Testing Dates & Locations

SSAT Entrance Exam

Please register for the SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test) here.
To have your scores sent to Burroughs, please fill in school code 4250 when registering.

Please note that Burroughs requests that the SSAT be taken by the end of January if possible. If you have any trouble meeting this date, please email Nancy Vogt for assistance.

The cost of the SSAT is $149 and in the case of financial need, a fee waiver can be issued. Please email Caroline LaVigne to request financial assistance.

The SSAT at Home is the same format of testing as the SSAT.

We understand that there have been technical glitches with the SSAT at Home and are sorry for any stress or inconvenience this may have caused.

If applicants have results from standardized testing given at the applicant’s current school, during the 2020-2021 school year, these may be submitted in lieu of SSAT scores.

Test Format

The Middle Level SSAT is a multiple-choice test for students currently in grades 5-7 that consists of verbal, qualitative (math), and reading comprehension sections.

Section	Number of Questions	Duration
Writing Sample	1 (unscored)	25 minutes
Break		5 minutes
Quantitative	25	30 minutes
Reading	40	40 minutes
Break		10 minutes
Verbal	60	30 minutes
Quantitative	25	30 minutes
Experimental	16	15 minutes
Totals	167	3 hours, 5 minutes

Of the 167 items including the writing sample, only 150 questions are scored.

Writing Sample

You will have a choice between two creative story starters.
What it measures: This gives admission officers a feel for how well you write and organize your ideas.
This section is not scored, but it is included with the score report you send to schools.
Time allotted: 25 minutes

At the beginning of the test, you are given 25 minutes to write a story based on one of two provided creative prompts. This writing sample is sent to the admission officers at the schools to which you send score reports, to help them assess your writing skills. This section is not scored, and it is not included in the student score report unless you purchase it separately.

Quantitative (Math) Section

Number of questions: 50, broken into two parts
What it measures: Your ability to solve problems involving arithmetic, elementary algebra, geometry, and other concepts
Scored section: Yes
Time allotted: 30 minutes for each section of 25 questions

The quantitative (mathematics) section of the Middle Level SSAT measures your knowledge of algebra, geometry, and other quantitative concepts. You do not require and may not use a calculator for this section.

Many of the questions that appear in the quantitative sections of the Middle Level SSAT are structured in mathematical terms that directly state the operation you need to perform; others may not. In these problems, carefully consider how the question is worded and the way the information is presented to determine the operation(s) to perform.

Reading Comprehension Section

Number of questions: 40
What it measures: Your ability to read and comprehend what you read
Scored section: Yes
Time allotted: 40 minutes
Topics covered: Reading passages generally range in length from 250 to 350 words and may be taken from:
- Literary fiction
- Humanities (biography, art, poetry)
- Science (anthropology, astronomy, medicine)
- Social studies (history, sociology, economics)
Questions related to the passage may ask you to:
- Recognize the main idea
- Locate details
- Make inferences
- Derive the meaning of a word or phrase from its context
- Determine the author’s purpose
- Determine the author’s attitude and tone
- Understand and evaluate opinions/arguments
- Make predictions based on information in the passage

By presenting passages and questions about them, the reading comprehension section measures your ability to understand what you read. After you read each passage, you’ll be asked questions about its content or about the author’s style, intent, or point of view. In general, the SSAT uses two types of writing: narrative, which includes excerpts from novels, poems, short stories, or essays; and argument, which presents a definite point of view about a subject.

Verbal Section

Number of questions: 60; 30 synonyms and 30 analogies
What it measures: Vocabulary, verbal reasoning, and ability to relate ideas logically
Scored section: Yes
Time allotted: 30 minutes
Topics covered: This section covers word similarities and relationships through synonyms and analogies.

The verbal section of the Middle Level SSAT asks you identify synonyms and to interpret analogies. The synonym questions test the strength of your vocabulary. The analogy questions measure your ability to relate ideas to each other logically.

Synonyms are words that have the same or nearly the same meaning as another word. For example, fortunate is a synonym for lucky, tidy is a synonym for neat, and difficult is a synonym for hard. You must choose the answer word that has a meaning similar to the given word.

Analogies are comparisons between two things that are usually seen as different but have some similarities. These types of comparisons play an important role in improving problem-solving and decision-making skills, in perception and memory, in communication and reasoning skills, and in reading and building vocabulary. Analogies help you process information actively, make important decisions, and improve understanding and long-term memory. Considering these relationships stimulates critical and creative thinking.

Experimental Section