About the ISEE Upper Level
The ISEE Upper Level is the ACT of private school admissions for grades 9 through 12. Just as colleges use the SAT and ACT to determine applicant preparedness, many independent schools across the US achieve the same effect with the ISEE.
Because teachers, curriculums, and academic difficulty vary from school to school, a student’s report card is not sufficient enough to accurately compare students from different schools. Therefore they use a standardized test like the ISEE.
ISEE is an acronym that stands for the Independent School Entrance Exam. It is administered by the non-profit group ERB, Educational Records Bureau. You’ve probably heard of ERB before in the context of annual testing, particularly if your school administers the CTP-4, which is somewhat similar to the ISEE.
ISEE Upper Level Research, Analysis, & Adice
Synonym Questions on the ISEE Upper Level
The Upper Level ISEE Verbal Reasoning section is composed of two parts - synonyms and sentence completions. You will have 20 minutes to answer 20 Synonym Questions and 20 Sentence Completion Questions. These questions test your knowledge of vocabulary and your ability to apply that knowledge. (Skip this how-to guide and go straight to practicing - free log-in required) For Synonyms, you must know the definition of the word in [...]
Reading Comprehension Questions on the Upper Level ISEE
Students will have 35 minutes to read six passages and answer 36 questions in the Reading Comprehension section. These passages will cover a wide variety of topics, including the humanities (literature, art, biography), social studies (history, economics, sociology), and science (medicine, meteorology, zoology). Each passage is followed by a number of questions that are based on the content of the passage. These questions are not designed to trick you or ask [...]
The Essay on the Upper Level ISEE
The fifth and final section of the ISEE is always the essay, a two-page response to a specific prompt. Your essay is not scored, but a copy of your essay is sent to every school you designate to receive your ISEE results. The schools may then use your essay as a separate weight in determining whether or not to offer you admission to their school. Schools might compare your ISEE essay [...]
Scoring the Upper Level ISEE
Students taking the ISEE Upper Level will receive a "stanine score" that ranges from 0 to 9, with 9 being best. They will receive an overall stanine in addition to stanine scores for each sub-test (Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics Achievement.) The stanine scores are what schools ostensibly care about most and what you'll hear other parents discussing. However, each of the four sections on the ISEE will receive [...]
Free Practice Tests for the Upper Level ISEE
With 3003 practice questions for the Upper Level ISEE, Piqosity now features the equivalent of 18.77 full-length practice tests for this popular independent high school admissions exam (click here for more information about the ISEE including test-taking strategies). The practice questions are separated into three primary categories: Verbal Reasoning (1675 questions), which includes synonyms, single, and double-blank sentence completion questions Reading Comprehension (336 questions & 56 passages), which is comprised [...]
Books to Improve Your ISEE Vocabulary Knowledge
Getting ready for the ISEE and in need of some ELA support—especially for those all-too-important ISEE vocabulary questions? One of the best ways to improve vocabulary knowledge is by reading more and seeing how words are used in context. This article dives into a diverse selection of fun reads that are great resources for vocabulary expansion and for improving your ELA skills overall, with stories appropriate for each level of [...]
