ISEE Test

The ISEE (Independent School Entrance Examination) is a test of basic academic skills for applicants to independent schools with restricted admissions. It is administered to students in grades four through twelve nationally. It gives admissions officers a clear idea of a student's ability based on his or her national cohort. Students transferring from public schools or from out of a school district can be judged on a standardized level and appropriately placed.

The ISEE has three levels from which multiple grades are gathered. The lower-level test is for students currently enrolled as fourth or fifth graders. Their scores allow them to matriculate as fifth or sixth graders in their new schools. The middle level is for sixth and seventh graders entering a year ahead. The upper level is for high schoolers with at least a year of school left. They all test the same areas of a student's academic abilities. There are questions that test verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, reading comprehension, and math skills at grade level. There is also a test of written expression through an academic essay, although this is a qualitative measure and not a quantitative one. The essay is merely sent along with the scaled score to a candidate's schools of choice.

The number of questions and the time given is the same for both the middle and upper-level exams, but they are fewer and shorter for the lower level. The math skills are taken from grade level national standards. The reading comprehension passages are taken from science, social studies, and literature that should be familiar to students at the level of the test they are taking. Students can only take a level test one time. There is no passing or failing of the exam, so one score is all that is needed to assess a student's strengths and weaknesses. The score report gives a lot of information from raw scores on individual sections to a percentile ranking against all test takers nationally at the same grade.

ISEE Test Study Guide | ISEE Test Flashcards | ISEE Test Review | ISEE Test