The Boy Who Forgot to Prepare: A Cautionary Tale

Phillips Exeter Academy is Mason’s dream school. Mason knows everything there is to know about Exeter. All of his heroes are Exeter alumni: his favorite US president is Franklin Pierce, and he has dressed up as author Booth Tarkington for the past three Halloweens.

Mason has always done well on standardized tests. When he took the state-mandated achievement test at his public school last year, he scored in the 94th percentile. And he’s one of the only straight-A students at his middle school. Not bad, Mason.

With this in mind, Mason isn’t even considering a preparation regimen before his SSAT in November. He figures that he’s a great test taker, a stellar student, and an all-around good guy. The SSAT should be easy-peasy, and he’ll be a shoo-in for Exeter.

But Mason, let’s think about this for a minute. Consider who is applying to highly competitive schools like PEA—do you think it’s the same population of students who took that in-class exam?

I see you shaking your head “no,” Mason. And you are correct. The SSAT is much more competitive than any test you’ve taken in the past. Students taking the SSAT are an elite group—they are applying to some of the best schools in the country, and they are a motivated bunch. You are competing against many other students who ace every assignment in class, who score in the top 10 percent on other standardized tests, and who enjoy excellent parental support.

Here’s an interesting fact: percentile scores on the SSAT (and the ISEE, another competitive entrance exam) are consistently 10 to 40 points lower than percentiles on nationally normed tests. This is normal and is mostly attributable to the caliber of students taking these tests.

If you want to make sure you’ll do well on this test, Mason, you should take a diagnostic practice test well in advance of the official SSAT. Lots of students do really well on their initial practice test—you might score in the 90th to 99th percentile range, and in that case you are good to go. But if you see that your scores are not in line with the target scores for the schools you want to apply for, then it’s time to dig down into your diagnostic report and work on any areas of weakness.

Even after our chat, Mason decided to forgo any sort of preparation for the SSAT.

When he walked into the room on test day, his head was held high. He expected to ace the test, confident in his past scholastic experiences.

He walked out of the testing room with a tired, defeated grimace. A twitching eye.

Mason learned the lesson that many other students have learned: the SSAT is quite a bit different than other tests, and it is a lot harder too. The SSAT is designed to find the super-stellar students within a population of very intelligent kids.

Mason also didn’t realize that the Upper Level SSAT is a test that 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students are taking…a test designed to challenge students four years older than him. Mason didn’t have any strategies to deal with the too-hard questions that would show up. He wasted way too much time on questions that few—if any—8th graders will successfully answer. If Mason had done any sort of preparation, he could have learned to identify these questions and spend his time on more doable ones.

Mason’s dream of Exeter was temporarily shattered when he received a report with low scores. Luckily, he could take the SSAT again next month. He vowed to try again, and to prepare this time. Good idea, Mason.