At a fall boarding school admissions fair, we overheard an assistant admissions officer for one of the following (SPS, Deerfield, Choate, Hotchkiss) tell a family “anything in the 80s or 90s is fine”. For these schools, the SSAT average is pretty consistent over time, and one gets the inkling that kids with hooks may score below the average and for those without a strong hook (but still have a compelling application), best to be in the 80s and above for highly selective schools.