When studying for the Upper Level SSAT, you might find yourself worrying about the Verbal section. Perhaps in glancing over some example SSAT Verbal problems, you found yourself staring at a number of words about whose meanings you had not the slightest idea, and began to fear that the same situation might replay itself on test day; however, you have no reason to worry: the Verbal Section of the Upper Level SSAT can be mastered with the right preparation. This preparation involves not just studying for the test, but studying effectively: working to improve and expand your vocabulary, learning the details of the way in which the test is formatted, and focusing on the words and types of problem that you don’t know well, instead of the ones you understand. If you prepare for the Upper Level SSAT’s Verbal section in this way, you’ll be able to feel completely prepared on test day.

The Upper Level SSAT’s Verbal section consists of 60 questions, which you are given thirty minutes to answer. All of the questions featured on the SSAT Verbal section are multiple-choice questions, with five answer choices each. The two types of question featured on the SSAT Verbal section are synonyms and analogies. Neither of these questions test the rules or conventions of English grammar, style, or spelling. Instead, they are focused on testing your verbal reasoning skills by asking you to think about the ways in which words are related to one another. Synonym questions present a word in capital letters, and then ask you to choose the one answer choice out of the given five that is closest in meaning to the capitalized word. Analogy questions also concern themselves with the way in which words are related, but can test an expansive variety of relationships, not just synonyms. While analogies may be written out in a number of different ways, those presented on the SSAT are written out in a sentence-like format; for instance, one analogy might say, “Blue is to hue as soft is to,” while another might say, “Toucan is to tropical as.” The correct answer to an analogy question reproduces the relationship between the first pair of words as the relationship between the second pair of words. For instance, the correct answer to “Blue is to hue as soft is to” might be “texture,” because “blue” is an example of or type of “hue;” likewise, “soft” is an example of or a type of texture. The correct answer to “Toucan is to tropical as” might be “polar bear is to frigid,” because one would expect to find a toucan in a tropical environment and a polar bear in a frigid environment. As you may have noticed, SSAT Analogy questions can present either single words or pairs of words as answers, though they will never present both single-term and multiple-term answers for a single problem.

To study for the Upper Level SSAT’s Verbal section, it’s recommended that students focus on expanding their vocabularies, learning the meanings of various prefixes, suffixes, and roots, and becoming comfortable with the format of the exam. Varsity Tutors’ free Upper Level SSAT Verbal Practice Tests can help you accomplish all of these goals simultaneously. Upper Level SSAT Verbal Practice Tests each consist of an assortment Upper Level SSAT Verbal questions; you can either take Practice Tests to get a random assortment of questions, or focus on Synonym or Analogy questions individually. After completing a free Upper Level SSAT Verbal Practice Test, you receive detailed statistics about how long it took you to answer each question and how you did on each question and the test as a whole relative to other test-takers. An explanation detailing the reasoning behind each question’s correct answer is also included.

You may actually want to kick off your review by taking a free Full-Length Upper Level SSAT Verbal Practice Test. Each of the concepts you’ll need to know by the time you take the real exam are covered on these free online tests. These simulations of the actual test format offer you the opportunity to get test experience and work on your focus and endurance. Just as on the results pages for the concept-specific practice tests, the results pages for the full-length practice tests give you tons of useful metrics, links to in-depth review materials, and detailed explanations that accompany each answer. These online SSAT practice tests can also guide you as you create a custom study plan that focuses on only the concepts in which you need review. When you’ve brushed up on your skills and you feel ready, you can take another free Full-Length Upper Level SSAT Verbal Practice Test to track your academic progress.

So, if you are studying for the Upper Level SSAT Verbal section or need to start doing so, making use of Varsity Tutors’ free Upper Level SSAT resources is a great way to help you prepare for the exam both efficiently and comprehensively.