Raising a subject score by 36 percentile points? That is absurd. By which I mean how is the test accurate in any way if that is possible?
Kid studied a lot before the first (terrible) test and not at all before the second test for which math went up 36 percentile points. Doesn’t this indicate that the SSAT test is somewhat of a joke?
It’s difficult to draw broad conclusions from very limited data…being 2 test dates for one child. Many factors that you or your child did not recognize may have impacted the results - being anxious the first time, more tired than realized, accidentally bubbling wrong, being more confident and experienced the second time, etc.
The SSAT is not an intelligence test. It is not meant to say that Jane’s 98% means she is smarter than Johnny with his 92%. It’s just a test of mastery of a set of skills to that point in a child’s life and how well they do demonstrating that mastery in a single sitting (which is in contrast to a child’s grades in school). It is certainly imperfect, but it’s real value is not in distinguishing Jane and Johnny’s scores, but in identifying Jimmy’s score of 30% and identifying a very likely mismatch between a child and a rigorous school.
Yes. The SSAT is designed to trick the test-takers; it’s the only way to distinguish one student from another. Perhaps your kid grasped a better understanding of the test, and catered their studying to the type of test they saw the first time. In addition, since many problems on the SSAT are similar, they simply sniffed out the “trick” the second time. Heck, if 36% of the problems really “tricked” him, and he realized his mistakes the second time around, a 36% improvement would make sense. Or if the category was vocabulary (vocabulary does not have a “learning curve,” it is linear improvement based on how many words you learn), your kid simply hit the books!
The plural of anecdote is not data.
SSAT’s math is much easier than that of the SAT or ACT - I wouldn’t be surprised if your child learned new concepts on their own that helped prepare them - it truly depends on many more factors outside of the SSAT that dictate what the final score will be.
Interesting…
I once thought the same thing. Let me tell you about a conversation I had with a friend (who is an Exonian by the way!) I once complained, “Wow! This SSAT thing is crap—I don’t care who you are or how smart you are, nobody just ‘knows’ things, particularly vocabulary. Everybody physically MUST be taught these words in order to know them on the test…so testing vocabulary is really just a stupid way to judge someone’s intelligence”
My friend then said, “the SSAT isn’t measureing the the amount of knowledge in your head, but rather, your capacity to know knowledge” (I was confused, so he explained) “Think about it like this: You’re right, not many people know those vocabulary words… thats the point! If you don’t have enough dedication and effort to study on your own, then clearly you don’t want to go that badly. Conversely, if you do study your butt off but still can’t get it right, then maybe you don’t belong at such a rigorous school”
And in my opinion, thats all it really comes down to: Who wants it more?
Maybe but my post was specifically about math and I would argue that you cannot just teach yourself the math you don’t know.
Vocab maybe, but the vocab on the ssat isn’t just straight vocab. The analogies or synonyms are tricky.
In my opinion, the math section is, as you say, baloney. However (devils advocate) there are many books that let you just teach yourself the math. But, I find none of those books really teach the reading well… it varies too much test by test. I think the reading is the best measure of an applicant’s raw “inellegence” because it really just tests how well you can logic out the situation and get an overarching understanding. Math, though, first of all has a very bad percentile system because most do much higher. And some of the questions, “How many different combinations of the word DOGS are there?” Have made me audibly laugh out loud during a test when I think, “Wow, this is what it takes to go to Exeter?” The test is a very precise science in my opinion. Not perfect, maybe not accurate, but precise. Again, just my take on it.
Test anxiety accounts for a lot of low scores. This is the primary reason that I encourage parents to back off & let the student do his or her own prep for the SSAT. Okay to give your child study materials & test prep guides, but better to let the student decide when & how much time is spent on test preparation.
Occasionally, a kid will learn or practice a concept in math class between tests that unlocks a lot for them. Particularly true for kids who take the SAT or ACT early, but also appliable to the SSAT.
@gardenstategal Totally agreed. Imagine taking that test without having taken geometry?
it sometimes does not show the true intelligence
It never shows true intelligence, that is not the purpose of the test. It is supposed to show your mastery of the material presented to date. That’s it.