<p>While I was taking a practice SSAT, it came to the essay portion of it and I didn’t understand the essay prompt. It asked me, “What do you think about corporal punishment?” and I didn’t know what corporal punishment meant. I looked it up afterwords, but I was wondering - if something like that happened to me during the actual SSAT test, what should I do? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>When I took the SSAT, the essay question was VERY simple. I think it was something like “Do courage and loyalty go hand-in-hand?” Nothing like SAT essay questions. I find it highly unlikely that you won’t understand an essay prompt. However, maybe you should brush up on your vocab…</p>
<p>Yeah, vocab is my weakness… It was my first practice test that I took without studying, though, so I’ve been working very hard on vocab and I’ve been reading the newspaper and classic books to improve it even more.</p>
<p>This is why you study the roots of words! Use this website… [Stem</a> words flashcard sets and study tools | Quizlet](<a href=“http://quizlet.com/subject/stem-words/]Stem”>http://quizlet.com/subject/stem-words/)
In my school we call them stem words and you begin in 6th grade with list one and work your way to list 30. Take the word corporal for example. ‘corp’ is a latin root that means having to do with the body. So you can connect that to the rest of the question and figure out that the they are asking about your opinion on physical punishment. It really helps to know the roots of words when you are stuck on a vocabulary word…they did wonders for me when I took both the SAT and the SSAT. :)</p>
<p>Thank you, I’ve been looking for something like that for a long time. If you happen to know of any books that go through all of the roots, prefixes, and suffixes, I would reall appreciate it if you PMed me or posted here (if it’s alright with you, ballerina22)</p>
<p>No problem. As for a book… I know that the Princeton review book has a section on wooed roots and such.</p>
<p>The Princeton Review is great for the SSAT, especially with any English related stuff. In some ways, a better preparation for the SSAT, and for most academic stuff is reading. And it’s more entertaining than do practice analogies. </p>
<p>This article is perfect. I remember being really glad that some admission officer finally said this:
[The</a> Best Way to Prepare Your Child for Andover | The Dean?s Journal](<a href=“Private Site”>Private Site)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice - I’m feeling way more confident and have been working hard on roots and vocab!</p>
<p>Ballerina-
If you get a prompt you don’t understand I would advise you to:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take a few minutes to reread the question and think about what it could possibly mean. Sometimes just taking the time to breathe can help you clear your mind enough to make the meaning apparent.</p></li>
<li><p>If the meaning is still unclear state directly what you think the question means and then write the best essay you can based on that statement. For instance, if you were given a question about corporal punishment, you might admit you’re not familiar with the expression, but that because “corporal” is a military rank you’ll assume it has to do with military punishments and give your thoughts on how soldiers should be treated in the US armed forces.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My 7th grader was given the prompt, “Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?” Because she had never heard this expression before, or at least never thought about what it meant, she took the question literally and wrote about fish. In the end I don’t think it was disastrous because she was able to construct a logical argument and demonstrate her writing skills.</p>
<p>Remember, the SSAT essay is much less about what you write than how you write. The reader does’t really care what you think about corporal punishment, they just want to see that you can think and write clearly.</p>
<p>I have also heard from some admission officers that the reason the written portion is important to them is so they have an example of the student’s writing without a parent present to proofread, edit or actually write the thing themselves. This way when you submit your essays they have a writing sample to compare them with. That would support the idea that how you write is more important than what you write.</p>
<p>Okay, that makes sense. Thanks!</p>
<p>The essay prompts are usually much simpler that the practice test question that stumped you. Just write a logical essay to the best of your ability and keep going.</p>
<p>the essay question is not just the prompt it usually has a small paragraph by the test maker above the question that is boxed and includes some further thoughts and sometimes quotations (usually to get you thinking, or in your case can help you understand the question a bit more). If you are still stuck follow what Sue22 said, which would be your only shot, and of course as many already had said, it usually isnt hard questions.</p>