Anonymous wrote:I think you all should not worry about percentiles and tests so much. I attended a highly regarded private boarding school, got As and Bs and a few Cs, had mediocre scores and attended a top 20 university, graduated with a 3.8 GPA and have a masters degree. Life is what you make of it. Just because you get into a certain school does not mean your life will be sweet. You have to have the drive, determination and the parental guidance to do well. Lots of people never complete their degrees at Y/H/MIT/S/P.

Also agree. Life is not defined by standardized tests.

Anonymous wrote:my DD got a 99 percentile. I was surprised, but my friends say that they've dumbed down the test so it's not a big deal.

No, the SSAT has never been a "hard" test. Both my brothers and I got 99% across the board when we took it 30+ years ago... No test prep since no one prepped then. And one of my brothers got rejected from Exeter despite the high scores. They said he had maturity issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How common is a 99th percentile (overall) SSAT score in the metropolitan DC area?

Very common

Agree

Mine got 110 in Math - and we were not surprised at all.

Anonymous wrote:I think you all should not worry about percentiles and tests so much. I attended a highly regarded private boarding school, got As and Bs and a few Cs, had mediocre scores and attended a top 20 university, graduated with a 3.8 GPA and have a masters degree. Life is what you make of it. Just because you get into a certain school does not mean your life will be sweet. You have to have the drive, determination and the parental guidance to do well. Lots of people never complete their degrees at Y/H/MIT/S/P.

Totally agree

I think you all should not worry about percentiles and tests so much. I attended a highly regarded private boarding school, got As and Bs and a few Cs, had mediocre scores and attended a top 20 university, graduated with a 3.8 GPA and have a masters degree. Life is what you make of it. Just because you get into a certain school does not mean your life will be sweet. You have to have the drive, determination and the parental guidance to do well. Lots of people never complete their degrees at Y/H/MIT/S/P.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC got 100 in Math but it was strange - one score report said 100 but another report only had two digits so it was 99.

Same with my DC, but for verbal.

that is odd, indeed, as percentiles typically mean that 99% includes the top 1% (therefore all up to the very top). having a 100th percentile doesn't make a lot or sense.

Anonymous wrote:DC got 100 in Math but it was strange - one score report said 100 but another report only had two digits so it was 99.

Same with my DC, but for verbal.

DC got 100 in Math but it was strange - one score report said 100 but another report only had two digits so it was 99.

my DD got a 99 percentile. I was surprised, but my friends say that they've dumbed down the test so it's not a big deal.

The SSAT is only taken by kids applying to private schools. That is what the test is for. It's a pool of typically high achievers with strong IQs.

IQ is largely genetic with some fluctuations caused by books/reading and exposure to other things at a young age. The DC metro area does have a higher percentage of folks with high IQs because population of professionals with multiple college degrees is the highest in the country. Lots and Los of smart, over educated folks in this area. They produce kids with high IQs - again it's mostly genetic.

On a test like the OLSAT most kids in this area are going to have super high scores as its scored nationally. The SSAT is different as the "competition" is only top students applying to privates that require the SSAT, typically very competitive and elite privates for middle school and up only.

Anonymous wrote:Our DC scored 99th, 96th, and 65th percentiles on the three SSAT sections. Turned down a Big 3 for public.

Our second DC just scored 99th and 98th percentile on the two SCAT sections and 99th percentile on both sections of the OLSAT.

What can I say? We're a family of good standardized testers.

The OLSAT is a joke - both my kids scored 97% or higher in each section every year they took it. As a child, I did too. It's scored against whole country. Not an impressive test/result IMO.

The percentiles are measured by who takes the SSAT. It's a self-selected pool that surely trends wealthier than the pool for the PSAT or SAT - and performance on those tests is significantly correlated with family income.

Does SSAT only norm against privates or does it also norm against suburban publics or national publics as do some other standardized tests? If it norms against more than one group, that could explain how groups above saying 99% is common here and those saying it isn't could both be right.

Sorry, I really didn't mean that to be so snarky. I think I'm influenced by the constant posts about how public school kids aren't as smart as private school kids, and public school surely couldn't prepare you to do well. Also the routine postings about how the cut-off for D.C. kids must be (i) lower, because DC students are weaker; or (ii) higher, because of all the brilliant private school kids.

And, in fact, I'm hoping my children go to whatever college makes them happiest.