ISEE: An Overview of the Reading Section

The ISEE (Independent School Entrance Examination) is used for admissions to private and independent elementary and secondary schools throughout the United States. The ISEE includes five sections: Verbal, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading, Mathematics Achievement, and an Essay. This post will take a closer look at the third section of the test—the Reading section.

The ISEE Reading section is quite similar across all three levels of the exam; in fact, the only real significant difference between the sections on each level of the test is the total number of questions. The Upper and Middle Levels consist of 36 questions to be completed in 35 minutes, while the Lower Level only has 25 questions with 25 minutes allotted for completion.

Within the Reading section, students are asked to read a series of passages covering a variety of topics (potentially spanning both fiction and non-fiction), then answer a set of multiple-choice questions. The multiple-choice questions are divided up into six categories: Inference, Main Idea, Organization/Logic, Supporting Ideas, Tone/Style, and Vocabulary in Context. Some of the answers can be found directly in the text, while other questions require students to act as “detectives” and gather data/information before drawing a conclusion.

Though students have approximately one minute per question on the ISEE Reading section, this does not take into account the amount of time needed to read the series of passages. The time required for reading, combined with the fact that there is no guessing penalty on the ISEE and students should therefore always answer all questions in each section, means that students can easily run out of time if they don’t pace themselves properly. Inspirica Pros’ team of expert test prep tutors can help students strategize the ISEE Reading section so they can use their time in the most effective way possible on each question.

Interested in strategizing with an Inspirica Pros tutor for the ISEE Reading Section? Need help with Inferencing or Vocabulary in Context? Give us a call today to learn more about how we can help your student ace the test.

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