SSAT scores - retake?

Periwinkle
Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:39:52 +0000

@flatstanley, it would be best for you to ask the admissions officers, not us. The AOs may not be able to give you an accurate estimate of your chances, because so many factors come into play, but I would hope that they would tell an applicant whose scores were very, very low that he had little chance of admission.

Remember that an average, or median, SSAT score doesn’t give you an idea of the range of scores. A school with an SSAT average of 90% could have a distribution which clusters closely around 90%, or a distribution which ranges from very high to very low scores. Don’t freak out about your chances if your SSAT score were around 87%, if the school’s average is 90%. Do freak out about scores at such a school if your overall score were around 25%.

Also, in the overall picture, I’d estimate an applicant’s grades are more important than the SSAT score, particularly if he hails from a school which has sent students to that prep school before. High grades with a middle-of-the-pack SSAT score is much better than low grades and a stellar SSAT score.