes about three hours taking a practice test. (He didn’t take the practice test in one sitting - he did the reading & verbal sections three weeks before the test, the math sections two weeks before, and a practice essay the week before.) He used the Kaplan prep book - I’ve heard others prefer the Princeton Review prep book. He scored very well - his math score was much better than the year before, but I think that’s because he had another year of math instruction under his belt. (He is reapplying to schools this year - last year was his first year taking the SSAT, and he did about the same amount of prep this year as last year.)</p>
<p>Interesting. I never checked Amazon reviews as the book was suggested for use by my child’s school. I will say, anecdotally, it is the book that comes up most often on this forum as useful. If you search this forum for “SSAT prep book” you will find it mentioned in many threads. Read through them and you will get some sense of what the benefits are from students who used it and can decide if it is worth buying for you. If not I believe there are a couple of other books maybe barrons(?) but I am not sure.</p>
<p>Prior to taking the SSAT last year, my daughter had taken the SATs as a 7th grader and scored well (over 2000), so I wasn’t worried she’d do fine on the SSAT. We did get her a prep book so that she’d be able to take a practice test or two beforehand. She her practice tests under test day timing.</p>
<p>She did not “cram” vocab or math, just not her style (nor my style to suggest it as a parent). She did not use the prep books (Princeton Review and McGraw-Hill) for much more than the practice tests. She did like the book “Up Your Score”, which I had gotten for her before she took the SAT.</p>
<p>Since my daughter did well (90+) on the practice tests, we did not seek professional help, but I can understand why families take that path given the resources and inclination.</p>
<p>I used Princeton Review and McGraw Hill, and like SevenDaughter, I scored really well on the SATs in seventh grade. Take practice tests to get a better sense of the actual test!</p>
<p>The SSAT h ad a completely different range of questions from what I’m used to in school, and I had about two weeks of prep time (not complete though, had to study for another test as well during the time). I used Princeton Review and Barron’s. Both were extremely useful, and I used the Barron’s for the two additional practice tests since Princeton Review only had 1. Didn’t prep for math, since it was really easy stuff I did in elementary school, and prepped the most for reading, since the questions were especially tricky. :)</p>
<p>Go ahead and get Princeton Review . . . but get a used copy. There’s virtually no difference in content and you get an an old used one on Amazon or Half.com for only a few dollars plus shipping. The best part of the book, as already noted, is the section with practice tests, and those seem to stay the same from year to year. If and when they ever come out with an edition with new practice tests, it would definitely be worth buying, but from what I’ve seen, the past several years have all had the same tests. So buy a used copy - just make sure it isn’t full of writing!</p>
<p>Is the peterson’s book good though? It’s got some pretty good reviews.</p>
<p>Get any one you like - or get a couple of different ones, just so you have more practice tests. Whatever you can find used that isn’t all marked up.</p>
<p>Any one of them will help you familiarize yourself with what’s expect on the test. And none of them is going to work magic. I don’t think you can say that people who used “Book X” always ace the test. It’s easy to think that’s the case, but it’s just not.</p>
<p>You want to really help yourself? Take the actual SSAT this spring and see how you do. Maybe you’ll do well. If not, at least you’ll know which parts of the test gave you the most trouble. So you’ll know what to focus on when you’re prepping for next fall.</p>
<p>+1 Princeton Review (it was better than the others we looked at; you do NOT need the SSAT official booklet for $30)</p>
<p>+1 Used copy. We actually borrowed ours from the library, copied answer sheets found online to fill out (number of questions doesn’t need to match, just number of bubbles per question), ignored any marks in book (most often in difficult questions, they’re wrong).</p>
<p>+1 taking actual SSAT once in year before applying. Helps understand range of schools to explore for reach schools and safety schools. Helps clarify how much preparation might be needed.</p>
<p>We did not do studying above and beyond doing all practice tests (no vocabulary lists). Doing practice test sections (with a timer) gave a great sense of how to pace yourself, and grading them gives feedback on silly errors (and learning when it might be a good idea to omit a question rather than guess). Good idea to do a couple essay practices also (find typical questions online with quick search or just provide any aphorism and answer agree or disagree). Generally the goal is not to learn new material, but to be completely comfortable with the structure of the test, and relaxed enough to shine.</p>