ISEE Practice Test
This is a free 15-question sampler in the style of the Upper Level ISEE, written by the StudyPDF team. It follows the four scored sections in order: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, reading comprehension and mathematics achievement. It mixes multiple choice, select all that apply and fill in the blank. Answer all 15 questions, then check your score and read the explanation for every question.
Which word is closest in meaning to EQUIVOCAL?
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All 15 questions at a glance
Prefer to read before you play? Every question in the sampler is listed below. Answers and explanations stay collapsed until you open them.
1. Which word is closest in meaning to EQUIVOCAL?
- A. Honest
- B. Balanced
- C. Hostile
- D. Ambiguous
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Ambiguous
Equivocal describes something that can be read more than one way, so it is unclear or ambiguous. Balanced is a trap because it shares the root idea of equal, but it means evenly weighted, not unclear.
2. Choose the word that best completes the sentence. The expedition's supplies were so ______ that the team had to ration water for the last three days.
- A. scant
- B. abundant
- C. superfluous
- D. decorative
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. scant
The clue is that the team had to ration water, which only makes sense if there was too little. Scant means barely enough. Abundant and superfluous both mean too much, and decorative says nothing about quantity.
3. Choose the pair that best completes the sentence. Although reviewers were ______ in their praise of the film's photography, they were ______ about its slow, confusing plot.
- A. restrained ... delighted
- B. reluctant ... disappointed
- C. lavish ... dismissive
- D. eager ... hopeful
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. lavish ... dismissive
The word although signals a contrast, and the plot is described as slow and confusing, so the second word must be negative. Lavish praise set against a dismissive view of the plot fits both clues. Reluctant and disappointed would not contrast, and delighted or hopeful cannot describe a confusing plot.
4. Select all the words that mean nearly the same as FLEETING.
Select all that apply.
- A. Brief
- B. Lasting
- C. Transient
- D. Constant
- E. Passing
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Brief, C. Transient, E. Passing
Fleeting describes something that does not last. Brief, transient and passing all carry that meaning. Lasting and constant are the opposite.
5. Column A: 3/8 of 40. Column B: 25% of 60. Which statement is true?
- A. The quantity in Column A is greater.
- B. The quantity in Column B is greater.
- C. The two quantities are equal.
- D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. The two quantities are equal.
Three eighths of 40 is 3 times 5, which is 15. A quarter of 60 is also 15. Both columns have the same value, so the answer is that they are equal.
6. x is a whole number greater than 1. Column A: x squared. Column B: 2x. Which statement is true?
- A. The quantity in Column A is greater.
- B. The quantity in Column B is greater.
- C. The two quantities are equal.
- D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
Test more than one value. If x is 2, both columns are 4, so they are equal. If x is 3, Column A is 9 and Column B is 6, so Column A is greater. Two different results mean the relationship cannot be determined. On quantitative comparisons with a variable, one test value is never enough.
7. The length of a rectangle is doubled and its width is cut in half. Compared with the original rectangle, the area of the new rectangle is:
- A. The same
- B. Half as large
- C. Twice as large
- D. Four times as large
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The same
Area is length times width. Doubling one factor and halving the other multiplies the area by 2 times one half, which is 1. This is a typical reasoning item: you can solve it with a rule and no numbers. Trying a 4 by 6 rectangle gives the same answer, 24, before and after.
8. Complete the sentence.
Five numbers have an average of 12. When one number is removed, the other four have an average of 10. The number that was removed is _____.
Options for blank 1: 16, 18, 20, 22
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 20
Five numbers that average 12 add up to 60. Four numbers that average 10 add up to 40. The number removed is the difference, 60 minus 40, which is 20.
9. Read the passage: "When the textile mill in Alderbrook closed in 1987, most residents assumed the town would follow it into decline. Instead, a small group of former workers bought the empty building for one dollar and, over six years, turned it into a market hall with forty stalls. Skeptics predicted that nobody would travel to a town with no highway exit. They were wrong, partly because the founders made a deliberate choice: every vendor had to make or grow what they sold within fifty miles. Shoppers came for the novelty, but they returned because the food tasted fresher and the crafts could not be found elsewhere. Today the market hall employs more people than the mill ever did, and several of its first vendors now run shops on the surrounding streets." Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?
