Free Online SCAT Advanced Test Preparation: Practice 6th to 8th Grades Sample Questions & Tips – 2025

What Is the SCAT Advanced Test?

The SCAT Advanced Test is an aptitude assessment used to admit 6th through 8th graders into a John Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth program (JHU CTY program). This test is also known as an above grade level test, which means students will be answering questions using testing material that is at a 9th through 12th grade level. The SCAT Advanced Test is the highest-level SCAT exam. Therefore, students that complete 7th grade and score high on the SCAT exam will not be required to retake the same exam every year. Instead, their scores will be applicable through the rest of middle school and high school.

The SCAT Advanced Test is two-part multiple-choice exam that includes a Verbal Section and a Quantitative Section. The test is typically taken on a computer, which means students will not be answering questions on a piece of paper. After the entire test has been finalized, each section will receive an individual score, and those scores will be normalized and compared with the scores of other students nationwide. The final composite score will determine which students will be eligible for a JHU CTY program.

What Are the SCAT Advanced Test’s Sections?

The SCAT Advanced Test will include 55 questions in each section. However, five of the 55 questions will be trial questions, which means that they will not affect your child’s overall score, regardless of whether or not they answered them correctly. Unfortunately, students won’t be able to tell which questions are experimental and which questions are real, which is why it is important that students take each question seriously. The SCAT Advanced Test has a time limit of 54 minutes, with 22 minutes per section. After the students complete one section, they will be offered a 10-minute break before starting the next section.

Verbal Section

The SCAT Advanced Test Verbal Section assess student’s ability to identify similarities between specific vocabulary words and to understand verbal reasoning. Each question in this section will first include a pair of words that are somehow related to each other. Then, the students will be presented with four more pairs of words that are each related to each other in some way. However, only one of the four pairs of words will hold the same type of relation as the original pair of words. Students will need to figure out which pair of words holds the same relation in order to answer the verbal analogy questions correctly. The SCAT Advanced Test Verbal Section will include questions similar to the following example questions:

Quantitative Section

The SCAT Advanced Test Quantitative Section assesses student’s ability to understand relationships between mathematical equations and their ability to solve difficult mathematical problems. Each question in this section will include two columns: Column A and Column B. Each column will include some sort of numerical value, which can be found through possibly solving an equation or word problem. Students will need to identify which column, if any, has a greater value in order to choose the correct answer. The SCAT Advanced Test Quantitative Section will include questions similar to the following example questions:

How to Read SCAT Advanced Test’s Score Report

• Raw Score: The first calculated score will be the raw score. Both the Verbal and Quantitative Sections will receive their own raw score shown as a number out of 50. This is the number of questions responded to properly, and because five of them are experimental, they will not count towards the overall raw score.
• Scaled Score: The second calculated score will be the scaled score. This is a score that is a comparison of raw scores between nationwide children that are close in age. The scaled verbal score range is 410 to 496, and the scaled quantitative score range is 424 to 514.
• Percentile Rank: The third calculated score will be the Percentile Rank. This is the percentage of children that your child performed better than on the SCAT Advanced Test.

SCAT Advanced Test Tips

1. Create a solid and reliable studying plan. Study plans are a great way to ensure that your child is setting aside a firm amount of time a day specifically for preparing. If you don’t create a study plan, your child may forget to study or may wait until several days beforehand to start preparing. Students need to start preparing at least two weeks in advance, which means at least one hour a day for two weeks should be spent studying and using practice exams.
2. Identify areas of strength and weakness. Practice exams are a great way for students to gain an understanding of which subjects they are stronger in and which subjects they are weaker in. Once your child has completed a practice exam in its entirety, they can focus on any individual sections that they struggled with, until they are able to confidently answer those questions correctly.

How to Prepare for the SCAT Advanced Test

In order for your child to successfully complete and score well on the SCAT Advanced Test, they will need to prepare with practice exams. These practice exams are a type of studying resource that can be accessed online, and is one of the most preferred studying methods. Practice exams allow students to repeat any sections that they struggle with while also gaining a sense for how the test is formatted. Moreover, practice exams always include helpful explanations at the end of the exam. These explanations point out why certain answer options were not feasible, and will provide your child with helpful tips that will come in use on the actual exam. Students that wish to score well on the SCAT Advanced Test will need to practice and prepare with online study guides and practice exams.