My daughter is applying to boarding schools that superscore the SSAT.
In 7th grade, her overall percentile for grade/gender (8th/female) was 84% while her section scores were 95% for quantitative, 78% for reading, and 55% for verbal.
She is now in 8th grade and just retook the SSAT.
This time around her overall percentile for grade/gender (8th/female) was 88% while her section scores were 91% for quantitative, 87% for reading, and 77% for verbal.
So, she made dramatic improvement in reading and verbal but dropped slightly in quantitative.
Our question is whether it is best to submit the just the second test or submit both of them (for superscoring). The 55% in verbal on the first test looks bad, although one could argue she improved significantly from 7th grade to 8th grade.
In my opinion, I’d only submit the second set of scores. I think that the 55% verbal could be a negative, whereas the quantitative % is still above 90%. The only exception to this might be if you’re applying to Exeter - they’re known for looking closely at the quantitative score and the higher the better. Others may have a different opinion though. Regardless, congratulations to your daughter on those great results!
Thank you, GMC2918. The tricky thing is that Exeter is her dream school. We may hold the scores back anyway because she has never gotten below an A, her interview went very well, and she has plenty of activities/accomplishments.
Aren’t these two different tests? 7th grade is usually middle level SSAT and 8th grade is upper level, at least I think so? If that’s right, can two different tests even be superscored or compared with one another on an apples-to-apples basis?
Thanks for the response. She took the upper level test while in 7th grade and was therefore compared with 8th graders. It was supposed to be just a practice test but she ended up doing well in quant.
The 7th grade is not of this academic year and may not even be superscored, and only be viewed negatively. Potential gain of 4% on quant may not be big enough to justify the risk.
Why not take another test and aim for overall 90%, if exeter is her dreem school?
I agree with @SculptorDad - if Exeter is her goal, maybe take it again in December? I don’t think it’s totally necessary because her scores are very good, but it may be something to consider.
They used to only accept current year, but changed the policy two years ago (unless they changed it back this year) to accept from the prior year. And spring of 7th grade kids could register for upper level test.