<p>How many people take the SSAT each year and within 3 years?
Out of those people, can someone accurately calculate how many and what percentage of test takers get 99th percentiles overall?</p>
<p>just over 1% should get 99th percentile</p>
<p>100% -> all test takers - > 99 percentiles in total
percentile -> where you are in the group (percentage-wise)
-> ~1 percent per percentile</p>
<p>maybe my logic is hopelessly flawed, though</p>
<p>but how many?</p>
<p>i don’t think the ssat discloses how many people take the test each time, so theres no way of knowing</p>
<p>they should know because that’a probably the most important factor in calculating percentiles.</p>
<p>but how many.</p>
<p>I think the number is around 3,000 assuming that that around 300,000 kids take the test each time it is given. This also includes retakes i believe. I am not positive about these number but i do recall reading something about this last year.</p>
<p>wow 300,000??? that’s too much.</p>
<p>An old Kaplan test prep blurb puts the number of SSAT test takers at close to 100,000 each year. There are multiple test dates but of course the Oct., Nov., and Dec. dates are probably much more popular than the spring or summer dates.</p>
<p>Considering there are ~4 million kids in a grade in US, and ~7% go to private schools, 280,000 students should be entering 9th grade in private schools. Now, add in the facts that K-12 private schools do not require SSAT, while not everybody who takes SSAT goes to private school, somewhere around 300,000 might be considered a reasonable number of SSAT takers. So I agree with wahala that ~3,000 students will have 99 percentile.</p>
<p>Approximately 55,000 students take the SSAT every year.
source: Memberanda - SSAT
<a href=“http://www.memberanda.org/2005XXII_NO3/1.asp[/url]”>http://www.memberanda.org/2005XXII_NO3/1.asp</a></p>
<p>Not sure at all how reliable it is. Unfortuantely, the link is not working any more. BTW, there’s lots of admission related info on the website [The</a> Admission Organization: Home](<a href=“http://www.admission.org/index.aspx]The”>http://www.admission.org/index.aspx)</p>
<p>I found a page which stated 60,000:</p>
<p>
[url=<a href=“http://www.ssatmembers.org/membersite.nsf/AllDocs/Services-SSAT?OpenDocument#_Section10]Services-SSAT[/url”>http://www.ssatmembers.org/membersite.nsf/AllDocs/Services-SSAT?OpenDocument#_Section10]Services-SSAT[/url</a>]</p>
<p>So, between 550 and 600 students would fall in the 99th percentile overall each year. I’d guess (but don’t know) that the 8th grade cohort would have the most test takers each year. Thus, maybe (guess) 300 8th graders would be in the 99th percentile? If 30,000 8th graders took it.</p>
<p>Students can take the SSAT more than once, but the SSAT organization knows who they are.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t make too much about the 99th percentile. For the top schools, anything above 80% is competitive. So, some 12,000 students may have the scores to be in the hunt for a seat at any boarding school. </p>
<p>If you have strong test scores, don’t think that a 99% will guarantee admission. Work on those applications!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your valuable input.</p>
@Periwinkle The page doesn’t seem to work any more. How did you find it? I’m looking up data now and can’t seem to find anything.
However, the 2011-2012 Interpretive Guide to the SSAT studied the total number of test takers from Aug 2008 to July 2011 and it was a little over 180,000+ test takers in those years. So, 60,000 definitely sounds right.
I found the specific numbers here: http://■■■■■■/QGgt9S
The weird thing is that let’s say it was 60,000/year, is it really only 600 99% Percentiles? I’ve met at least 3 students who got a 99% and that’s out of like 20-30 kids. Am I just hanging around smarter kids? Haha…
A couple of thoughts:
A) Resurrecting old threads is considered bad form on CC…SkiEurope must be otherwise occupied because this is the sort of thing he/she nips in the bud fairly quickly.
B ) I think the group of people who will tell you they got a 99% is very self-selected. It’s similar to what happens on M10…fewer posters come back to the forum to report rejections/waitlists, so it appears like an abnormally high percentage of people get acceptances to more selective BSs.
C) This may irk some, but so be it…IMO, depending on the test sitting, one can get a BUNCH of questions wrong and still get a 99%. I’ve always looked at it as “there are 99s and there are 99s”. If you really want to compare apples to apples, ask how many questions a test taker got wrong…or their raw score…on a given test.
D) Note that because of the different test forms used, it occasionally impossible to get the highest possible scaled score (800). So you could get every question correct and still not get an 800. I have correspondence with SSAT to support this.
E) None of this really matters (that much) in the context of admission results, IMO. While a 99% may provide a student/their parents a point of pride, plenty of 99% kids get thin envelopes on M10. I know because my older daughter was one of them.
I agree with @SevenDad I suspect this thread is born from the “how many kids am I actually competing with?” question. You are not going to get an answer to that even if you can determine how many 99% s there are. There is no way that even Andover or Exeter is separating out the top one% from the top 5% at the least. Its great to get a 99, I am not trying to minimize it, but the truth is you may have only answered a few questions more correctly on a test than the kid with a slightly lower score. That is not what is going to get you into BS. It doesn’t hurt, it definitely puts you in the right pile of kids with scores they aren’t worried about but there are way too many other variables.
Just to add my two cents in: I had read the 55,000 number somewhere, as well. Also, your percentage is based on North American test takers, not the international ones (or Americans taken overseas). I am not sure where their numbers go. As for raw scores, a 797/800 was a 99%, 3 wrong and 1 skipped. Hope that helps.
He.
I had a class, but yes, please use old threads for research only; if you have a question/statement related to the findings of your research, please feel free to start a new discussion. Closing thread.