SSAT Percentile

neatoburrito
Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:08:57 +0000

Exactly, Westcoast. One incorrect answer makes a huge difference in the upper percentiles, which is why you can make such drastic changes to your score with retakes; assuming you’re already in the higher range. A quick comparison of ssat to national percentiles will show you how competitive this group is. A 30th percentile ssat is equivalent to 95th nationally. The sampled group is much smaller in the ssat pool and that’s who you’re being compared to. There WILL be people who take this test and “set” the curve at 100%. When you take the ssat, you are thrust into a very small, and VERY well-stocked pond.

Like most things having to do with math, I don’t completely understand the process of “equating” that is used to convert raw scores to scaled scores, but my understanding is that it has something to do with varying levels of difficulty between test editions. This is why a tester can miss or omit a few problems from the verbal section and still get an 800; or conversely, miss nothing on math and get something like a 795. (well, I don’t really understand that - but it’s true)

I think of it like this…

There’s this bell curve and the upper quintile has been redistributed across a hundred point scale. If you don’t normally fall within that upper quintile, you’ll tank. If you fall within the top of that quintile it’s amazing! If you fall within the bottom, you’re still amazing and in the top group, just the bottom of the top!

The SSAT really does split hairs among the nation’s top students.

You’re running with the swift.