Anonymous wrote:Your child has not learned exponents by 5th grade? Is that typical?

yes, it is typical in Fall of 4th grade. By 5th grade it means applying for 5th grade, not applying for 6th grade, I suppose.

Your child has not learned exponents by 5th grade? Is that typical?

We are going through this process for DC applying for 6th grade. Bought a study guide and decided that trying to have our DC learn substance on top of getting familiar with SSAT test was not worth it, so just focused on the latter. Focused on a couple of practice tests under test conditions. Doing well on what DC already knows seemed a better approach.

They are scaled to the grade they are in. Don't stress about concepts they don't know

Your 5th grade child is not expected to know all the math on the 5th to 7th SSAT. Please do not force teach them for this one test. They are graded against other 5th graders who also have not had the material, and these test scores are the LEAST important part of the application process. Please don't torture you children over this.

You should explain to them that there will be things they do not know and are not expected to know. Teach them that when thy encounter a question that is so foreign to them that that they cannot even guess or eliminate one or two of the possible answers, that the correct response if to skip it. Tell them that the kids who guess instead of skipping will get lower scores. Savvy kids know when to skip it.

The SSAT in 5th was the absolute worse. Our second child took the ISEE in 5th and it was a much better experience. Both of my kids got into the same school with generally same scores, but the ISEE was so much less stressful. (Probably helped that we were calmer knowing the SSAT or ISEE scores are not that important to admissions.)

It was stressful. We taught our kid some of the math and he/she ended up with with sections between 70-90% but didn't get in for 6th grade (applied to only one Big3--all A's, great recs, blah, blah but the school only took a handful of kids).

DD took the ISEE in 5th grade and hated pretty much every minute of studying and the actual test.

Yes, they are scaled for grade but there was a high level of frustration because there was SO much she didn't know. Fortunately her scores were decent enough (I suppose because I don't know how other 5th graders scored) and she was accepted everywhere she applied. But, yikes- it really was stressful. Good luck to you all, I've been there.

In the same boat, but we are actually having more trouble with the vocabulary. My kid can pick up a few extra math concepts (not all... but a few like absolute value and percentages) but the vocabulary and reading is rough! And my kid has always tested several years above grade level.

I’m mainly trying to help her not be stressed and to be realistic. Our goal school said 75th percentiles were good goals ... However, main question, has anyone found any good sources for approximately converting raw scores into percentiles? We have no idea how close she is.

No advice, just sympathy here. In the same boat. Wishing we knew we should have started prepping sooner.

Yes they are scaled for grade. I think the ISEE is easier at that age because they don’t take points away for wrong answers. Important to tell your kid there will be stuff on there they haven’t learned yet so they don’t freeze up.

My 5th grader has started studying for the middle years SSAT with a study guide. There are math concepts that have not been introduced at my kid's (public) school like exponents. Is it one test for 5th, 6th, and 7th graders? Are most kids who take the test 6th graders trying to gain admissions for 7th grade? Are the scores scaled for the grade?