ISEE - Tutoring and Test Preparation Package

About the ISEE

The ISEE exam (Independent School Entrance Exam) is an entrance exams for non-parochial private high schools. It is designed to test the student's mastery of verbal and analytical skills, the student's vocabulary, the student's ability to identify main ideas, and the student's ability to perform both logical and mathematical computations.

There are three levels of the ISEE exam. The Lower Level ISEE exam is given in grades 4-5 for admission to grades 5-6. The Middle Level ISEE exam is given in grades 6-7 for admission to grades 7-8. The Upper Level ISEE exam is given in grades 8-11 for admission to grades 9-12. Parents can easily register their students online at http://www.erbtest.org for a fee of $75, or by calling (212) 672-9800 ($95 by phone).

It is important to understand the structure, sections, and scoring system of the ISEE exam. The examination is 2 hours 45 minutes in length and includes five sections in the following order: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics Achievement, and an Essay.

1. The Verbal Reasoning Section

The Verbal Reasoning section is always the first section of the ISEE exam. This section focuses on testing two skills: the student's ability to identify and use synonyms, and the student's ability to identify words in context. 20 "choose the best definition" questions examine the student's knowledge of synonyms, and 20 "complete the sentence" questions test the student's knowledge of words in context.

2. The Quantitative Reasoning Section

The second section of the ISEE exam is the Quantitative Reasoning section. This area of the exam asks the student to detect numerical patterns and/or use various math skills to solve problems. Aptitudes covered in this section are the ability to grasp basic math, algebra, and geometry, the ability to understand advanced concepts and apply them when solving analytical problems, and the ability to make quantitative comparisons.

3. The Reading Comprehension Section

In this section students have 40 minutes to read and interpret 6-8 short passages relating to science, humanities, and social studies. After each passage there are several questions pertaining to the reading. The questions ask the student to identify writing elements such as the main idea of the passage or the definition of a word based on its usage in the passage.

4. The Mathematics Achievement Section

The Mathematics Achievement section is the fourth section of the ISEE exam. In this section students will be asked to compute answers to mathematical problems in basic arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. NO calculators are allowed!!

5. The Essay Section - (not graded)

The Essay section is the only section of the ISEE that is not graded. The essay will be sent unscored to your chosen school(s), so that the school administrators can evaluate your writing ability. The topic of the essay is always one of personal opinion. In other words, a question is asked and the student has 30 minutes to prepare, plan, and write their opinion and/or interpretation of the question. A sample essay topic would be: "What is your favorite subject in school? Why?"


Our Tutoring Packages

There’s really no such thing as passing or failing the ISEE exam. An "acceptable score" is determined separately by each private school that receives the student's test results. However, because many more students want to attend selective private schools than the schools can accept, and because there’s a six month wait to retake the test, it’s very important to do as well as possible on the ISEE exam.

Next Level Tutors has helped many students perform well on the ISEE exam. We have several tutoring packages available to suit the various needs of students preparing to take the ISEE exam. Whether your child needs a brief overview of the exam and its basic methods, or your child requires a significant amount of time to prepare, we have the right package for you! All of the tutoring takes place in the comfort of the student's own home, in a relaxed one-on-one environment. This is much better than group study sessions that some agencies offer because it ensures that YOUR student receives his or her tutor's undivided attention and focus. Additionally, an individual tutoring environment allows the tutor to monitor YOUR student's progress and identify any weaknesses that he or she needs to overcome. All of our ISEE tutors are highly trained and extremely experienced. Not only are they aware of the content of the ISEE exam, but they are also well rehearsed on test-taking strageties (timing of each section, math and vocabulary drills, diagnostic testing and screening, improving reading speed, whether to guess on a multiple-choice question versus leaving it blank, etc..).

Tutoring is available during all hours of the day, 7 days per week. All of our ISEE preparation packages include diagnostic testing, a user-friendly ISEE preparation book, hundreds of practice questions/problems, vocabulary and math drills, and test-taking strategies. All tutors keep a "Tutors Log" to monitor the strengths, weaknesses, and areas of concern throughout the hours of tutoring that occur.