SSAT Percentile Chart 2026-27: Scores by Grade and the IQ Question

The SSAT percentile is the share of first-time test takers in the same grade who scored at or below your scaled score, so it is a rank, not a mark out of 100. For 2026-27, the official tables put a grade 8 student at the 50th percentile with a total scaled score of about 2013 out of 2400, the 90th percentile at 2229 and the 99th at 2343. Those figures come from the 2026-27 SSAT Interpretive Guide, published by E3n, the organisation formed by the merger of EMA, which makes the SSAT, and ERB, which makes the ISEE. Most "SSAT percentile charts" online are estimates or copies of older years. Below are the real cut points for grades 5 to 11, how the norm group is built, and why none of it is an IQ.

What is the SSAT percentile chart for each grade?

E3n publishes a yearly guide with tables that convert each scaled score to a percentile, by grade, for every section and for the total. The list below reads the 2026-27 total-score tables (norms from August 2023 to July 2026). Each figure is the lowest total whose printed percentile is at or above the target; that is our reading of the table, not a number E3n prints in a summary. Grades 5 to 7 take the Middle Level, scored 1320 to 2130; grades 8 to 11 take the Upper Level, scored 1500 to 2400.

• Grade 5 (Middle Level, 4,131 first-time takers): 25th 1707, 50th 1803, 75th 1905, 90th 1992, 95th 2034, 99th 2079
• Grade 6 (Middle, 2,756): 25th 1764, 50th 1860, 75th 1956, 90th 2022, 95th 2055, 99th 2097
• Grade 7 (Middle, 1,773): 25th 1806, 50th 1917, 75th 2004, 90th 2064, 95th 2088, 99th 2115
• Grade 8 (Upper Level, 17,271): 25th 1893, 50th 2013, 75th 2133, 90th 2229, 95th 2277, 99th 2343
• Grade 9 (Upper, 2,664): 25th 1923, 50th 2046, 75th 2172, 90th 2268, 95th 2316, 99th 2382
• Grade 10 (Upper, 750): 25th 1926, 50th 2046, 75th 2163, 90th 2250, 95th 2295, 99th 2361
• Grade 11 (Upper, 166): 25th 1914, 50th 2004, 75th 2112, 90th 2187, 95th 2217, 99th 2331

The means are close to the 50th-percentile cut points: 1809 in grade 5, 1858 in grade 6, 1902 in grade 7 and 2016 in grade 8, with standard deviations of 134, 128, 131 and 163. Grades 10 and 11 rest on 750 and 166 students, so their lines move more from year to year than grade 8, which holds 58.5% of the Middle and Upper norm group.

What is a good SSAT score for grade 8 (Upper Level)?

There is no pass mark. E3n publishes no cut-off, and its page for families says every school differs in how it uses scores and that most view applicants holistically. A school sees the same table you do, so the useful way to read a grade 8 result is by section. These are the 2026-27 section cut points (each section is scored 500 to 800):

• Verbal: 25th 617, 50th 668, 75th 713, 90th 752, 95th 773, 99th 800
• Quantitative: 25th 641, 50th 689, 75th 737, 90th 779, 95th 797, 99th 800
• Reading: 25th 620, 50th 659, 75th 698, 90th 722, 95th 734, 99th 782

Two things stand out. The quantitative and verbal sections reach the 99th percentile at 800, the maximum score, so the top of the scale cannot separate the very best students. And the reading section reaches it lower: a 782 in reading is already the 99th percentile for grade 8. For Middle Level, the grade 6 median section scores are 626 in verbal, 629 in quantitative and 611 in reading, each out of 710, and the 99th percentile sits at 710, 707 and 710.

How is the SSAT percentile calculated?

The guide defines it as the percentage of students in the norm group whose scores fall at or below a particular scaled score. The 2026-27 norms use first-time test takers who tested at a US or Canadian Standard administration between 1 August 2023 and 31 July 2026; if a student tested more than once, only the first test counts. Percentiles are based on students of the same grade, and the guide states that E3n now provides only scores based on mixed gender scores. An older E3n help article still mentions grade and gender, and prep sites that say percentiles are gender-specific are copying it or earlier material.

