All you need to know about SSAT
What is SSAT?
SSAT stands for "the Secondary School Admission Test", and is a standardized test used by admission officers to assess the abilities of students seeking to enroll in an independent school. The SSAT measures the basic verbal, math, and reading skills students need for successful performance in independent schools. It's an indispensable tool that gives admission professionals an equitable means to assess and compare applicants, regardless of their background or experience.
Which schools accepts the SSAT?
For 3rd- to 11th-graders applying to independent schools, usually in the U.S. or Canada, or international schools using the U.S./ Canada system, such as Taipei American School. Find out the member schools.
Where to take SSAT?
Currently in Taiwan, the only SSAT test center is in Taipei at Soochow (Donwu) University Find more SSAT test centers: ssat.org/test-center-search
When is SSAT?
A Standard SSAT is provided on eight Saturdays worldwide in each year. In Taiwan, it is in December, January, February, March, April, and June.
SSAT stands for "the Secondary School Admission Test", and is a standardized test used by admission officers to assess the abilities of students seeking to enroll in an independent school. The SSAT measures the basic verbal, math, and reading skills students need for successful performance in independent schools. It's an indispensable tool that gives admission professionals an equitable means to assess and compare applicants, regardless of their background or experience.
Which schools accepts the SSAT?
For 3rd- to 11th-graders applying to independent schools, usually in the U.S. or Canada, or international schools using the U.S./ Canada system, such as Taipei American School. Find out the member schools.
Where to take SSAT?
Currently in Taiwan, the only SSAT test center is in Taipei at Soochow (Donwu) University Find more SSAT test centers: ssat.org/test-center-search
When is SSAT?
A Standard SSAT is provided on eight Saturdays worldwide in each year. In Taiwan, it is in December, January, February, March, April, and June.
What does TrinityScholar offer for SSAT?
Study SSAT with TrinityScholar
- 1-on-1 Tutoring: materials and hours at your choice, completely customized (time, location, focus) tutor program with veteran instructors
- Customized Groups: completely customized tutoring for 3 or more students.
Why Trinity Scholar SSAT Prep?
- Interactive and small classes provide a personalized teaching environment with a focus on key concepts and exam strategies
- Exclusive US course materials are given to students where they will be able to access test taking strategies, practice questions and a lot more
- Trinity Scholar practice tests to help students become familiarized with the test and identify strengths and weaknesses
- Invaluable strategies are taught to improve students' scores in the verbal reading comprehension and math sections
- Designed to help you with your overall academic ability to form a base foundation for your boarding school years.
Different Levels of Tests
- SSAT Elementary Level Test: Currently in Grades 3-4
- SSAT Middle Level Test: Currently in Grades 5-7
- SSAT Upper Level Test: Currently in Grades 8-11
- Download 2019-20 Elementary Level SSAT At A Glance brochure
- Download 2019-20 Middle & Upper Level SSATs At A Glance brochure
- You may choose to list your student at a grade that is higher or lower than their actual grade. Often families will list their student as one grade higher near the end of the school year to gauge how they might perform the following year. Additionally, if a student is repeating a grade, a school may ask the student to indicate one grade lower, so they can be compared to their new classmates.
What's on the Test?
- Each level covers verbal, reading, and math/ quantitative, with one writing sample.
- In Middle and Upper Level, there are 167 questions in 3 hours and 5 minutes while Elementary level covers 89 questions in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
- Middle and Upper Levels' reading passages generally range in length from 250 to 350 words and may be taken from literary fiction, humanities (biography, art, poetry), science (anthropology, astronomy, medicine, and social studies (history, sociology, economics).
- Middle and Upper Levels' Writing Level include choice between two prompts - one creative and one traditional essay.
- The questions in Experimental Section, the 16 questions, including verbal, reading, and quantitative/ math, are being tested for future SSAT forms and are not scored.
- Elementary Levels' Reading section consists of seven short passages, each with four multiple-choice questions. These passages may include prose, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from diverse cultures.
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How to Register?
- For int'l students, we recommend taking the test at Prometric Test Centers, which offers more options of time and locations.
- Create an account. Then log in to the account, click "My Testing," then "Register for a Test." Finally, follow the step-by-step prompts to complete the registration.
- You'd register more than one test after completing one test by clicking "Register for a Test".
- SSAT does not allow walk-in registrations. The latest possible date to register for the test is the Wednesday prior to the test date, which will charge a late fee.
- The registration deadline for Standard Test dates is three weeks prior to the test date. The late registration deadline is two weeks before the test date and an additional fee applies; late registration is only available online.
About the Fee
- The SSAT middle/upper level test fee is from $165 for students in the US ($45 late fee, $35 change fee).
- The international fee is $320.
- You may be eligible for a fee waiver if you are unable to pay the test fee due to economic hardship.
- A limited number of fee waivers are available directly from a school that is a member of The Enrollment Management Association.
- If you are a student applying to a school that is a member, contact their admission office and ask them about fee waiver availability.
- For Elementary level, the fee is USD 105 and USD 225 for int'l.
- There's no refunds for cancelled products or services unless the test is canceled by SSAT.org for weather or other force majeure.
- More about the fee: ssat.org/registration
How to Interpret Scores?
- SSAT scores are broken down by section (verbal, quantitative/math, reading). A total score (a sum of the three sections) is also reported.
- Raw scores are based on the number of questions answered correctly minus one-quarter point for each question answered incorrectly. For Elementary Level, there's NO penalties for wrong answers.
- The SSAT score report will include multiple sets of scores and percentiles
- The same raw score from different forms can be converted to different scaled scores depending on test form difficulty, which correspond to different percentiles
- Scaled Scores: Scaled score for each section (Verbal, Quantitative, Reading, and Total)
- Elementary Level: 300-600 (V/Q/R), 900-1800 (Total).
- Middle Level: 440-710 (V/Q/R), 1320-2130 (Total)
- Upper Level: 500-800 (V/Q/R), 1500-2400 (Total)
- SSAT Percentile Ranks for each category (1-99%)
- The SSAT Percentile (1 to 99) compares your performance on the SSAT with that of other students of the same grade/gender who have taken the SSAT in the U.S. and Canada on a Standard test date in the previous three years (the norm group).
- For example, if your Verbal SSAT Percentile is 65%, you scored equal or better in the Verbal section than 65% of students of your gender and grade who took the SSAT in the past three years.
- For students who have taken the SSAT more than once, only their first set of scores is included in this process.
- While the Essay section is not graded, a copy of the essay accompanies each SSAT score report that is sent to a school or consultant.