SSAT Prep
For students and parents who are hoping to get into a good private school, proper SSAT prep is a must. Before you start looking into taking the SSAT, preparation must be made as far as understanding the basics about the test in the first place. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the basic information regarding the SSAT test.
The SSAT, also known as the Secondary School Admissions Test, is an admissions test administered by a company called SSAT to students in grades 5-11 throughout the United States. This test, which is used to help determine admissions into private or independent junior high schools and high schools, is given in either Lower Level (for grades 5-7) or Upper Level form (for grades 8-11). Most students who take this exam will undergo some kind of SSAT prep.
There are two different levels of this test; the primary difference between them is that one is a little less challenging, and one is a little more difficult. The Lower level version of the SSAT is designed for students in grades 5 through 7, while the Upper level version of the exam is intended to evaluate students in grades 8 through 11. Ideally, an SSAT prep course should address these two versions with at least some specificity. The SSAT consists of four major parts: the first is a brief essay section, and the remaining three are multiple choice sections which include Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, and the Verbal section. The test is written and administered in English, and is primarily given in a variety of private school across the US and Canada; however, it is also taken to a limited extent worldwide.
SSAT Prep
1 Essay
2 Mathematics Section
3 Verbal Section
4 Reading Comprehension Section
5 Scoring
Essay
The essay portion of the SSAT asks students to support or argue against some kind of prompt statement. They are to do so using various examples either from history, literature, current news and world events, or from their own experiences. Students get 25 minutes in which to plan and write their essays, and they have one side of one sheet of paper to write it. The essay section of the test is unscored, however it is sent to school admissions offices along with the rest of the test. Because the essay is unscored, most SSAT prep materials will not spend much time on it–but of course you want to do your best on anything that goes to your school.
Mathematics Section
SSAT Math consists of two 30 minute math sections. Students are to answer 25 questions in each section which require them to perform basic computations. Those computations will include some basic algebraic work. This particular section is called Quantitative Reasoning. The questions in this section come in all forms and vary from word problems to simple equations.
Verbal Section
The verbal section of the SSAT is 30 minutes long and consists of 30 synonym questions in addition to 30 analogy questions. This portion of the exam is designed to test your vocabulary as well as your verbal reasoning and your ability to relate a variety of ideas logically.
Reading Comprehension Section
For this section of the test, students must answer a set of 40 questions in 40 minutes. The questions all relate to seven given reading passages. It is important for this section not only to understand and absorb the material that you read, but to do so relatively quickly and efficiently. Simply put, the reading comprehension section of the SSAT is a test of your ability to understand and retain what you read. A good SSAT prep class will make this portion of the exam much easier.
Scoring
Every question on the SSAT is worth as much as every other question. There is a guessing penalty on the SSAT, which means that raw scores are calculated by awarding one point for each question answered correctly and subtracting on quarter-point for each question with a wrong answer. Questions that are left blank to not earn or take away any points on the SSAT. The scaled score for the Upper Level of the test ranges from 500 to 800, and the scaled score for the Lower Level of the test ranges from 440 to 710.
SSAT score reports provide a variety of potentially helpful information for test-takers. The report includes scaled scores for each of the sections on the test, and also percentile rankings for each category. These rankings compare the students performance to the performances of other students who have taken the test in the previous three years. The score reports also include estimated national percentile ranks for test takers in fifth grade through ninth grade, as well as projected senior year SAT scores for test takers in seventh through tenth grades. When students receive their test scores, they can decide which independent schools to send their test results to; at that point, each individual private or indpendent school will evalute the scores according to its own criteria.
SSAT Prep
If you’d like to do well on the SSAT, you will need to do a few things to prepare yourself. Any good SSAT prep course will include focused training, direct unlimited access to a tutor, and a reliable full-refund satisfaction guarantee. Once you are able to sign up for a course like that, you’ll be on track for a successful SSAT prep experience.