What is on the
ISEE Middle Level?

Who sits it

The ISEE Middle Level is for applicants to grades 7 and 8, which in practice means a child in fifth or sixth grade. A fifth or sixth-grader applying for a middle school place, usually alongside two or three other applications.

Four sections, in this order

160 questions in 130 minutes of testing time.

Quantitative Reasoning

Seventeen of the 37 Quantitative Reasoning questions put a quantity in Column A against one in Column B and ask which is larger, or whether that cannot be determined. It is a format, not a topic, and children lose marks to it for format reasons: they compute both columns in full when the point is usually to see the answer without computing either.

Mathematics Achievement

Mathematics Achievement stays arithmetical. Percent, ratio, fractions, perimeter, rounding, order of operations. Across both Middle Level forms, zero of 168 mathematics and quantitative items use algebraic notation — that step is waiting at Upper Level.

Verbal Reasoning and Reading

Verbal Reasoning splits almost evenly: 20 synonym questions and 20 sentence completions, and it is the tightest clock on the paper at 30 seconds a question. Reading Comprehension is 6 passages carrying 36 questions between them.

What catches families out

Middle Level is the same length and the same shape as Upper Level. Families who find an Upper Level practice paper and assume it will do are giving an eleven-year-old algebra they will not be asked.

The essay

The real Middle Level opens with a thirty-minute essay that carries no score. It is photocopied and sent to every school on the application, so it is read by admissions staff even though no number is ever attached to it. Our practice exam covers the four scored sections only, which means the essay is the one part of this test you have to rehearse somewhere else.

Two forms, no shared questions

We sell two full ISEE Middle Level forms and they have no questions in common, so a second sitting measures learning rather than recall. Every wrong option carries its own explanation saying what a student who picked it was probably thinking. A free ten-question sample is on the samples page if you want to see the format before paying for anything.