You’ve done it! You’ve made it through 5 sections, 150 questions, one essay, and over 2 and a half hours of testing. You may be 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.
The experimental section is the shortest section of the test: only 15 minutes and 16 questions total. Unlike the other SSAT sections, the experimental section has a mix of question types: six verbal, five reading, and five quantitative. While you want to answer every question and try your hardest, don’t let the experimental section stress or overwhelm you: it is neither scored nor sent to schools.
So, if it’s not scored, why does this section exist? Writing a test like the SSAT can be difficult, and test writers use this last section to try out new questions. Test writers will evaluate the results of each question to determine if it is appropriate and reliable and ultimately if it will appear on the test in future years. Once you’ve finished those last 15 minutes, you can be proud of both conquering a long and difficult test and playing a role in shaping the test for years to come.
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.
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...
One of the most common mistakes that students make on the SSAT and ISEE is not reading the directions and questions carefully. While the sentence instructions may seem self-explanatory, they actually provide important information about how to approach the questions in that section. At the beginning of every section of...
The Character Skills Snapshot (CSS) is a tool developed by The Enrollment Management Association, the same company that creates the SSAT. Students in grades 6 through 12 take the CSS for admission to participating independent schools. Check with your prospective schools to see if they require the CSS.
Time management is an essential skill on standardized tests, like the SSAT, ISEE, ACT, and SAT. The timing restriction is one aspect of the test designed to challenge students, but with practice you can gain the skills and strategies to master it. To help students learn effective time management, Test...
We are pleased to introduce Jolie, one of our 2022 scholars. Jolie’s focus and drive led her to increase her SSAT score by 16 points, scoring in the 82nd percentile!
Since 2012, Test Innovators has helped more than 65,000 students prepare for the SSAT and the ISEE, the admissions tests required for applications to the most competitive independent schools in the country. Every year we review our data from thousands of test-takers to find out the schools that students are...
The SSAT score report is one component of the application process to independent schools. It is important to know how to send your score report to prospective schools so that you can make sure your scores arrive before the application deadline. There are a few different opportunities for you...
