It depends on the colleges. Some require an SAT or ACT score, some make it optional, and a few do not look at scores at all. Scholarships can have their own rules. Check each college on your list for the year your student applies.

The test maker suggests spring of 11th grade, with a second try in the fall of 12th. There is no set number of attempts. Plan around application deadlines and leave time to prepare between tests. The timeline above shows how many weeks you have.

Colleges accept either. The practice test can include a short section of each, and we recommend whichever one your student’s patterns already favor.

There is no single good score. Look up the score ranges of admitted students at the colleges on your list and aim inside them. Your student sets that target with their tutor in the first lesson.

Your student chooses which test dates to send, and each report shows both sections from that date. Some colleges ask for every score. Some superscore, which means they combine the best section scores across dates. Check each college’s policy.

Register through your student’s College Board account. The fee is $68 for the 2026 to 2027 school year, and fee waivers exist for families who qualify. Registration closes about two weeks before each test date. Registering late costs $38 more.

The test is taken in the Bluebook app on a laptop or tablet, at a school or test center. Phones do not work. A graphing calculator is built in for all of Math, and your student may bring an approved one of their own.

Yes, with the test maker’s approval. A school IEP or 504 plan does not carry over automatically. Ask the school counselor to send the request early, since approval can take up to seven weeks.

For national testing it is optional and does not count toward the composite. Take it if a college, program or scholarship on your list asks for it, or if a science score would help the application. Testing through school may require it.

Only if a college, program or scholarship asks for it. Writing is optional, is scored separately from 2 to 12, and does not change the composite. Check before paying for it.

You choose when you register, where seats allow. The questions and the timing are the same. Online testing still happens at a test center, on your student’s own approved device or one the center provides.

English, math and reading are each scored 1 to 36, and the composite is their average. Science, if taken, gets its own 1 to 36 score. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so every question gets an answer.

ACT can send a superscore: the average of your student’s best English, math and reading scores across test dates. Each college decides whether it accepts superscores, so check its policy.

Colleges accept either. The practice test can include a short section of each, and we recommend whichever one your student’s patterns already favor.

11th grade is a common time to start, once the coursework is behind them and with time left before applications. There is no limit on attempts. The timeline above shows how many weeks you have.

Register through your student’s MyACT account. The fee is currently $70. Science adds $5 and writing adds $25. Fee waivers are available through your school for families who qualify. Registration closes about five weeks before each test date.

The level follows the grade your child is applying to enter: Lower for grades 5 and 6, Middle for 7 and 8, Upper for 9 to 12.

At a school, a testing office, a Prometric center, or online at home with a remote proctor. Which of these are open to you depends on where you live.

Start from each school’s score deadline and work back. Book a date through your ISEE parent account, leaving time for scores and, if needed, a second sitting in another season. If your child needs accommodations, get that decision before booking.

The Upper and Middle Levels have 2 hours 40 minutes of timed testing and the Lower Level 2 hours 20 minutes, each with two 10-minute breaks. Allow extra time for check-in.

It isn’t scored, but a copy goes to the schools you choose, and each school decides how it uses it. We practice it too.

There’s no official cutoff. Each school decides how it weighs scores alongside grades, recommendations and the interview. Stanines run from 1 to 9, and 4 to 6 is average among ISEE applicants in the same grade. Ask each school what its admitted students typically score.

Usually within 3 to 5 days for online tests and 5 to 10 days for paper tests, in your ISEE parent account. Leave a buffer before school deadlines.

Yes, once per testing season: fall (August to November), winter (December to March) and spring and summer (April to July). That’s up to three sittings a year. You choose which complete reports schools see.

Usually it goes by current grade: Elementary for grades 3 and 4, Middle for 5 to 7, Upper for 8 to 11. An 8th grader applying to 9th grade takes the Upper Level, unless the school says otherwise.

On paper at a test site, at every level. Middle and Upper students can also test on a computer at a Prometric center or at home. At-home testing is offered in the US, its territories and Canada.

Start from each school’s score deadline, then pick a date that leaves time for scores and a possible retake. Register through your parent SSAT account. If your child needs accommodations, get approval first.

For 2026 to 2027 in the US and Canada: $177 for a standard paper test at the Middle or Upper Level, $250 at a Prometric center, $263 at home, and $112 for the Elementary Level. Fee waivers may be available.

On the Middle and Upper Levels, a wrong answer costs a quarter point and a blank costs nothing, so guessing is a strategy decision. We teach when to answer and when to skip. The Elementary Level has no penalty, so answer everything.

It isn’t scored, but the schools you choose receive it and may use it to judge writing, so it deserves real effort.

Your child is compared with other first-time SSAT takers in the same grade over the past three years, in the US and Canada. A percentile is not percent correct: the 70th percentile means scoring at or above about 70% of that group.

Yes. Paper, test center and at-home testing each have their own limit, and the limits can change from year to year, so check the current ones. You choose which sittings each school receives.

Many Catholic high schools use it for admission, placement or scholarships, but each school sets its own requirements. Check the admissions page of every school on your list.

Your school or diocese sets the date and place, often in late fall or early winter of 8th grade. Some students test at their current Catholic school, others at a participating high school. Check your local calendar.

Follow the instructions from your school or diocese. Before you submit, check the fee, the deadline, which schools will receive the scores, and whether accommodations have an earlier deadline.

Ask the testing school or diocese early. It decides what is available and what paperwork it needs. A plan at your child’s current school does not carry over automatically.

Plan on one attempt. The test maker recommends taking it once, and the school or diocese decides whether a retake is ever allowed. That’s why preparation before the first sitting matters so much.

Yes. There’s no penalty for a wrong answer, so every question gets an answer before time runs out.

Your school or diocese sets the schedule. Results may come by email or through an admissions account, and schools may see them before families do. Ask when to expect yours.

National percentiles compare your child with a national sample of test takers. Local percentiles compare with the group testing in your program. Neither is a percent correct. Some reports add a Cognitive Skills Quotient, where 100 is average.