Award-Winning SSAT Test Prep in Raleigh-Durham, NC

If you are looking to send your student to a private or independent school, Varsity Tutors can connect you with SSAT prep help in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. The SSAT, or the Secondary School Admission Test, measures your student's basic verbal skills as well as math and reading skills. The test score is reviewed by admissions boards of independent and private schools to determine your student's eligibility to attend their school. You can get connected with a Raleigh-Durham SSAT prep course or a Raleigh-Durham SSAT prep tutor to help your student try to achieve their score goals.

What Can Raleigh-Durham SSAT Prep Review with My Student?

Raleigh-Durham SSAT prep can review all concepts and skills your student will need to be successful on the test. The SSAT is a standardized test taken by students who are seeking to enroll in a private or independent school. First, we will talk about the different levels of the SSAT, and then we will go into detail about what your student will face at each level.

The first level we will discuss is the Elementary Level. Students who are applying to an independent school for 4th or 5th grade will take this level of the SSAT. This level is administered in just under 2 hours and contains 5 sections: Quantitative/Math, Verbal, Reading, Writing, and Experimental.

The Quantitative section contains 30 questions and must be completed in 30 minutes. This section assesses basic math. Your student will need to know basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They will also need to know place value, number order, fractions, shapes, measurement, and graph interpretation.

The Verbal section is also comprised of 30 questions with which your student has 30 minutes to answer. This section measures your student's English skills. They will need to know synonyms, many different types of analogies, age-appropriate vocabulary, and word analogies. The overall topics covered in this section are language understanding, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

The Reading section includes 7 passages that each have 4 questions, for a total of 28 questions. Your student will have 30 minutes to read and answer all of the questions. This section also covers the subject of English and assesses reading comprehension. Your student will need to know how to locate the main idea of a passage, determine the meaning of words in context, identify information, and understand literal and nonliteral meanings of words.

The Writing Sample is administered in 15 minutes in which your student must answer a prompt. Your student will be asked to write a simple story about a picture prompt. Their story should include a beginning, middle, and end. Your student needs to know how to organize an essay and will need writing skills like grammar, punctuation, and spelling. This section is not scored but does get sent to admissions boards for them to read and evaluate.

Lastly, the Experimental section consists of 15-17 questions that must be answered in 15 minutes. This section is not scored. The answers help the creators of the test to experiment with potential questions to be featured in future versions of the SSAT.

Elementary Level students should guess on questions they don't know, as there is no penalty for incorrect answers.

Next is the Middle Level. This level has six sections: Writing Sample, Quantitative 1, Reading, Verbal, Quantitative 2, and Experimental. Your student is allowed 2 hours and 50 minutes to complete this level. Students at this level will be penalized for wrong answers, but will not be penalized for unanswered questions, so guessing is not recommended.

The Writing Sample section measures your student's English knowledge. They have 25 minutes to write a story based on two creative prompts. They will need to know how to organize a written piece and will need to display excellent writing skills such as grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

The Quantitative sections (1 and 2) both consist of 25 questions with which a student has 30 minutes to complete. The topics covered in these sections are algebra, data analysis, probability, numbers, and operations. Students will need to understand mean, median, mode, and range; as well as coordinate geometry, area and perimeter of geometric shapes, ratio, and proportion.

In the Reading section, students have 40 minutes to answer 40 passage-based questions. They will need to know how to identify the main idea, find details, make inferences and predictions, determine the author's purpose, attitude, and tone. They must also understand and evaluate opinions and arguments.

The Verbal section is 60 questions and must be completed in 30 minutes. Your student will need to understand synonyms and analogies, prefixes and suffixes, and word roots. They will also need to be able to relate ideas and words to each other and determine the meaning or part of speech from context.

Finally, the Experimental section is unscored and is made up of 16 questions with which a student has 15 minutes to answer.

The Upper-Level SSAT is the same as the Middle Level, with the only difference being the difficulty of the subjects and questions, and the Writing Sample. The Writing Sample at the Upper Level provides students with two prompts: one is a creative essay, and one is a traditional essay. They must select one on which to base their writing.

How Can Raleigh-Durham SSAT Prep Help My Student Reach for Their Goals?

Raleigh-Durham SSAT preparation can help your student reach for their goals in several ways. If your child learns well in a classroom setting, a Raleigh-Durham SSAT prep class can provide them with increased information retention and different skills through interactive and collaborative learning in live online classes. The skills they can learn from participating in a prep class can also be applied to future learning. These classes are solely focused on the SSAT and the concepts and topics that your student needs to understand in order to be successful on the test. Your student can also request one-on-one time with their instructor if they require additional help with a particular concept.

If your student prefers one-on-one learning, we can connect you with prep tutors that can learn their individual needs and goals and help them try to learn better ways to study. Individualized learning can provide the attention and focus that your student may need. The learning plan that a tutor can create based on your student's needs and goals can change as your student progresses.

Both classes and tutoring can be provided online through our Live Learning Platform to give your student the freedom to learn where they are most comfortable, and they can choose a time that fits into their schedule.

How Can I Connect My Student with Raleigh-Durham SSAT Prep?

Varsity Tutors' educational consultants can connect your student with qualified and carefully selected professional prep help in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Call today to get started.