@bluejay163 May I make a strong suggestion? Take 2 good practice tests and get a sense for your scores now! Jan 4th test means you will find out for the first time if you are getting a 50%ile or a 95th%-ile right at the deadline time, and those scores demand two VERY different school lists. My DD is an excellent student – the top student at her fairly large public middle school in strong district – and is a great test taker. She took one practice test and landed in high 80’s, so while it wasn’t stellar, we thought she was on track. On the real test, she bombed, I mean bombed, her verbal (30’s), bringing her score way way down to high 60’s. So we found ourselves in December with a school list that just did not make sense anymore. We researched, we leaned into the generosity of folks on this board who shared experiences and ideas and we were able to add some schools and interviews to the mix. And if she does amazing on the next SSAT, then fantastic. Great. Her reach schools will become reaches again (versus essentially a small financial donation to the kind admissions folks for the time it takes for them to say no thank you). BUT: it was a bit of scramble, to be honest.
At the risk of sounding alarmist, I will share that I do not think you will have the time you will want to have to make adjustments if you wait until you get your scores on January 15 (11 days after Jan 4th – seems to be the delay for scores).
I hope your scores are amazing right out of the gate. And lots of folks have that experience! But I don’t want you to be stuck January 15th with a pit in your stomach like we were last week. At least we had the luxury of a few weeks to make the adjustments. Give yourself that gift by taking 2 tests now (2 so you don’t have a fluke score).
And, that will help you figure out what might be “safety” school for you (although many would quibble with the use of the word “safety,” I do understand what you mean so I will use it here.)