Quick Answer for Busy Parents
Polytechnic School will not require the SSAT or ISEE for applicants to grades 6 through 12 in 2027-2028. It runs three of its own instruments instead: a writing and math assessment inside the sixth-grade Visit Day, a Seventh Grade Student Assessment, and an Upper School Student Assessment for ninth-grade applicants. Seventh-grade and Upper School candidates interview in pairs rather than alone. Applications close in December and January by grade, with decisions on March 12, 2027.
Why Poly Is Not Requiring Standardized Testing
Poly has published an explicit statement that standardized testing will not be required for students applying to grades 6 through 12 for the 2027-2028 school year. This is worth reading carefully because families routinely misinterpret it in one of two directions. It does not mean Poly has stopped evaluating academic readiness, and it does not mean an unrequested SSAT or ISEE score will quietly help. The school has replaced an external score with instruments it controls and administers itself.
The practical consequence is that the lever many families pull hardest, months of test preparation aimed at a number, does not exist here. What replaces it is harder to drill and easier to detect: how a student writes without help and how they behave in a room with a peer.
The Three Assessments Poly Runs Instead
| Entry Grade | Instrument | What to Expect |
| Grade 6 | Writing and math assessment within Visit Day | Administered on campus alongside group activities |
| Grade 7 | Seventh Grade Student Assessment | Booked through the portal; details released in December 2026 |
| Grade 9 | Upper School Student Assessment | Booked through the portal; details released in November 2026 |
| Grades 10-12 | None required | Interview only, subject to space |
| Kindergarten | None required | Optional informal parent conversation |
Poly does not publish scores, ranges, or cut-offs for any of these, and releases format details to applicant families shortly before the appointment. Preparation therefore means being rested, unhurried, and used to writing under mild time pressure, not drilling a question bank that does not exist.
What a Paired Interview Is and How It Is Judged
Poly places two applicants together with a member of the Admission team or faculty. Sixth-grade candidates do something different again, attending a Visit Day built around group activities rather than an interview. The paired format exists because it surfaces things a solo interview cannot. A student who is only impressive when holding the floor looks different beside a peer. A student who asks the other candidate a question, or picks up a thread someone else dropped, demonstrates something a prepared monologue never will.
The most common preparation mistake is rehearsing answers. The second most common is coaching a child to be assertive, which in a paired setting reads as talking over the other student. The useful preparation is ordinary conversation practice with unfamiliar adults and unfamiliar peers, enough of it that the room stops feeling like a performance.
Prepare for the Interview Poly Actually Runs
Our interview preparation is built around how a specific school evaluates, not a generic script. Let’s talk about what your child needs.
The 2027-2028 Sequence, Deadline by Deadline
- October 2026: the portal opens, admission events begin, and Visit Days and interviews start.
- November 1, 2026: the earliest date recommendation and transcript requests may be sent.
- December 1, 2026: apply by this date to guarantee a ninth-grade interview.
- December 11, 2026: applications close for grades K-5 and grade 7.
- January 4, 2027: applications close for grades 6, 8, and 9 through 12.
- January 22, 2027: every supporting document is due across all divisions.
- March 12, 2027: decisions are released.
The date most families underuse is November 1. Recommendations and transcripts depend on other people’s schedules, and a teacher who receives the request in early November is a different proposition from one who receives it in the second week of January.
Poly has built a process that resists preparation in the conventional sense and rewards a student who is genuinely at ease. That is good news for families who start early and uncomfortable news for families who start late.