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ISEE Content Description

The Independent School Entrance Exam consists of three levels of testing: the Lower Level, the Middle Level, and the Upper Level. These levels are based on whatever level of schooling the student has achieved upon applying to a particular independent school.

• Students entering grades 5 or 6 will take the Lower Level ISEE
• Students entering grades 7-8 will take the Middle Level ISEE
• Students grades 9-12 will take the Upper Level ISEE

Be sure you are using the appropriate ISEE practice tests for your particular level.

Each test is split up into five sections:

Verbal Reasoning

The Verbal Reasoning section includes a section for synonyms and a section for sentence completion These sections are intended to measure an applicant’s vocabulary level and reading ability.

• Each vocabulary question includes an appropriately abstract grade-level word which is followed by four answer choices.
• Each sentence completion question includes a sentence with a missing word or phrase, followed by four ways the applicant may choose to complete the missing part. The student must determine which selection best completes the sentence based on context.

Lower Level:

• This section consists of 34 questions to be answered in 20 minutes

Middle and Upper Levels:

• This section consists of 40 questions to be answered in 20 minutes

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning section measures the applicant’s reasoning abilities as they relate to various mathematical disciplines.

This section is intended to measure an applicant’s ability to think mathematically in order to solve a problem. Despite the mathematical content in this section, it requires very little or no actual calculations, as the emphasis of this section is on mathematical thinking and reasoning ability.

Questions are derived from the applicant’s grade-level appropriate National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards in the following skillsets:

• Numbers and Operations
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Measurement
• Data Analysis and Probability
• Problem Solving

Lower Level:

• This section consists of 37 word problems to be completed within 35 minutes

Middle and Upper Levels:

• This section consists of 37 questions to be completed within 35 minutes
• Questions are a mixture of word problems as well as quantitative comparisons

Reading Comprehension

The Reading Comprehension section utilizes several reading passages related to science, history, literature, and the modern world in order to assess an applicant’s reading comprehension in six specific categories:

• Main Idea– measures the applicant’s ability to identify the general message, theme, or central idea in the passage
• Supporting Ideas– measures the applicant’s ability to identify which concepts in the passage support the main idea of the text.
• Inference– measures the applicant’s ability to to draw a conclusion using content which is not explicitly stated in the passage. Inference questions may include:
  • Analysis and interpretation of text
  • Comparing and contrasting ideas
  • Making predictions of events and outcomes
• Vocabulary– measures the applicant’s ability to use context clues in order to define words
• Organization and Logic– measures the applicant’s ability to identify the structure, pattern, or sequence present in a particular genre
• Tone, Style, and Figurative Language– measures the applicant’s ability to comprehend literary concepts such as:
  • Point of view
  • Mood
  • Tone

Lower Level:

• This section consists of 25 questions to be answered in 25 minutes
• This section contains five reading passages with five questions each

Middle and Upper Levels:

• This section consists of 36 questions to be answered in 35 minutes
• This section contains six reading passages with six questions each

Mathematics Achievement

The Mathematics Achievement section measures an applicant’s skills at basic mathematical operations and computations, according to the applicant’s grade-level appropriate National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards.

Lower Level:

• This section consists of 30 questions to be answered in 30 minutes

Middle and Upper Levels:

• This section consists of 47 questions to be answered in 40 minutes

Essay

Applicants taking any of the three Independent Schools Entrance Exam will be required to prepare and write an essay on a random topic distributed on the day of the test.

• Upon receiving the topic, students are given 30 minutes to prepare and write their essay
• Students may use a blue or black pen
• Essay will not be graded, however the school to which the applicant has applied will receive a photocopy of the essay to assess in any way they wish
• Prompt will usually be relevant to the student and offer them an opportunity to tell about themselves

ISEE Administration

Independent Schools Entrance Exam test locations and dates can fluctuate, and are determined by the particular school administering the ISEE. Some states include:

• Connecticut
• Florida
• Massachusetts
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Texas

As well as international locations including:

• Shanghai
• China
• Seoul, Korea

Applicants may also take their test through the use of a test consortium consisting of several area schools within a central location collaborating to test those applying to many different local independent schools. These consortiums can be found in most major US cities.

Registration for the ISEE Test

Students registering for the Independent Schools Entrance Exam can do so through the mail or at www.ISEEtest.org. Registering over the phone or via fax may include additional fees. It is important to register for your ISEE at least three weeks before your test date.

ISEE Test Fees

Registration for the Independent Schools Entrance Exam begins at $89, but can range up to $180 depending on location and accommodations needed. Registering over the phone or via fax will incur an additional $20 fee.

ISEE Requirements

The Independent School Entrance Exam can be taken by any student in grades 5-12 who is applying to enter an independent school. Requirement of completion of the ISEE is determined by the independent school being applied to.

ISEE Scores

Throughout all sections in all three versions of the ISEE, all questions are equal in value. The ISEE does not penalize for incorrect answers, so the raw score is solely determined by the number of correct answers given by the applicant. Test takers are encouraged to guess if they are not sure.

The ISEE score report includes both scaled scores and percentile scores:

Scaled Score

A conversion of the raw score, scaled between 760 and 940.

Percentile Score

The percentile score takes the scaled score achieved by the applicant, and ranks it from 1-99, based on the student’s performance compared to other test takers of the examination.

For example, if a student scored better than 90% of the students who took the same test, then that student’s Percentile Score would be 90.

• Shows how an applicant scored in comparison to other applicants of similar demographics.
• This is based on the norm pool of applicants which share the same grade as the applicant
• Schools receiving the ISEE score report and see how the applicant compares to the rest of the applicant pool

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