You’ve done it! You’ve made it through 5 sections, 150 questions, one essay, and over two and a half hours of SSAT testing. You may feel ready to go home and take a well-deserved nap (or run around after sitting for so long), but before you breathe a deep sigh of relief, there’s one final section to complete.
The Experimental Section is the shortest section of the SSAT–only 15 minutes long with 16 questions total. Unlike the other SSAT sections, this one includes a mix of question types: six verbal, five reading, and five quantitative. While you should still answer every question and try your best, don’t let this section stress you out: it is not scored and will not be sent to schools.
So, if it’s not scored, why does the Experimental Section exist? Writing a test like the SSAT is complex, and test writers use this final section to try out new questions. The developers evaluate the results to determine whether each question is appropriate, fair, and reliable enough to appear on future versions of the test.
Once you finish these last 15 minutes, you can feel proud of both conquering a long and challenging exam and also contributing to the future of the SSAT.
Originally published on November 6, 2018. Updated on May 2, 2025.
The team here at Test Innovators knows a thing or two about the anxiety surrounding testing. There are many different methods to relieving testing anxiety but we chose our top four favorites.
As a general rule, we recommend starting your SSAT prep six to four months before your test date.
So if you are planning to take the test in November, then you should take a diagnostic practice test sometime between May and July.
Meet Lev
Lev’s daughter Lily recently took the Secondary School Admissions Test (SSAT). According to Lev, Lily was very driven and motivated. Although she’s only 14 years old, she has a pretty good understanding of what she wants to do and where she wants to go. This conviction led them to...
With only 25 minutes to write, managing your limited time effectively is incredibly important. Start by spending the first 2-5 minutes outlining your ideas to clarify and structure your thoughts. After you have a plan, go ahead and get writing! This is where you will spend the bulk of your...
The most important rule of reading comprehension is that the passage will always provide all of the information needed to answer the question. This means that reading comprehension is really like a scavenger hunt, and your objective is to get as good as possible at sleuthing, finding the lines that...
It is important to make sure students stay academically engaged during the break. Preparing for the SSAT and ISEE over summer break is a great way to get a jump start on prep and stay academically engaged. Check out our top four tips for summer test prep.
As part of our mission to help students gain access to quality educational opportunities, we award six merit-based scholarships every year to the Test Innovators students who showed the most improvement on either the SSAT or the ISEE.
Neal Kamsler has worked in New York City independent schools for 35 years, including 21 years as Head of Upper School at Allen-Stevenson School. He also serves as Senior Director of Placement at Oliver Scholars, an educational access organization based in Manhattan. Test Innovators' CEO, Edan Shahar, sits down with...