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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Anyone else find it funny that 63% of our kids are in the top 10% of test scores?

:)[/quote]

I  used to think that numbers were all inflated.  But I've come to conclude that the sample of parents posting scores is skewed to the high end.  Parents whose kids scored low probably aren't as inclined to publicize the numbers.  And kids applying to the top private schools in DC are more likely to have scored high.  In other words, parents whose kids scored low recognize the odds of admission are too low, and many of them opt-out of the hyper-competitive processes that typically underlies participation in this private/independent schools forum.[/quote]

Of course they are skewed to the high end because there's no reason to post when you've been rejected.

There is also a huge difference between the WPPSI/WISC and the SSAT. It isn't a big deal that a child scores 99th percentile on the pre-school/early elementary IQ tests. The WPPSI/WISC tests are all normed against the general population and are not terribly reproducible over time. The private school K and PK applicants are not distributed across the normal bell curve so a large portion of them would fall in the top 1%.

The SSAT percentiles on the other hand are in comparison to other test takers. They are a self-selected group of children applying to selective private schools.  By definition, only 1% of the SSAT takers will be 99th percentile and it is impossible for any school to fill their classrooms just from the top 1% of SSAT scorers. The most selective prep schools like Andover and Exeter have average SSAT scores in the low 90s and Sidwell/GDS/StA/NCS have averages in the 80s.

In other words, if your child scored in the 85th percentile on the SSAT, he scored better than half of the Big 3/4 student admits.  [/quote]

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