How to prepare
for the ISEE.

First: confirm the level

Everything below assumes you have this right, and families get it wrong. The level follows the grade being applied to — see which ISEE level does your child take? Preparing at the wrong level wastes the whole effort.

The long job: vocabulary

Verbal Reasoning gives forty questions in twenty minutes — thirty seconds each. There is no time to reason toward an answer. A word is known or it is not.

Fifteen minutes a day, starting as early as you can, is worth more than any strategy lesson. This is the one part of ISEE preparation that genuinely cannot be crammed, and it is the part most often left until last.

The quick win: quantitative comparison

At the Middle and Upper Levels, much of Quantitative Reasoning asks which of two quantities is greater, or whether that cannot be determined. Students meeting these for the first time try to calculate both sides, which is slow and often unnecessary.

Two weeks of focused practice usually transforms this section, because the gain is recognizing a question type rather than learning mathematics. For a student with limited time, this is the best-value work available.

Lower Level candidates can skip this entirely — the question type is not on their exam.

Mathematics Achievement: work from a diagnostic

This is curriculum content, so the useful approach is the ordinary one: find the weak topics and work on those. Sit one full exam first and let the report tell you where the marks are going, rather than working through a book front to back.

Reading: read, rather than study

Reading Comprehension improves slowly and resists short-term preparation. The honest advice is unglamorous — read widely, above comfort level, over months. Do not spend the final two weeks here; the return is very low.

The essay: one afternoon

Unscored but read by schools. Practice it once or twice so the thirty-minute format and the supplied prompt are not a surprise. That is the whole job.

The last month

Full-length timed exams, one a week, and rework every wrong answer. A student who understands each of their mistakes has done more than one who has seen twice as many questions.

We publish two full forms at every level, sold individually. See the question style in ten free questions before deciding anything.