SSAT Certificate

SSAT CERTIFICATE AND EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. What is SSAT?

SSAT certificate (short for Secondary School Admission Test) is one of the most important tests that students could achieve for their application to Secondary and High School in the US. This is a test for students from grade 3 to grade 11, and the majority of the schools in the US considers the SSAT certificate as a criteria to determine a student’s critical and analytical thinking ability before accepting.

See also: What international certificates are needed when studying abroad?

1.1. SSAT level tests

SSAT tests are divided into 3 main levels:

    • Grades 3 – 4: SSAT Elementary Level Test
    • Grades 5 – 7: SSAT Middle Level Test
    • Grades 8 – 11: SSAT Upper Level Test

Choosing the Level Test for the student is entirely dependent on the grade that the student is choosing to study in the applied school. Students whom are in grade 3 – grade 4 are to take the Elementary Level Test, students whom are from grade 5 – grade 7 are to take the Middle Level Test and grade 8 – grade 11 are to take the Upper Level Test. 

1.2. SSAT exam structure

SSAT exam will take up 2 hours and 50 minutes excluding the break-time in between each test for the Middle Level and Upper Level. The tests are to follow the correct order.

Middle Level and Upper Level test will have a similar structure and content of exam, however the Upper Level will be slightly more difficult. SSAT exam will usually take place in the morning, approximately starts at 9 am and finishes at 12 pm.

Section Number of questions Types of questions Time
Writing Sample (unscored) 01 question – For SSAT Middle Level, choose between creative writing or argumentative topics.

– For SSAT Upper Level, there are 2 topics, topics about personal or social aspects, and discuss the main arguments.

 25 minutes
Break 05 minutes
Quantitative (no calculator) 25 questions – Concepts
– Algebra
– Geometry		 30 minutes
Reading 40 questions – Main Idea Questions
– Detail Questions
– Inference Questions
– Prediction Questions
– Vocabulary in Context
– Purpose
– Attitude and Tone
– Opinions and Arguments		 40 minutes
Break 10 minutes
Verbal 60 questions – Synonyms
– Analogies		 30 minutes
Quantitative (no calculator) 25 questions – Concepts
– Algebra
– Geometry		 30 minutes
Experimental 

(unscored)

 16 questions – 6 Verbal questions

– 5 Reading questions

– 5 Quantitative questions

 15 minutes

Writing Sample will be written in 25 minutes, this piece of writing will not be scored and included in the final score, but it will be sent to the school of application.

1.3. How the SSAT exam is scored?

The structure of the exam is similar in every level. Each correct answer will receive 1 mark, any wrong answer will lose 0.25 mark, this applies for all tests in the Middle Level and Upper Level. Any question that is left without any answer will not lose any mark.

    • SSAT Elementary Level: 900 – 1800
    • SSAT Middle Level: 1320 – 2130
    • SSAT Upper Level: 1500 – 2400

The final result of SSAT exam will be the sum of the scores in Quantitative, Verbal and Reading along with the percentage mark (percentile). The percentile serves the purpose of comparing the performance of the students to one another for their SSAT based on their age, level and gender in the most recent 3 years.

For example, if the Reading result of the student is 80%, this means that their performance is equal or better than 80% of other students in the world whom also took the exam in the most recent 3 years within their age, level and gender.

1.4. The purpose of SSAT certificate

The main purpose of the SSAT exam is to apply for schools in the US, giving the students the opportunity to attend the most prolific schools and experience life in the US. SSAT does not look into student’s past academic achievement, nor the criteria to judge the student’s exceptionality or creativity, but it is to measure their ability to learn in order to perform well in their applied school.

2. How much is a high score in SSAT?

There is no fixed number that will determine whether the student’s achieved score is high or low, it also depends on what the student hopes to get. The main purpose of the SSAT is to apply for schools, therefore the result should meet the demand of the school. The percentile will be more of an interest to the school more, and whether it is considered to be good or high score is also up to the school. 

For the majority of the schools in the US, a 60% is considered to be high (approximately 2020 to 2040). For those schools that have higher standard will require an 85% or above (approximately 2160). Therefore, the student should really understand the requirement from the applied school to know what score should be achieved.

See also: How to write an essay in English?

3. How to sign up for SSAT?

The most convenient and effective way to sign up for an SSAT online. The student will first need to sign up for an account on their website at: http://www.ssat.org/.

Firstly, the student will have to fill in the information about themselves including their name, date of birth, address, email, username and password. The account will be used to manage the exam enrollment, follow all the requirements from the school and their application for the current year. The account can also be used to change the date and location of exam, or add and cancel the score received.

There are other methods for consideration:

    • Sign up via fax or email with a fee.
    • Sign up via post office to receive information paper on the exam, locations and other information.

However, these methods have been outdated and not used for quite some time due to its inconvenience and slow response time. For international students, online signup is the easiest, fastest and most effective method. 

The best thing about SSAT is that it can be retaken as much as the student wants. The student can always come back for another test if they are not happy with the result.

4. SSAT exam fee

The SSAT certificate fee varies dependent on the Level of the student. For international student, the fee for Elementary Level is $203, for Middle Level or Upper Level is $287. The paid fee is non-refundable, but the student can change the date of the exam. The change of the exam date must be informed at least 3 days before the exam with a changing fee of $40.

See also: SSAT course

5. Where to take the SSAT exam?

    • IIG Vietnam – 1st Floor, Tower 1, The Sun Avenue, 28 Mai Chi Tho St, An Phu Ward, Thu Duc City, HCMC
    • AEG Vietnam – 37B Pham Ngoc Thach St, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3, HCMC
    • IIG Academy – 3rd Floor, Trung Yen Plaza, 1 Trung Hoa St, Cau Giay District, Hanoi
    • IIG Vietnam – 509 Lac Long Quan St, Xuan La Ward, Tay Ho District, Hanoi

Intertu Education is currently enrolling students for SSAT exam preparation, SAT exam preparation, ACT exam preparation, GMAT exam preparation, GRE exam preparation, GED exam preparation. If you have any questions about SSAT certificate, please contact us directly, via email or hotline for a free consultation.

What international certificates are needed when studying abroad?
Date Submitted: 27/08/2022

In addition to educational programs in schools, courses for training a certain profession, there are also different exams that are managed and designed by international educational organizations around the world. The following article will provide you with brief and useful information about some of the most popular international academic certificates...

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