The SSAT is an important part of the secondary school admissions process, and achieving a high score can significantly enhance your chances of securing a place at the school of your choice. However, it’s not an easy test! Using a few simple SSAT test strategies can significantly help you improve your scores though.
Overall ISEE Test Strategies
While some strategies are specific to certain sections, there are a few habits you should develop and make use of throughout the exam.
- Guess strategically: On the SSAT, students lose ¼ point for each incorrect answer. Therefore, you’ll need to be strategic about guessing. Generally, if you can use the process of elimination to narrow down to two remaining answers, it makes sense to guess. By eliminating obviously incorrect options, you increase your chances of selecting the right answer from the remaining choices. If you leave an answer blank, you will neither gain nor lose a point.
- Use the two-pass approach: On your first pass, answer the questions you find easiest and quickest. Then take a second pass, returning to the more challenging questions. This strategy ensures you maximize your score by securing the points you can confidently earn before spending time on tougher problems.
- Take regular practice tests: Regularly taking full-length practice tests under timed conditions helps you build stamina, improve time management, and identify areas where you need more practice. This simulates the actual test experience and boosts your confidence.
- Keep showing up: Consistency is key in test preparation. By regularly studying, practicing, and reviewing material, you steadily improve your skills and knowledge. Staying committed and showing up for your preparation will lead to better results on test day.
Verbal Reasoning Strategies
The Verbal Reasoning section of the ISEE heavily tests your vocabulary. However, in addition to learning new words—which is undoubtedly vital— there are techniques you can use to ensure that you’re getting questions that contain familiar words correct and guessing effectively on those that don’t.
- Build Your Vocabulary: Succeeding on the Verbal Reasoning section requires strong vocabulary. Make a habit of learning new words daily. Use flashcards, apps, or vocabulary lists specific to these tests. Understanding word roots, prefixes, and suffixes can also help you deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words.
Synonyms
- Anticipate the answer: cover the answer choices and see if you can think of a synonym for the word. Then find the word in the answer choices that most closely matches your synonym.
- Use context: If you can’t come up with a synonym for the capitalized word, can you come up with a feeling or phrase to describe it? Are any of its roots familiar to you? Can you think of a context in which you have heard the word? Do you know any other words that sound similar or have similar parts? Use anything you come up with to help you pick the best answer choice.
Analogies
- Make a word bridge: When tackling analogy questions, create a word bridge—a simple sentence or phrase that clearly defines the relationship between the two given words. This word bridge will helps you understand how the words are connected. For example, if the analogy is “Painter is to brush,” your word bridge might be “A painter uses a brush.” Now, consider these answer choices:
A. Writer : Pen
B. Teacher : Student
Using the word bridge “A painter uses a brush,” you can test each answer choice. “A writer uses a pen” (Answer A) follows the same relationship, so this choice looks good. However, the sentence “a teacher uses a student’ doesn’t work. Instead, the sentence “a teacher teaches a student” would make more sense. Since the words in choice B don’t have the same relationship as the words in the stem pair, you can eliminate this answer. This strategy ensures that you focus on the logical connection rather than getting distracted by seemingly similar words.
Math Strategies
On the SSAT there are no points awarded for work that is partially correct, so careless mistakes can seriously impact your score. The following strategies can help you stay focused as you work and help you avoid errors.
- Circle the goal: Before diving into a problem, identify and circle what the question is asking you to find. This keeps your focus on the end goal and prevents you from getting sidetracked by unnecessary information.
- Identify the givens: Carefully read the problem and highlight or note down the key information provided. Identifying the givens helps you understand what resources you have at your disposal and how they relate to solving the problem.
- Show your work: Remember calculators are not allowed. Thus, writing out calculations is incredibly important! Writing out your calculations and steps not only helps you stay organized but also minimizes errors by allowing you to track your thought process. It also makes it easier to review your work if you need to find and correct mistakes.
- Estimation: Before calculating, make a quick estimate of the answer. This strategy helps you gauge whether your final answer is reasonable and can save time by allowing you to skip unnecessary steps when the answer is obvious.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
Succeeding on the SSAT Reading Comprehension section requires more than just reading the passages and then going to the answers to see which one sounds right. Before you even look at the answers, you’ll want to do some up-front work.
- Write notes as you read: As you read, jot down brief notes in the margins or underline key points when taking a paper based exam. If taking an online exam, write down notes on your scrap paper and use the highlighter tool to highlight key points. The aim is to summarize the main idea of each paragraph .
- Identify the main idea for yourself: After reading the passage, pause to identify the main idea of the passage as a whole in your own words. Understanding the core message of the passage will guide you in answering questions accurately and help you avoid getting distracted by minor details.
- Find evidence: Always look for specific evidence in the passage to support your answers. This ensures that your responses are based on the text rather than assumptions, helping you choose the most accurate answer.
- Predict the answer.: Before looking at the multiple-choice options, try to predict the answer to each question. This helps you stay focused on the text and prevents you from being influenced by trap answer choices.
With the right preparation and SSAT test strategies, you can excel on the exam. Start early, stay consistent, and remain confident in your abilities. Remember, these tests are just one part of your application, and doing your best is what truly matters.
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