Last month we discussed the changes found in the new publication from the SSATB, The Official Guide to the Upper Level SSAT, available at www.ssat.org. This month, we’re pleased to share with our subscribers the supplemental math material we’ve developed based on these changes. When used as a supplement to our publication, Success on the Upper Level SSAT: A Complete Course, students will have the chance to review and practice the breadth of topics addressed in the new official guide. Success on the Upper Level SSAT: A Complete Course is available at our CreateSpace store and at Amazon.com.

The supplement is available to anyone who subscribes to our newsletter (signup link at the bottom of this page).

More about the math supplement to Success on the Upper Level SSAT: A Complete Course

In the fall of 2013, the SSAT Board released new versions of its official guide to the SSAT. There are now two separate books- one for the Middle Level and one for the Upper Level. They have also changed the title from Preparing and Applying for Independent School. The book for the Upper Level is now titled The Official Guide to the Upper Level SSAT.

By and large, there are not major changes to the math section. As a matter of fact, approximately 70% of the math questions on the practice tests in the new book are the exact same problems found in the previous guide. Of the changes made, there is a trend toward problems that require less reasoning and more concrete knowledge. In essence, the questions are more aligned to the common core standards.

Given that the SSAT Board did not release the new practice test until the season was upon us, we are doing our best here at Test Prep Works to provide the most up-to-date materials. We have created this supplement to help students, schools, and tutoring companies appropriately prepare for the current testing season. These materials will eventually be incorporated into our course book, but in the meantime we wanted to make this supplement available as soon as possible so that students would not be taken by surprise on test day.

This math supplement features three sections that are independent of the existing units in Success on the Upper Level SSAT.

These new stand-alone units are:

Ratios
Exponents
Sequences and Patterns

This supplement also includes material that expands upon existing content sections in Success on the Upper Level SSAT. These extension units are:

In the Math Fundamentals unit:
– Negative numbers- adding and subtracting negative numbers
– More practice with conversions
– More practice with place value
– Questions that explicitly test PEMDAS
– Probability

In the Fractions and Decimals unit:
– Comparing fractions
– More practice with multiplying and adding fractions
– Fractions on a number line (including improper fractions)
– Basic operations with decimals

In the Percent Problems unit:
– Given a figure, determine percent shaded
– More practice with figuring out percents, particularly with word problems

In the Solving Equations unit:
– Solving for a variable with more involved equations
– Setting up equations using equation language
– Questions that requiring solving for numbers that relate to each other

In the Geometry unit:
– More perimeter practice
– Area of a circle
– Equation of a line and slope
– More in-depth triangle work
– Angles in other polygons
– Parallel line rules
– Expanded section for volume of 3-D figures