<p>My son is scheduled to take the November test. His idea was that if he "didn't do well" (his words), he would have time to take them in December and still have additional scores by application date. </p>
<p>So, question: What is the low end of the score range where it would be beneficial/recommended to take them again? They see both sets of results, yes?</p>
<p>He's applying to Exeter only.</p>
<p>It really depends. Some says above 85% composite is good enough, others at least 95%.
Some says individual subscore is important, such as no section should be less than say 70%, etc.
But then some gets rejected with 99%.
So don’t read into too much.
Have him take a few practice timed tests, e.g. using the book from ssat.org ($35). His real score would be close to the practice one. If he gets much lower score than the practice one in November, take it again. If he gets expected score, taking it again in December won’t change it as he will have only couple of weeks after the score release to prepare.</p>
<p>Yes, the school will see both scores unless you cancel it before knowing the score.</p>
<p>No, that’s not true that the schools will see both scores. When he goes to take the test, do not give the list of schools that you want to receive the scores then (you don’t have to list the schools then, it’s optional). Just get the results yourself. If you’re not happy with the outcome, take it again. Then when you have both sets of scores in hand, you can decide which to have SSAT report to the schools – you just go online to the SSAT website and indicate which test you want sent to and which schools.</p>
<p>Thanks, soxmom! </p>
<p>Followup question then - is there enough time to take both nov and dec tests, wait for results from dec, and then get them reported to the school by January 15th?</p>
<p>soxmom is correct. </p>
<p>[Scores</a> - FAQs](<a href=“http://ssat.org/scores/faq]Scores”>http://ssat.org/scores/faq)</p>
<p>“SSAT will send official score reports for each test only to those schools you designate. … However, … your …reports will indicate that you have multiple scores on file.” </p>
<p>You should have enough time to get score reports to school.</p>
<p>Yes, absolutely. My son retook the SSAT in December (after taking in October and then doing some additional studying with a tutor), and we had the scores in ample time. In fact, people will tell you that you can even take the January test and most schools are fine with that. I didn’t want to have to worry about trying to get my son to study over the holidays, so he did December.<br>
For what it’s worth, I will say that even after getting a really great tutor to work with him after the October test, my son ended up getting an almost identical score in December. But I’m still glad he did it, as at least then I felt like those really were the scores that he was “supposed to” get and that he put every effort into getting the best scores he could.</p>
<p>Don’t forget some (all?) schools superscore. Andover was very clear at the TSAO event we attended (so long ago now) that they take the highest score in each category from all the scores submitted, and students are NOT penalized for lower scores. They take the highest and ignore the lowest so it can be to your advantage to submit all scores to “keep” a higher one from an earlier test that may be lower on a later test.</p>
<p>Thanks, moms!! </p>
<p>This is awesome to know that he has an option to do it twice (I agree that he may not score all that differently a month later but it may provide some pressure relief for him?)</p>
<p>Last question (maybe:)</p>
<p>If we don’t report his scores after his Nov test, and then he takes Dec test, can he pick which scores to send? Can he send both?</p>
<p>Choatiemom, he is only applying to Exeter. Any idea if they “superscore”? I don’t see on their site anywhere…</p>
<p>Yes, you can send either or both, that’s what I was trying to say. You just log in to your account on ssat.org, click on the test session, and then click on what schools to send it to.</p>
<p>I don’t know about whether Exeter superscores or not, but my understanding is that – while it is the norm for colleges – it’s not the norm for boarding schools. I think many schools won’t actually tell you what they do, they just tell you to send them whatever test scores you want, and they don’t tell you exactly how they evaluate them.</p>
<p>The educational consultant we worked with recommended just picking the set of scores that were the best overall. The only reason you’d want to superscore is if you scored high on one portion of the test but lower on another, and then in a subsequent test taking, you basically did the reverse. So for instance, if you scored low on math in the first test and did better the second time around, the only reason not to just submit only the second test is if the math was better but the verbal was lower than the first time. The problem with that is that while it’s good to show the improvement on the math, it also makes the first high verbal score look like a fluke. I think you’re better off just going with whichever test he does the best on for the overall percentile.</p>
<p>Thanks again, everyone. This is all really helpful information! </p>
<p>As I said before, I’m not really worried that he’s going to tank the test. He’s been doing well in his practice tests so far. I just thought that having the option of taking it a second time might ease some of the anxiety going into it the first time. So it’s good to know that we have some options to tailor the reporting the way it feels most comfortable to him!</p>
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<p>Actually, the way it was explained at the TSAO event (by not just Andover) was that they look at the LOW scores as the “flukes.” They understand that kids have bad days, colds, nerves, etc., and that the SAT tests differ for each sitting. They are looking for the BEST a student can do, not wasting time questioning the lower scores.</p>
<p>So in working through the practice tests, we are confused about raw score conversion to percentile (yeah, I know, who isn’t!?)</p>
<p>Princeton Review has the conversion estimates and it says that getting about 85% of the Reading test questions correct results in about a 92% score. </p>
<p>Yes, I know that the percentile is specific to the testing period…but does that sound right as an estimate?</p>
<p>Just want to make sure I am interpreting it correctly.</p>
<p>The percentile you quote means that 92% of SSAT takers will score less than 85% of the reading questions correct. In other words only 8% of test takers will get more than 85% questions correct.
The general trend is that reading section is more gracious than math or verbal. That is, the percentile is better even with a few missed questions.
So it seems about right but it is only an estimate.</p>
<p>I totally get what the percentile means, I was just surprised at the curve for Reading section. When I saw percentage of questions correct, I was surprised the percentile was that much higher. </p>
<p>And yes, as I said, I understand it’s all dependent on who’s taking the test that day…</p>
<p>The average ssat score for exeter is around 92%. If applying for FA, a little over 92 should help</p>
<p>Triangles314, you mean 92% overall or 92% on each section…? I’m fairly certain he’ll score quite high on quantitative. Always an easy A for him and scored a perfect score on the state assessment for the last two years. The SSAT practice tests have been pretty straightforward for him.</p>
<p>He doesn’t do quite as well on Verbal and Reading practice tests, but still seems to be low 90s in the percentile estimates.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure overall</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, last year my son scored 749 out of 800 on the math section. It ranked as an 81%. Strangely, he took the test again, and scored exactly the same - 749. He had also made perfect scores on the state assessment tests, and was on the math team for 3 years. We were pretty surprised with the math score.</p>
<p>Math is screwy. My d, who abhors math, did very well on the ssat math, over 90th.</p>
<p>Generally, you can’t get more than 3 wrong to be over 90th. But I think boys tend to do better overall, so percentiles are a bit lower for them.</p>