I know this is an older thread but just in case people review this later. I want to offer a different perspective from what is suggested above – to make sure that you are “at or above” the SSAT scores for the schools on your apply list.
I would tweak that idea a bit and offer this thought –
Your SSAT score is one data point.
Your academic narrative is a combination of SSAT score, your grades, your course selection, your recommendations. If you are a top student, you probably know you are a top student. You have probably been told this your whole life. If you get a softer score, it may well not “ruin” that narrative.
Also, keep in mind that your academic narrative is actually just one piece of the overall narrative.
(activities, kindness, interesting background, resilience, etc etc etc…).
So all that to say: if we had “made sure to be at or above SSAT scores” of schools, my DD have applied to 1 or 2 of her schools. (She had an 80.) Thank goodness she didn’t do that! She got into 8 fantastic schools, all but one or two were above her average by a nice margin.
I would say, however, that you would want to be in the ballpark. (maybe 10 or 15 ppts below just as a guess if we have to put a number on it?). And, I would suggest having a few options where you are at or above the average. But don’t let a soft SSAT score lead you to cross out options before you’ve even tried.