Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE) is a standardized test conducted by Educational Records Bureau (ERB). ISEE test results are used by several reputed private schools in United States for admission purpose.
Eligibility-
The ISEE is conducted at three levels- lower (for grades 5 and 6), middle (for grades 7 and 8) and upper (for grades 9 to 12). This test is taken by students for next grade level. For example, a student in 4th grade will take the lower level ISEE for 5th grade; student in 6th grade will take the middle level ISEE for 7th grade and so on.
Test Overview-
At all levels, ISEE consists of three sections- quantitative and verbal reasoning, reading comprehension and mathematics, and essay writing. All the sections have multiple choice questions except in essay writing section. The verbal and quantitative section has aptitude questions based on arithmetic, geometry, numerical relationships and words. The reading section consists of questions related to given passages. These passages are taken from the subjects like science, social science and humanities. In essay section, examinee has to write an essay on a given prompt. This section is unscored and allotted a time of 30 minutes in all levels. A photocopy of essay written by test taker is reported along with his/her score card.
Test Format-
For lower level ISEE, verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, reading comprehension and mathematics achievement sections have 34, 38, 25 and 30 MCQs which are to be solved in 20, 35, 25 and 30 minutes respectively. The total time for completing the lower level test, including essay sums up to 2 hours and 20 minutes. For middle level and upper level ISEE, verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, reading comprehension and mathematics achievement sections have 40, 37, 36 and 47 MCQs which are to be solved in 20, 35, 35 and 40 minutes respectively. The total time for completing the middle or upper level test, including essay sums up to 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Marking Scheme-
The raw score of all multiple choice sections is proportional to number of questions answered correctly. There is no negative marking. The raw scores are converted into scaled scores which vary in different levels of test. These scaled scores lie in range from 760 to 940 in all levels. The score report contains scaled scores, percentile and stanine. Stanine is a version of percentile which has only nine possible values and hence it classifies test takers into nine categories. The score report is sent to parents and maximum six schools mentioned while registration.
Registration-
The registration for this test can be done through internet, mail, fax or phone. The available testing dates and accommodation can be selected while registration. For online registration visit ISEE website at http://erblearn.org/parents/admission/isee/registration.
Exam Fees-
The fees of registration through mail/internet and phone/fax are $95 and $115 respectively. There are additional charges for late registration ($115), walk-in registration ($125), change of registration ($25), telephone reporting of scores ($30), online reporting of scores ($30), extra score report ($25), hand scoring ($30), and re-scoring ($25).