Secondary school admissions exams are a big undertaking for students and their families. To start, even the alphabet soup of tests can cause a headache—students may take the ISEE or SSAT, the HSPT, or a variety of other exams depending on where they will apply. And, for many students, this is the first real high-stakes standardized test they will encounter. So, what makes these exams so challenging — and what can families do about it?

These exams are designed for a range of ages.

If your child is a rising eighth grader applying to high school, they will take an Upper Level SSAT or ISEE exam. But, an eleventh grader will take the same level exam! For students on the lower end of each level’s age range, the ISEE or SSAT will feel especially difficult. That’s because the concepts stretch beyond what they have learned in school. While they don’t need to know every question to score well—the scores and percentiles take a student’s grade into account—students may walk out of a practice test feeling like they didn’t know a lot of the material.

Test content may not align with a student’s recent classwork.

Overall, the content of an admissions test is unlikely to align perfectly with their school’s curriculum. The variations across schools and districts mean that students are learning concepts in different sequences. Students will also be tested on content that they’ve learned in past years, which may no longer feel familiar. This often leads test takers to feel like they weren’t familiar with test content.

Admissions exams are taken by selective test takers.

For most admissions exams, students are given a scaled score and percentile. Those scores are determined by comparing a student’s results to a set of students who took the exam in previous years. It’s important to remember that the comparison groups are other high-achieving applicants. Even an A student is likely to see a lower score than they are used to on tests at school due to the selective nature of these exams.

So, how can a student put their best foot forward? We are here to help! We recommend that fall test takers start in the spring (or as soon as possible) before they will complete school applications. A diagnostic test will give a baseline for where the student is starting and how much work they need to put in to reach their goal results. Contact us for more information about starting the secondary school admissions test prep process.