The ISEE, at full length.
Twice, at every level.
Upper, Middle and Lower Level, each with two complete practice exams, written from scratch and timed exactly like the real thing. Every wrong answer tells your child the specific mistake behind the option they picked, not just which letter was right.
Start here: which level?
The ISEE level is set by the grade your child is applying to, not the grade they are in now. Pick the grade they will enter.
Five real questions
Straight out of the exam we sell, not written to be easy. Pick an answer and see what it says about the thinking behind it.
What a practice exam contains
Times are the real exam's. The Upper and Middle Levels run 130 minutes of testing; the Lower Level runs 110. We leave out the unscored essay, because a practice essay nobody scores teaches nothing, and we would rather not pretend otherwise.
Why the explanations are the product
Not a worked solution for the right answer. Each incorrect choice carries its own sentence naming the specific error that leads a student there, inverting a ratio, reading a percentage as an amount, confusing two words that sound alike.
On every practice exam, no single answer position holds more than 28% of the answers and no pair holds more than 53%. A child who always picks B and C scores no better than chance. That is checked before an exam can be published.
Every level has a Form A and a Form B, each a complete exam. No question appears in both, so the second one measures learning rather than memory.
Section by section, with every missed question and the reason beside it. It is written for a parent who did not take the test, not for a tutor.
Ready?
Ten free questions first, no account needed. A full practice exam is 5 credits.
What families ask about the ISEE.
Which ISEE level does my child sit?
Lower Level for applicants to grades 5 and 6, Middle Level for grades 7 and 8, Upper Level for grades 9 through 12. It follows the grade being applied to, not the grade the child is in now.
How many questions are on the ISEE?
Lower Level is 127 scored multiple-choice questions in 110 minutes. Middle and Upper Level are 160 in 130 minutes. All three are four sections plus an unscored essay.
What is a stanine?
A score from 1 to 9 with 5 as the midpoint, reported for each section. It is the figure most admissions offices read first, because it compresses the percentile into a band. A 5 is not a failure; it is the middle of the group.
Who is my child compared against?
Other students who sat the same test at the same age over the past three years. That is a group of independent school applicants, not children in general, which is why a strong student can come back with a middling stanine.
How many times can the ISEE be taken?
Once per testing season, and there are three seasons: Fall from August to November, Winter from December to March, and Spring or Summer from April to July.
Do you set the essay?
No. The real ISEE opens with an essay that is sent to schools unscored, and we do not set one. Our practice covers the four scored multiple-choice sections.