@ens2006 like…half a month?
5k in a month… impressive to say the least. How often/how much do you study? I just wanna make sure I’m not studying TOO little
@ens2006 like, When i first started I’d go 25-50 new words a day and then the next day I redid them plus another 25-50 and like the ones I didn’t know from likes books and stuff I pulled into a small folder as well cuz dune is kind of fun to read tbh as the author put in almost every ssat word from my list at one point or the other and yeah I mean I also put all my words in one quizlet and consistently quiz myself so theres that but my wost suit is in verbal so I have to try even harder hhhhhh
sidenote huns- If you havent taken your test yet buy the Princeton review textbook! literally every single word from the SSAT practice tests was on the list.
@ens2006
Non-fiction history or science books usually have similar vocab to the SSAT words, so maybe check out your local library! Right now I’m reading “Impeachment: An American History”, and it’s pretty interesting, so I’d suggest that.
Also, reading news outets like the NY Times and The New Yorker can teach you sooo many words.
Sometimes stuff like that is kinda boring, but idk, I think it’s more interesting than memorizing flash cards. But that’s a really effective method as well.
@thehappinessfund Thanks!
@Mercurrii I could’t decide if I should get Princeton since the Amazon reviews were so bad. What book(s) did you get from them?
Actually just tell me any of the books you guys use. I have no clue where to start…the selection is overwhelming.
I found a list of books to read for SAT prep and I’m assuming you could use it for the SSAT as well since they’re pretty similar ? It’s just classical books like Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, etc.
@ens2006
Yeah, hoity toity books that english teachers love usually have pretty advanced vocab. They can be boring though, so look for books that’ll actually be interesting to read.
Les Mis is good though, just really really big.
I don’t really know what to read, I find Classics to be pretty boring
I feel like I’ve already asked this… but like what non fics do you think are the most helpful with vocab?
@ens2006 I have the Princeton review SSAT and ISEE 2019 edition and ivy globals English. (got them from my friend) and for books, just read like biographies, court cases, textbooks, e v e r y t h i n g . old fiction is really good as well. 
Wow! I don’t check in for a week and so many new replies have come in! I’m taking my SSATs on the 19th and I’m not worrying too much about it except for the Verbal part. How are all of you doing on your essays?
@SolarJ ahhahhahhhah
badly.
literally cannot write a single thing. I’m thinking too hard about it and now I have writer’s block.
do you know how long like each essay has to be? I really don’t feel liken writing 4-5 paragraphs each for all the forms smh.
@findingschools , my son just finished his last interview. Don’t panic. Boarding school is super new for us, and we don’t know anyone doing this, yet we overall really enjoyed the process.
The interviews were kind of fun (after being so nervous before the 1st one). They are really more of a conversation than a straight-up interview. My son didn’t memorize questions to ask. But the two of us had a plan of key points to try to bring up, because after the 1st or 2nd interview, in debriefing, we realized we were sometimes repeating the same thing in the kid/parent interviews. So, we divided which he would speak to in his interview, and which I would bring up in mine. My son (and myself!) got more confident & better after the first two interviews, so maybe schedule safety schools or ones you are very comfortable about for your first 1 or 2.
The process helps you. You always first take the tour with your parent(s); you are led by kids (1 or 2 tour guides) just a few years older than you: that put my son at ease. The student tour guides have a LOT of talking points, so if you are quieter I think it’s ok. As you walk through the campus & pass by so many nice kids. Everyone’s so friendly. Sometimes funny things happen. On one tour, we walked in on a boy sleeping in his bed when the tour guide went to show us a dorm room!
Then you go back to the Admissions Office, which is like a waiting room. That can be kind of nervous, because you are waiting for the Admissions Officer (AO) to come out to get you for the interview.
If you search this site for boarding school interviews, there are tons of tips. We personally did not look up lists of common questions. IDK if it was due to lack of time, or maybe we didn’t want to be too rehearsed? We just practiced-discussed in the car things he hoped to remember to bring up (to let them get to know him better). If he did ask a question, it was about certain kind of class/program he was interested in. But usually, it ended up just being very warm back & forth conversation about why he wants to go to boarding school. We avoided general questions like “Tell me about your school culture” [I mean, what are they gonna say, “We are all mean”?!].
The schools know it is hard for 13 year olds to be in this situation, so the people they hire to be AOs are REALLY good at talking to kids & are non-threatening. We had 8 interviews where the AO was very kind, talkative, & interested in us, & only 1 where we felt “interviewed” & super stressed out. We took that as a poor reflection of that school (along with other things observed) so we aren’t going to complete an app there. But for the other 8 schools, it was fun & my son grew in confidence during the process, and we had some memorable parent-son bonding experiences.
@Mercurrii
I saw in an earlier post that you don’t use the Gateway application or something…? Most of the schools I’m applying to say how long it has to be (ex. 500 words or under) on the Gateway portal. If not, I think you could just email all the schools and ask how long the essays have to be.
@SolarJ I haven’t submitted Part 1 of the Candidate Profile yet, so I haven’t gotten access to the essays. What are they about?
@ens2006 for the SSAT, there are a few different kinds of analogies that they use, which I studied more than I studied words themselves. If you can identify the analogy type, you’re golden! also look at the part of speech and other bits of etymology which can be very helpful.
I highly recommend Test Innovators, which has so many practice exercises you can access and also provides practice tests where you can check your scores as they will be graded by this year’s SSAT (naturally it’s slightly off since the SSAT is a relative exam and they can’t predict everyone else’s performances, but its a pretty good benchmark). you can also see how your scores might help as to schools that you want to apply to!
also Princeton Review is pretty good. generally you want a study aid that focuses on teaching you how to optimize your test score rather than teaching you new concepts, because there’s no way you’re going to master that in less than a month. you want to be learning strategies rather than focusing on individual things (although none of those vocal strategies hurt, per se ;))
@Mercurrii don’t stress too much about length. just lock yourself in your room and write. it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time around, or really ever. writing is rewriting!