The SSAT

  • Writing Sample

    25 minutes | 1 question

    Students begin their exam with an essay section that is unscored, however, schools use the sample to assess writing skills. Students have the ability to choose between a personal and a general question prompt to compose their essays. Post-exam, a copy of the writing sample may be purchased for an additional fee.

    As with all types of writing, practice makes perfect! Setting aside 25-minute writing exercises will help the student gauge the amount of time they will need to allot for planning and drafting a coherent, well-developed essay with as many vocabulary words as they can fit in!

  • Quantitative

    2 x 30 minutes | 25 questions

    (1 minute, 12 seconds per question)

    The quantitative section of the SSAT measures topic covered in middle school, including arithmetic, elementary algebra, and geometry. This section is scored, and calculators are not allowed. High scorers will want to display a mastery of mathematical skills, including graphical and tabular analysis, manipulating fractions, and conversions between exponents and radicals, and vice versa.

    We will help your child identify their greatest areas of weakness and provide ample instruction and resources to help resolve these issues. As hidden confusions about math topics will only worsen as math courses become more challenging in high school and college, now is the time to build strength in these core capabilities.

  • Reading

    40 minutes | 40 questions

    (1 minute per question)

    Test-takers will be presented with a series of reading passages ranging in length from 250–350 words, after which 4–6 questions will be asked in multiple-choice format. Students will be required to respond to the questions, identifying content, style, intent, or point of view of the passage he/she has just read.

    The two types of writing presented on the Reading section of the SSAT include: (1) narrative (excerpts from novels, poems, short stories, or essays) and (2) argument (presenting an opinion about a subject). Passages will be excepted from works in the fields of literary fiction, humanities, science, and social studies.

    Students will learn techniques for quickly identifying main ideas and details of a passage, as well as specific tactics for deriving the meaning of a word/phrase in context. It is important to remember that everything must be evidenced in the passage! Students will practice bolstering their answer selections through identifying details that prove an author’s purpose, attitude, or tone.

  • Verbal

    60 minutes | 60 questions

    (1 minute per question)

    The verbal section consists of 30 vocabulary questions followed by 30 analogies. Voracious readers will adore this section. The vocabulary section will ask the test-taker to identify the word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as the given word. The analogy section seeks to evaluate a student’s problem-solving, memory, and critical thinking ability.

    While the way to improve on the vocabulary section is straightforward: increasing a student’s vocabulary through interactive flash card activities and memory techniques, the analogy section requires practice to master. Over time, as students learn to quickly identify the relationship between words, they will be able to much more efficiently identify the “analogous” words pair that also displays the same or most similar relationship. This type of analogy “bridge-building” is a core technique that we use to train our SSAT students on the challenging verbal section.

Three Test Formats for the SSAT

Does your child feel more comfortable taking the test at home? Or perhaps the environment does not matter as much as the medium. The SSAT offers 3 convenient ways for your child to sit for the SSAT:

  1. Paper SSAT (6 max per year)

  2. SSAT at Home (2 max per year)

  3. Prometric Test Center (2 max per year)

Your child can take up to 6 paper SSATs per year, but only 2 of the at-home OR prometric test center tests combined, so it is important to plan ahead. The test lasts a total of 3 hours, 10 minutes, but students do not have to use the full time for the at-home version of the test.

Consult with us today to see how we can help get your middle schooler prepared for the SSAT!

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

— e. e. cummings

  • "After speaking with several tutoring services, we picked Margaret due to her excellent communication skills and overall plan for our son. Our son who is in 8th grade used Margaret's tutoring services to prep for the SSAT. We are extremely pleased with the outcome. Not only did she focus on where our son needed improvement, she helped with test taking techniques. We highly recommend Margaret. She is certainly worth the investment. Our son came out with better scores due to the time spent with her. We can't wait to use her services for our other son in a few years. Thank you!"

    —Ellis Summers., father of Wells, Phillips Andover Academy

  • “We used Margaret for helping my daughter, Safia, get prepared for the SSAT. Her dream has been to attend Phillips Exeter and we needed to raise her math score in order to be competitive. Margaret was patient, professional, and explained the concepts to my daughter in a way she could understand. She has a trove of practice materials and was also a valuable point of contact for admissions advice. I recommend her services for anyone seeking the highest quality preparation for the SSAT.”

    —Henry S., father of Safia, Phillips Exeter Academy

  • “Margaret is a gem! We are so glad we found her to assist with my son’s SSAT prep. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, so boarding school was always in the works, and with Margaret’s help, we got there! Thank you so much for your expert advice and coaching. Both of my kids have used Margaret’s services, and we cannot recommend her enough for boarding school and college admissions tutoring.”

    —Julie K., mother of Corbin, Phillips Andover Academy

  • “We were looking for a tutor who could truly be a mentor and supporter for my daughter, and Margaret has done a wonderful job preparing my daughter in all aspects of the admissions process for boarding schools. She is a test-prep wiz and did a fantastic job building Ashley’s confidence in all sections of the SSAT. If you can find some time in Margaret’s calendar, you are in luck! We are very pleased with the results we have received from our experience working with her.”

    —Theresa V., mother of Ashley, Choate Rosemary Hall