ISEE/SSAT Preparation

[Anonymous]

Can anyone offer a good tutoring service for test preparation?

[Anonymous]

Lisa McMurtrie did 5 sessions of test prep with my son and it helped him receive great scores which helped him het into all the school he applied for.

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[Anonymous]

Has anyone else had the same experience with Lisa McMurtrie?

[Anonymous]

I can't speak to this tutor's abilities but any student who obtains a high score after five sessions was probably going to do well anyway. Most students I know do prep of once-weekly sessions for months. Some private schools, like Lowell and Sheridan, prep in school for months. I thought my child's tutor was strong on math, week on verbal, so I will refrain from recommending this tutor.

[Anonymous]

We will need to do this test next year for 6th grade applications. Is this really a test that one must prep for? When should the preparation begin? In the summer? I assume it's not enough to just be a good student in school? What scores are necessary to have the schools take the application seriously?

Thanks in advance from an inexperienced mom on this topic.

[Anonymous]

Top tier like to see scores in the 70th percentile and higher but they won't tell you what. Are you in public or private? If private, ask your school for names of tutors, ask parents of older children what their experience was. Some tutors start in the summer, some prefer to start when school starts since summers are so choppy with vacations.

[Anonymous]

We are in public school. I think the school/parents might organize something but it won't be til later in the fall. Agreed that summer prep may be too hard to organize and may be overkill.

Thanks for info about the scores.

[Anonymous]

I also know some students who take the test in June or July, no prep, to see how they score and prep accordingly. You don't send the score to the school.

[Anonymous]

My son is in public school, took the SSAT in Dec with no tutoring or prep and scored in the 95%.

[Anonymous]

One way to assess whether your child might benefit from prep is to get an SSAT study guide and do a practice test. I know a number of families who were surprised when their A student, normally high tester did not do well on the SSAT. The scores are determinative at many schools.
1:35 That's terrific, I know a student like that. Did your son apply in this cycle?

[Anonymous]

My DS took both tests for 9th grade entry. We purchased the book from the SSAT website (includes ISEE too) and it worked out well. Be wary of the on-line practice tests’ results. They are good for practice, but if you read talk.collegeconfidential.com Prep School Admissions thread (mainly SSAT related) apparently the on-line tests result in a higher score than the actual tests. So, the scores gives the kids a false sense of security. He said knowing what to expect on the tests; working through the book’s vocabulary sections; and reviewing sample essay questions helped. A good item to know is that the ISEE does not penalize for wrong answers where the SSAT scores wrong answers differently than not answered questions. So, the method they are taught in school to guess unanswered questions doesn’t work for the SSAT.

[Anonymous]

PP here, one other item to know: My DS’ friends took the Dec. SSAT and then the Jan. SSAT and sent both scores to the schools because most schools “superscore” the tests (the schools take the highest of the each individual SSAT part to create a new score). However, a DC can only take the ISEE once every six months. (I don’t know if they “superscore” the ISEE.)

[Anonymous]

If I had to do it all over again, I would have DC take the test in June or July and work from there. You do not have to send those results to school, though techincally schools can request all SSAT results (though apparently rarely ever do). If you have a quirky testtaker, but don't know it until late fall, you'll find yourself in a bind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I had to do it all over again, I would have DC take the test in June or July and work from there. You do not have to send those results to school, though techincally schools can request all SSAT results (though apparently rarely ever do). If you have a quirky testtaker, but don't know it until late fall, you'll find yourself in a bind.

Can this strategy be applied to both tests?

[Anonymous]

Not sure, a PP noted that testers have to wait six months before they take their next ISEE. Oh and I highly recommend the College Confidentional Prep School thread. It's frequented mainly by folks applying to boarding schools, though some day schools get mentioned, too, as does Gossip Girl. There are threads on SSAT prep.