The guide also says its norms are not representative of students throughout the country, nor of all students in independent schools, and an earlier edition describes SSAT test takers as a small, highly competitive group aiming for the best independent schools. That is why a 50th percentile here is the middle of applicants, not of all children. The same scaled score moves between editions: the grade 8 median total was 2004 in the 2022-23 guide, with norms from August 2018 to July 2022, and 2013 in 2026-27.

How are SSAT scaled scores built?

Raw scores become scaled scores through equating, a statistical method that compensates for small difficulty differences between forms, so a scaled score today means the same as it did years ago. The ranges are fixed by level:

• Elementary Level (grades 3 and 4): 300 to 600 per section, 900 to 1800 in total; 30 quantitative, 30 verbal and 28 reading questions, with no penalty for wrong answers
• Middle Level (grades 5 to 7): 440 to 710 per section, 1320 to 2130 in total
• Upper Level (grades 8 to 11): 500 to 800 per section, 1500 to 2400 in total
• Middle and Upper: 50 quantitative questions in two 30-minute sections, 40 reading questions in 40 minutes, 60 verbal questions (30 synonyms and 30 analogies) in 30 minutes, a 25-minute writing sample that is not scored and a 16-question experimental section

At Middle and Upper Level a quarter of a point is subtracted for each wrong answer, and nothing is added or removed for an omitted question. E3n describes the test as virtually unspeeded and publishes reliability coefficients of .82 to .93 for the Middle Level and .82 to .94 for the Upper Level, and .74 to .87 for the Elementary Level. The 2022-23 guide gives the standard error of measurement as 20 points in Upper Level reading and verbal, and 19 in quantitative, so a retest can move a section by about that much without any change in skill. Our guide to the IQ score margin of error explains why a single score is a range.

Is the SSAT an IQ test?

No, and its publisher does not say it is. The guides describe a test of the basic verbal, quantitative and reading skills students develop over time, and the words IQ, intelligence and aptitude do not appear in the 2026-27 guide, the score-report pages or the level pages we read. We found no published correlation between the SSAT and an IQ test. The one validity study the guide reports is from spring 2015: across 59 schools, with 2,918 Middle Level and 13,744 Upper Level students, section scores correlated .44 to .53 and .44 to .50 with first-year grades, and the total score .54 and .53. The criterion is school grades, not intelligence.

A percentile can still be written on the IQ scale as arithmetic. If the norm group were the general population, the 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th and 99th percentiles would be IQ 100, 110, 119, 125 and 135 on a scale with a standard deviation of 15, and our IQ percentile calculator gives the same figures for any rank. They are positions in a rank order within a selected applicant pool, not IQ results, and the same logic applies to the other tests we cover, such as the ISEE, the HSPT and the CAT4.

When are the 2026-27 SSAT dates and what do they cost?

On 19 October 2026, E3n's paper-testing page listed five Standard Saturdays: 14 November 2026 (all three levels; register by 11 November, late fee from 25 October), 12 December 2026 (all three levels), 9 January 2027 and 30 January 2027 (Upper and Middle), and 13 March 2027 (Upper and Middle). The page text mentions six dates, so an earlier one may already have closed. Middle and Upper students can take up to six Standard tests and one Flex test in a testing year. The listed fees for the US and Canada are $177 for a Middle or Upper Standard test and $112 for Elementary, with a $59 late fee and a $100 rush fee. Scores typically arrive within two weeks.

How should you read an SSAT score report?

• Look at the scaled score first: E3n tells families to focus on it, and it is equated across forms
• Read the percentile as "equal to or higher than this share of first-time takers in my grade over the last three years in the US and Canada"
• Check the test year: tables are rebuilt yearly and cut points shift by roughly 5 to 15 points between editions
• Compare sections, not just the total: reading tops out lower than verbal and quantitative in grade 8
• Treat the percentile as a rank among applicants, not as an IQ or a pass mark

The bottom line: for 2026-27 a grade 8 SSAT total of about 2013 is the 50th percentile and 2343 the 99th, but those are ranks among a selected group of first-time applicants, rebuilt each year, and not intelligence quotients. For a measured score on the standard scale, try the IQ Metrics IQ test, and see why a single gifted cutoff misses children for how programs use cut points.

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