I took the SSAT back in June to see where I stood in terms of scores and how much I would need to prepare for the fall. I got a 2103 (75th percentile). Curious, I emailed the admission departments of some of the schools I was hoping to apply to about the average SSAT scores of their accepted applicants. Exeter’s average SSAT score is 2215, but I know that average percentile is easily in the low 90s. A 112 point difference isn’t that much, considering how much improvement some people make on other standardized tests like the SAT, but the difference in percentiles does pique my interest. I also emailed SSAT wondering if they could send me a copy of the percentiles chart for eighth grade but that appears to only be available to member schools. I wonder how raw scores would play into this. Thoughts?
well, each test that you take is different. like the actual test questions r different. to my knowledge, you can have a high raw score but a low percentile depending on the questions u get. that might be wrong.
@applejuice007 you are correct. The raw score doesn’t mean much and isn’t comparable between test. The score that matters is the percentile, which indicates where you placed compared to the other kids taking the SSAT over the last three years. To the OP: don’t get hung up on the raw score and what it means; study and get a better grade. There are a lot of kids who score very well on the SSAT, so as you get closer to the top there are a large number of kids at any particular raw score. Scoring even a little bit better could result in a significant jump up in your percentile ranking.