SSAT Middle Level
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SSAT Middle Level is a trademark of its owner, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse Test Treasure Publication or TTP Prep.
10 sample questions for the SSAT Middle Level, with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.
Sections covered on the exam: Quantitative, Numbersense, Operations, Ratios,Proportions,Andscaledrawings, Geometry, Measurement, Verbal, Synonyms, Reading Comprehension, Sciencepassage, Historypassage, Poetry, Persuasiveessay, The Writing Sample, Socialstudiespassage.
Question 1 · Quantitative
What number is 1,000 less than 3,040,215?
Answer: B. 3,039,215
Subtracting 1,000 lowers the thousands digit by 1: 3,040,215 has 0 thousands, so borrow from the ten-thousands place: 3,040,215 − 1,000 = 3,039,215.
Question 2 · Quantitative
Which number is divisible by both 4 and 9?
Answer: C. 3,672
Divisible by 9 means the digit sum is divisible by 9; divisible by 4 means the last two digits form a multiple of 4. For 3,672: 3 + 6 + 7 + 2 = 18 and 72 ÷ 4 = 18, so both tests pass. 2,934 and 1,746 fail the test for 4, 4,418 has a digit sum of 17, and 7,284 has a digit sum of 21.
Question 3 · Measurement
The surface area of a cube is 150 square centimeters. What is its volume?
Answer: A. 125 cubic centimeters
A cube has 6 equal square faces, so each face has area 150 ÷ 6 = 25 square centimeters, and each edge is 5 centimeters. Volume = 5³ = 125 cubic centimeters.
Question 4 · Synonyms
PRUDENT:
Answer: D. wise
Prudent means showing good judgment and care for the future, or wise. Do not be misled by the similar sound of "proud."
Question 5 · Sciencepassage
When a honeybee forager discovers a rich patch of flowers, she faces a problem: how can she tell thousands of nestmates where to find it? Her solution is one of the most remarkable forms of communication in the animal world. Back inside the dark hive, the forager performs what scientists call the waggle dance on the vertical surface of the honeycomb. She runs forward in a straight line while shaking her abdomen from side to side, then circles back and repeats the run, tracing a pattern like a figure eight. The direction of the straight run tells the other bees which way to fly. If the dancer moves straight up the comb, the food lies in the direction of the sun; if she angles her run 40 degrees to the right of vertical, the flowers lie 40 degrees to the right of the sun. The length of the waggle run communicates distance: the longer the run, the farther away the food. Bees that follow the dancer closely pick up the scent of the flowers clinging to her body, which helps them recognize the right blossoms when they arrive. A forager even adjusts her dance as the day goes on, shifting its angle to account for the sun's movement across the sky. The Austrian scientist Karl von Frisch spent decades decoding this behavior, and his work eventually earned him a Nobel Prize. Before his experiments, few people believed that an insect could share such precise information. Today, researchers continue to study the dance, and some beekeepers even watch it to learn where their colonies are gathering food. The passage is mainly about why honeybees prefer certain kinds of flowers how beekeepers protect their colonies how Karl von Frisch became a scientist how honeybees use a dance to share the location of food why honeybee hives are kept dark
Refer to the passage in Question 76. If a forager's straight run points directly down the comb, the food is most likely
Answer: D. in the direction opposite the sun
A run straight up means "toward the sun," and the angle of the run matches the angle from the sun. A run pointing straight down is the reverse of straight up, so the food lies directly away from the sun.
Question 6 · Quantitative
In the number 4,862.137, which digit is in the hundredths place?
Answer: E. 3
Places to the right of the decimal point are tenths (1), hundredths (3), and thousandths (7). The digit 6 is in the tens place, not the hundredths place.
Question 7 · Quantitative
The number n is a factor of 30, is even, is a multiple of 3, and is greater than 10. What is n?
Answer: D. 30
The factors of 30 that are even and multiples of 3 are 6 and 30. Only 30 is greater than 10. The numbers 12, 18, and 24 are not factors of 30, and 15 is odd.
Question 8 · Measurement
A garden measures 12 feet by 15 feet. A fence will go around the entire garden except for a 3-foot-wide gate. How many feet of fencing are needed?
Answer: A. 51
The perimeter is 2(12 + 15) = 54 feet. Leaving 3 feet open for the gate: 54 − 3 = 51 feet.
Question 9 · Synonyms
LETHARGIC:
Answer: E. sluggish
Lethargic means drowsy and lacking energy, or sluggish. Energetic is the opposite.
Question 10 · Sciencepassage
Tardigrades are so small that a line of fifty of them would barely stretch across a thumbnail. Under a microscope, they look like tiny, plump bears lumbering on eight stubby legs, which is why they are often called water bears. Yet these miniature creatures are among the toughest animals on Earth. Tardigrades live almost everywhere scientists have looked: in moss on city sidewalks, in the deep sea, in hot springs, and in Antarctic ice. Their secret is a remarkable survival state. When their surroundings dry out, a tardigrade pulls in its head and legs, loses nearly all the water in its body, and curls into a shriveled ball called a tun. In this state, its metabolism slows to almost nothing. A tun can survive conditions that would kill nearly any other animal. Tardigrades in this state have endured temperatures far colder than any winter on Earth and far hotter than boiling water, as well as crushing pressure and high levels of radiation. In one experiment, tardigrades carried into orbit survived exposure to the vacuum of space. When water returns, a tun can swell, uncurl, and resume its ordinary life within hours, sometimes after years of waiting. Scientists study tardigrades for more than curiosity. Researchers hope that understanding how the animals protect their cells from drying out could help them develop better ways to preserve vaccines and medicines without refrigeration. The humble water bear may one day help keep people healthy. The passage is mainly about how tardigrades survive extreme conditions and why scientists study them why vaccines must be refrigerated the dangers of space travel why tardigrades are related to bears the only places where tardigrades live
Refer to the passage in Question 176. As it is used in the third paragraph, "resume" most nearly means
Answer: C. continue after a pause
The tun returns to "its ordinary life," picking up where it left off after a period of inactivity.
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