Students and parents are often given a choice between the SSAT and ISEE, which can be confusing.\u00a0 To help families who are facing this choice (and the professionals working with those families), Test Prep Works has developed a cheat sheet with the major differences between the tests and the important considerations that a family should understand when deciding which test to take.<\/p>\n
Does the student want the opportunity to take the test multiple times?<\/strong><\/p>\n The ISEE can only be taken once in a six-month period.\u00a0 The SSAT can be taken more frequently and also allows score choice.\u00a0 For some students it is a relief to take the ISEE once and be done, while for other students that is very stressful.\u00a0 (One important caveat is that the SSAT can only be taken in a consultant’s office once a year.\u00a0 However, a student can take a group administration in the same year if they have already taken it in a consultant’s office.)<\/p>\n Oil is to water as some students are to analogies<\/strong><\/p>\n The SSAT verbal section has analogies, while the ISEE has sentence completions.\u00a0 Some students can be really thrown by analogies.\u00a0 The sentence completions on the ISEE may give those students more context to work with, which could boost the confidence and performance of those students on the test.<\/p>\n Types of math questions<\/strong><\/p>\n The SSAT tends to include more questions that can be reasoned through, while the ISEE features much more specific terminology.\u00a0 The ISEE is more likely to have math questions that are similar to what a student has seen in school.\u00a0 Both tests have fairly predictable problem types that are highlighted in Test Prep Works materials.<\/p>\n Reading sections tend to be similar<\/strong><\/p>\n We have not seen appreciable differences between the reading sections of the SSAT and the ISEE.<\/p>\n Options for test administration<\/strong><\/p>\n The ISEE can be taken in large group setting, on a computer (at Prometric sites), and at a very limited number of consultant offices (and the ERB offices in New York).\u00a0 The SSAT can be taken in a large group setting or at a consultant’s office. \u00a0The SSATB is working on computer testing as well, but hasn’t yet rolled out that option to the general public.<\/p>\n How incorrect answers are scored<\/strong><\/p>\n To score the ISEE, only the number of questions answered correctly is added up.\u00a0 No points are deducted for questions answered incorrectly, so students should answer everything.\u00a0 On the SSAT, a quarter point is subtracted for each question a student answers incorrectly.\u00a0 For some students (frequently younger ones), it can be very stressful trying to weigh whether or not to answer a question when they know that guessing could lower their score.<\/p>\n Geographical trends<\/strong><\/p>\n While test preference varies widely geographically, we have frequently seen schools in the same region prefer to the SSAT for older students and the ISEE for younger students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Students and parents are often given a choice between the SSAT and ISEE, which can be confusing.\u00a0 To help families who are facing this choice (and the professionals working with those families), Test Prep Works has developed a cheat sheet … Continue reading