The SSAT is the most widely used academic assessment for independent school admission in the D.C. area and beyond.
There’s no doubt that this assessment produces a tremendous amount of anxiety as the most competitive schools want to see strong scores.
The SSAT is a strategy-based test, which is often very different from what a student is used to in the classroom.
- For correct answers, students gain one point.
- For incorrect answers, students lose one-fourth of a point.
- For answers left blank, there is no positive or negative effect, simply a zero toward the raw score.
The fact that students are penalized for wrong answers greatly impacts test-taking strategy on the SSAT. Students are not necessarily expected to answer every question, and many sink their score by rushing to finish questions they may not answer correctly.
Because this test is tricky for even the brightest students, ensuring students are comfortable and understand the format and scoring is vital.
The Test and Structure
There are two different versions of the test, middle (for those applying to grades 5-8) and upper (for those applying to grades 9-12). Both versions are three-hour-and-15-minute academic assessments.
- Essay (25 mins). Not graded but reviewed by the admission team so that they can get a sense of the child's writing ability.
- Break (Five mins)
- Quantitative multiple choice (30 mins)
- Critical Reading multiple choice (40 mins)
- Break (10 mins)
- Vocabulary multiple choice (30 mins)
- Second Quantitative multiple choice (30 mins)
- Experimental multiple choice (15 mins). Not graded.
One-to-One Virtual Test Preparation Tutoring
Our highly trained test prep tutors and innovative, proven curriculum is designed specifically to help students prepare for the SSAT.
Our instruction is three-fold: content review, essential test-taking strategies, and simulated test practice.
How Our Program Works
We custom-design an instructional program for each student.
- The first step in each of our tutoring programs is to have the student complete a comprehensive SSAT diagnostic test.
- We determine the student's strengths and weaknesses using a computerized analysis of the test results.
- From there, we customize a test prep program which will enable the tutor to focus on the areas in greatest need of improvement.
- One of our dedicated Test Prep Specialists hand-selects a tutor who will best suit the student's academic needs and personality.
- Instruction is focused on verbal, writing, reading and/or math review, test-taking strategies, and practice with actual exams — the three proven ways to boost scores.
- Parents receive up-to-the-minute progress reports after each tutoring session and have access to our online portal, which provides practice test scores and feedback, homework assignments, and scheduling information.
We are committed to providing students with the best resources.
We’re proud to partner with Test Innovators to provide all of our SSAT students with premium content to help them achieve their test goals. The Test Innovators platform has been used by thousands of students and provides tools to track progress, target learning, and build confidence for test day.
Let us take the guesswork out of SSAT prep. Contact us to learn how we can help your student.