How do schools use scores?

Admission officers use scores to estimate a student's ability to do work in their programs, as well as to compare performance with other students for admission or with a student's present academic record. 

Admission test scores are only one piece of the application. The degree of emphasis placed on scores in a school’s admission process depends on the specific school and on other information, such as grades, interview, extracurriculars, and teacher recommendations.

Admission officers typically focus on the SSAT scaled score and the SSAT percentiles. The SSAT scaled score offers the most precise measure of a student’s performance and is consistent over time (meaning a scaled score today means the same thing it did last year and 30 years ago). The SSAT percentile is useful in comparing your performance to that of others in the current testing year.

Each school evaluates scores according to its own standards and requirements.