SSAT Scores - wide range at selective schools

Prep School Admissions
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Thought it may be helpful for those concerned about SSAT scores, or wondering how must importance to place on a “95” versus an “85”, to post the SSAT ranges at St. Paul’s School for 2018-2019 (SPS website). I think it illustrates the SSAT is not a silver bullet, but just one aspect of the application process. There is a wide range of scores, suggesting SPS puts a lot of emphasis on many other aspects of a candidate’s submission.

Also note, these ranges reflect superscoring (taking the BEST Q, V, R from all of the tests submitted to SPS by the admitted candidate).

NOTE: The schools know it only takes 5 more correct answers on the Verbal to go from an 85th composite to a 90th composite. 5? That could be the difference between a kid studying Quizlet for 15 minutes a day for 2 weeks versus another kid choosing instead to practice their jump shot, or volunteering, or doing an art project, or guessing more intelligently. In other words, the difference between an 85 or a 90 or 95 on the SSAT may have very little to do with IQ, and a lot to do with how people choose to spend their time, or how good they are at taking tests, or at memorization, (and yes, sometimes, being brilliant). It’s not an IQ test.

(Full disclosure - our kid studied the second time around and the score went way up…He didn’t get smarter - just studied the word list).

SSAT Middle 50% (pool of admitted applicants, from SPS website):

Quantitative: 710-767
Verbal: 686-758
Reading: 674-725

About 1/3 of these come from 10th grade applicants, and 2/3 from 8th grade applicants or 9th grade into 9th grade, so the scores can be adjusted down a couple of points to normalize it as reflecting only those entering 9th grade (an approximation):

ADJUSTED SCORES:
Quantitative: 708-765
Verbal: 684-756
Reading: 672-723

PERCENTILES Middle 50%
Again, estimation from online sources:
Quantitative: 60th percentile - 85th percentile
Verbal: 65th - 95th
Reading: 65th - 95th

Mean (using mid-point of Adjusted Scores above)
Quantitative: 75th percentile
Verbal: 84th
Reading: 84th

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Great post @BordDuLac. For a while, I had been trying to get a sense for the range of scores that accepted applicants have at schools. It was one thing to know a median score, say 85%, but what was the range? Especially to the lower side. For instance, was the range of nearly all accepted from 80% to 99% around the median of 85%? Or was the range for the bulk of those accepted from 60% to 99% around the median?

I read an academic research paper by an admissions director at SAS that attempted to look at SSAT scores as a predictor of academic success. While not the main focus of the paper, it also provided a window into the range of SSAT scores for SAS students. The paper states that the median total SSAT score for enrolled students was about 85%. It was then stated later in the paper that the average total SSAT score (which is different than median) was about 80% and that the standard deviation of scores was about 16%. While simplifying, is is reasonable to take away that 2/3 of enrolled students had scores between ~64% and 96% (as 2/3 of data points will be within -/+ 1 standard deviation around the average). And roughly 1/3 of students will have scores outside that range (below ~64% and above ~96%). While this is not precise by any means, I think there is a broad takeaway about the range of scores of accepted students from this study that is consistent with the St. Paul’s data discussed in the post above.

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Interesting, does it imply that with a strong application a 60% and above can be admitted but below that the chances are slim?

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There is no magic formula to assess, but yes, I think it’s reasonable to assume the chances get quite slim to be accepted with a score below 60% for a school that has a median score around 85%. However, from this type of data, the big takeaway for me was that candidates with scores in the mid 60s to 70s are still in the mix for potentially being accepted to a school with ~85% median scores. A key to remember is that half of accepted students have scores below the median. So that median score is by no means some cutoff (and I believe that posters on this site too frequently speak to the median scores in that way). Now, to have those scores that much below the median or avg, while still possible, the candidate needs to shine or stand out in some way.

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Remember that the purpose of the scores is to indicate a student’s readiness and ability to be successful in that school’s academic program. High scores do not cause concern, but scores that are significantly below a school’s average will raise a flag to the admissions team. High scores won’t be the reason for acceptance, but (outlying) low scores can contribute to a rejection decision because they may signal that the student will struggle to be successful in a particular program, and that is not beneficial to either the student or the school. A student with a “strong application” that does not indicate s/he can be successful academically is not a strong candidate for that school regardless of what else that kid brings to the table. Hoping that some other factor will overcome a low indication of academic success is magical thinking.

I think too many students and parents put more emphasis on these scores (and analyzing them) than the schools do. When the schools tell you (and they beat this drum over and over and over…) that they only use scores as one indicator of readiness for their academic programs, you should believe them, check the box, and move on. They already have.

It might be interesting on a rainy day to look at the spread of scores from school to school, but I think it’s important not to lose sight of the purpose of the scores and not invest them with more relevance than intended.

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@ChoatieMom I totally agree with you. I am just interested in the data (science nerd). My kid is a pretty good tester but has friends who are not so I am interested in the score averages and data from that angle. I have also been texted a slew of scores by very excited kids who think their 95% is going to get them into all the schools they applied to. (I work with kids so I am talking to lots every day)

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I agree with @ChoatieMom, and just wanted to point out that while a “low” score may raise a flag and cause the committee to dig deeper into the candidate’s academics, digging deeper doesn’t mean rejection. 25% are being admitted with subscores at or below 60-65 percentile, so a flag doesn’t mean rejection.

No stats to prove this, but I have read that 60th percentile on the SSAT is like 85th-90th percentile on the SAT, so “low” has a different connotation in the private school world.