SSATs a great education and the SATs - a mystery

[Periwinkle]

<p>

Now the organization that runs SSAT is different from the organization who own the SAT test. But obviously the SSAT testers are trying to align their results with the
SAT which is why they recently moved their scoring system to be based on 800 per subject which is the same as the SAT.

</p>

<p>Their scoring system now mimics the SAT system, probably because that seems easier for test takers, and their parents to understand. However, that doesn’t mean that the tests themselves are aligned. They’re both norm-referenced tests, but they aren’t based on each other. Students who score well on the SSAT will probably score well on the SAT, particularly as the tests are based on the same domains of knowledge, i.e., reading and math. That doesn’t mean that the SSAT is precisely predictive of performance on the SAT, or at least, no more predictive than, say, the ITBS. The PSAT would be much more predictive of performance on the SAT.</p>

<p>

But if you take a smart kid and give them a great education that IS test prep. If you look at the sat test the math and the english are not some bizarre weird tests that you need special training to do well at. If you are smart and have done a decent amount of math and you have read a fair bit you will do very well.

</p>

<p>The SAT tests verbal reasoning, math, and writing. Verbal: </p>

<p>

The SAT critical reading section gives you a chance to show how well you understand what you read. There are two types of multiple-choice questions in the critical reading section:</p>

<p>Sentence completion questions test your vocabulary and your understanding of sentence structure. (19 questions)
Passage-based reading questions test your comprehension of what is stated in or implied by the passage, not your prior knowledge of the topic. (48 questions)

Math:

Number and Operations
Algebra and Functions
Geometry and Measurement
Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability

</p>

<p>Writing includes an essay, and multiple-choice questions based on grammar.</p>

<p>So, the math extends to a level which an average college-bound student would have completed by sophomore year (Geometry and Algebra II). The verbal reasoning section does not require prior knowledge. </p>

<p>The study of foreign languages, science (biology, chemistry, physics, neuroanatomy), history, music, the arts, philosophy, are parts of a fine education. Not one of them will improve your performance on the SAT. Studying calculus or number theory won’t help, either. Education’s a fine thing, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into higher scores on the SAT.</p>

<p>

everyone has to take the sat whereas the people taking the ssat are well known to be a more select motivated group. This means that for good reason we expect the same kid to score in a higher percentile in the sat than in the ssat. the only question is how much higher. I continue to find it surprising that if you have kids that on average are around the 95th percentile of an elite group they are only around the 97th percentile of the general population after a great education.

</p>

<p>It’s an elite group, because most of the children come from high-SES families. The majority of the children have attended good or excellent schools. It’s a much smaller group (60,000) than the national SAT test pool (over 2 million). The performance of the pool may be higher as a whole, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t many very capable students who have never taken the SSAT at the very top of the scale. 1% of 60,000 is 600. 1% of 2 million is 20,000. Note as well that the students scoring at the highest levels make very few mistakes, if any. </p>

<p>Both tests are likely calibrated for the middle of the range, the kids scoring in the 50th percentile. Quibbling over a few points between 93% and 99% makes little sense, as those kids are the outliers, and the test isn’t designed to distinguish between 97% and 96%. </p>

<p>As a matter of fact, the students at PA, etc., might be scoring very highly. The “average SSAT score” is generally the overall percentage, rather than the subscores. The SSAT provides a combined ranking, and the SAT doesn’t. Scoring at the 93rd percentile in verbal reasoning and mathematics might bump a candidate up a few percentage points in an overall ranking–which the college board doesn’t calculate.</p>