- A. Textile mills closed across the country in the late 1980s.
- B. A community rebuilt its economy by turning a closed factory into a market built on local goods.
- C. Highway access decides whether a small town's businesses succeed.
- D. Former mill workers preferred selling food to working in a factory.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. A community rebuilt its economy by turning a closed factory into a market built on local goods.
The passage follows one story from the mill closing to a thriving market. The mill closing is only the starting point, the passage never claims highway access decides success, and it says nothing about what the workers preferred.
10. Read the passage: "When the textile mill in Alderbrook closed in 1987, most residents assumed the town would follow it into decline. Instead, a small group of former workers bought the empty building for one dollar and, over six years, turned it into a market hall with forty stalls. Skeptics predicted that nobody would travel to a town with no highway exit. They were wrong, partly because the founders made a deliberate choice: every vendor had to make or grow what they sold within fifty miles. Shoppers came for the novelty, but they returned because the food tasted fresher and the crafts could not be found elsewhere. Today the market hall employs more people than the mill ever did, and several of its first vendors now run shops on the surrounding streets." As used in the passage, the word "deliberate" most nearly means:
- A. slow
- B. cautious
- C. intentional
- D. accidental
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. intentional
The founders made a deliberate choice by requiring vendors to make or grow their goods nearby. That is a choice made on purpose, so intentional fits. Slow and cautious are other meanings people associate with the word, but they do not fit this sentence, and accidental is the opposite.
11. Read the passage: "When the textile mill in Alderbrook closed in 1987, most residents assumed the town would follow it into decline. Instead, a small group of former workers bought the empty building for one dollar and, over six years, turned it into a market hall with forty stalls. Skeptics predicted that nobody would travel to a town with no highway exit. They were wrong, partly because the founders made a deliberate choice: every vendor had to make or grow what they sold within fifty miles. Shoppers came for the novelty, but they returned because the food tasted fresher and the crafts could not be found elsewhere. Today the market hall employs more people than the mill ever did, and several of its first vendors now run shops on the surrounding streets." Select all the statements that the passage supports.
Select all that apply.
- A. Some shoppers traveled to Alderbrook specifically for the market.
- B. The market's rules limit where vendors get what they sell.
- C. The town built a highway exit after the market opened.
- D. The market hall now provides more jobs than the mill once did.
- E. Most shoppers visited only once, out of curiosity.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Some shoppers traveled to Alderbrook specifically for the market., B. The market's rules limit where vendors get what they sell., D. The market hall now provides more jobs than the mill once did.
The skeptics predicted that nobody would travel to the town and were wrong, so some shoppers did. The fifty mile rule limits where vendors get their goods, and the passage states that the hall employs more people than the mill. Nothing says an exit was built, and the passage says shoppers returned.
12. What is the slope of the line that passes through the points (3, 7) and (7, 10)?
- A. 4/3
- B. 3/4
- C. 3
- D. 7
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. 3/4
Slope is the change in y divided by the change in x. From (3, 7) to (7, 10), y rises by 3 while x moves 4, so the slope is 3 divided by 4, which is 3/4. The choice 4/3 comes from dividing in the wrong order.
13. Select all the numbers that are prime.
Select all that apply.
- A. 1
- B. 2
- C. 51
- D. 53
- E. 91
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. 2, D. 53
A prime number has exactly two factors, 1 and itself. The number 1 has only one factor, so it is not prime. The number 2 is prime, and so is 53. The number 51 is 3 times 17, and 91 is 7 times 13.
14. Complete the sentence.
If 3(x - 4) = 2x + 5, then x = _____.
Options for blank 1: 15, 17, 19, 21
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 17
Distribute the 3 to get 3x - 12 = 2x + 5. Subtract 2x from both sides to get x - 12 = 5, then add 12 to get x = 17. Putting 17 back in gives 3 times 13 on the left and 39 on the right, so it checks.
