Applying to Exeter, Andover, or Choate? Here's What to Know About the SSAT
The SSAT takes a quarter point away for every wrong guess. Knowledge of that changes how a student should approach practically every question on the test — which makes it a bad thing to learn for the first time on test day.
If your child is applying to boarding schools like Phillips Exeter, Phillips Andover, Lawrenceville, Choate Rosemary Hall, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, St. Paul's, or Groton, you already know the application asks for a lot: transcripts, teacher recommendations, interviews, essays, and somewhere in the mix, a test score. Here's the good news — unlike a lot of what goes into that file, the SSAT score, just like the ISEE score, is something a student can actually get better at. Many of these schools accept both tests, which means your family has to be strategic about which one to optimize for admissions.
What Is the SSAT, Exactly?
The SSAT, or Secondary School Admission Test, is one of two tests boarding and private schools lean on most — the other being the ISEE — and all eight schools above accept it. Unlike a report card or a state test, it's not measuring your child against a curriculum. It's measuring them against everyone else applying to the same kinds of schools, which is a very different game. A student who's used to acing school tests can be surprised by where they land here, simply because the whole applicant pool is already strong.
The test covers verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and reading comprehension, plus a written essay that goes straight to the schools your child applies to.
There are two versions, split by grade:
Middle Level: Grades 5–7
Upper Level: Grades 8–11
Families also get some flexibility in how they take it — the traditional paper test at a school test center, a computer-based version at a Prometric center, or SSAT at Home for a remote, proctored option. Handy if fall gets busy fast.
Two Things That Quietly Decide a Lot of Scores
The guessing penalty. Here's the mechanic: a correct answer is worth a point, a blank is worth nothing, and a wrong answer costs a quarter point. Sounds simple, but it trips up a lot of kids. Some guess on everything and bleed points on questions they had no real shot at. Others get so cautious they leave answers blank they could have gotten right. A student who's actually been taught this — when the odds are worth it, when they're not — picks up points nobody else in the room does.
Analogies. The verbal section pairs synonyms with analogies, and analogies ask something most kids have never really practiced: take how two words relate, and apply that same relationship to a totally different pair. It's less about vocabulary and more about pattern recognition — closer to a logic puzzle than a spelling bee. Almost nobody walks in already good at this. It's learnable, though, and it responds fast to practice.
SSAT or ISEE — Which One?
Neither is the "easier" test. What actually matters is which one lets your child's strengths show through. And that comes down to something structural: the SSAT adds up Verbal, Quantitative, and Reading into one Total score, so if your child is strong in two out of three, that strength helps carry the weaker section. The ISEE doesn't work that way — it reports four separate scores, and there's no blending. A weak section just sits there on its own.
So a strong reader who struggles with math might genuinely do better, on paper, with the SSAT. A kid who's solid across the board might not see much difference either way.
This is exactly why we don't guess at it. Every student starts with a diagnostic, and if a school takes both tests, we have them sit for both and compare the results side by side. Then prep focuses on whichever one actually works in their favor.
Why Summer Is the Window
If you're thinking ahead to the 2027–2028 cycle, summer is when to start — not because of some arbitrary deadline pressure, but because it's genuinely the only stretch of the year without school and extracurriculars eating into the same hours. That's when there's real time to build the two skills above.
Standard test dates run from fall into early spring, and most of these schools set their deadlines somewhere between mid-January and early February. Start now, and there's a full testing season ahead — plenty of room to retest if the first score isn't quite there. Wait until September, and your child ends up prepping and testing at the same time, with the deadline creeping up fast behind them.
How Ivy Link Preps Students
A real diagnostic first. Every engagement starts here — a full score report that shows exactly where a student stands, strengths and weaknesses both.
One-on-one tutoring, built around the test. Verbal reasoning, math concepts, critical reading, and the vocabulary tricks that actually stick.
Full-length practice under real conditions. An athlete doesn't just drill — they scrimmage. Same idea here: one to three full proctored exams a month, in person or remote, until test day doesn't feel unfamiliar anymore.
On average, Ivy Link students raise their SSAT scores by 140 points, out of 2400.
If You Want More Than Test Prep
Ivy Link also runs a Private Day/Boarding School Admissions Advising program — building out a school list, shaping strategy, helping with applications, and getting kids ready for interviews. It covers students applying anywhere from 3rd grade through high school.
Want to get started with a diagnostic this summer, or just talk through whether the SSAT or ISEE makes more sense for your kid? Reach out to Ivy Link today!