15. Complete the sentence.
A bag holds 4 red, 6 blue and 5 green marbles. One marble is picked at random. The probability that it is not blue is _____, and the probability that it is green is _____.
Options for blank 1: 2/5, 3/5, 2/3, 4/5
Options for blank 2: 1/5, 2/5, 1/3, 1/2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 3/5, 1/3
There are 15 marbles. Nine are not blue, and 9 out of 15 simplifies to 3/5. Five are green, and 5 out of 15 simplifies to 1/3. Always reduce a probability to lowest terms before you look for it among the choices.
What is on the ISEE
The ISEE is the Independent School Entrance Exam, a common admission test for private and independent schools. It is provided by E3n, the nonprofit formed by the merger of the Educational Records Bureau (ERB) and the Enrollment Management Association, so older prep books and guides still say ERB. For applicants to grades 5 to 12 there are three levels. The Lower Level is for grades 5 or 6, the Middle Level for grades 7 or 8 and the Upper Level for grades 9 to 12. This page follows the Upper Level, and the numbers below come from the official ISEE Quick Facts Guide for 2026 to 2027 and ERB's Upper Level guide. The Middle Level has the same section counts and times, the Lower Level is shorter and younger applicants take separate Primary Levels, so check iseetest.org for yours.
The Upper Level has four multiple-choice sections and an essay, always in the same order. Verbal Reasoning has 40 questions in 20 minutes: synonyms, plus sentence completions with one missing word or a pair of words. Quantitative Reasoning has 37 questions in 35 minutes: word problems and quantitative comparisons, where you decide which of two quantities is greater, whether they are equal or whether the information is not enough. Reading Comprehension has 36 questions in 35 minutes, six on each of six passages. Mathematics Achievement has 47 questions in 40 minutes and covers number operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis and probability. The essay is 30 minutes.
Some questions in each multiple-choice section are unscored tryouts for future tests, and you cannot tell which ones. The official guides say there is no penalty for a wrong answer, so answer every question. The essay is not scored, but the schools you list as score recipients receive a copy. Results are reported as percentile ranks, with scaled scores and stanines, compared with other students in your grade who are applying to independent schools.
How to use this sampler
The 15 questions follow the real order, so you meet the same switch of thinking that the real test asks for. Questions 1 to 4 are verbal reasoning, 5 to 8 are quantitative reasoning, 9 to 11 are reading comprehension and 12 to 15 are mathematics achievement. The three reading questions share one short passage that the StudyPDF team wrote, so each question repeats it. Every other question was written by the team too. None is an official ISEE item. The real ISEE has four answer choices on every question, exactly one of them correct, so the select all and fill in the blank items here are extra practice formats.
Take it in one sitting without notes and without a calculator, because the real test does not allow one. Then read the explanation for every question, including the ones you got right. Sort your misses by section. A miss on a quantitative comparison and a miss on a word problem are different problems: the first is about testing a few values before you decide, and the second is about finding the rule the problem hides.
ERB publishes its own Upper Level guide with a full practice test and an answer key. Use this sampler to find your weak sections, then do the official practice test under timed conditions.
How StudyPDF builds ISEE practice from your own materials
Fifteen questions can show you which section needs work. They cannot get you ready on their own, and a generic bank does not know which vocabulary list your tutor gave you or which math chapter your school is on.
StudyPDF works from the material you bring. Upload your ISEE prep book, your vocabulary lists, your math notes or the practice packet from a class. Then press New material, pick a practice test or flashcards, choose those files as the sources and set how long it should be. You get a test written from those exact pages, and every explanation cites where the answer comes from. Make a fresh one whenever you want, or narrow it to one area such as sentence completions or algebra. Bo, the study agent, explains any answer you got wrong, and your results feed a picture of which concepts you keep missing.
You do not need a document to start. Name a topic instead, for example quantitative comparisons or vocabulary in context, and you get a practice test on that with the same explanations. Starting is free.
Written by the StudyPDF team. Last updated 2026-08-19.