SSAT and ISEE For Dummies

The Secondary School Aptitude Test (SSAT) and Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE) are the two most common standardized aptitude tests used in American private secondary schools. If you're a parent or student looking to apply for admissions at a private, military, or boarding school, SSAT & ISEE For Dummies is your family's ticket to success.

Here, you'll get all the prep needed to score higher on the SSAT and ISEE exams, the most up-to-date information on the tests, hundreds of practice questions, thorough test-specific math and verbal workouts, six full-length practice tests (all with detailed answer explanations), and solid test-taking advice.

• Correctly answer difficult analogy and synonym questions without knowing what all the words mean
• Ace the math section by eliminating answers that are planted to fool test takers
• Apply the proven For Dummies step-by-step approach to combat the essay portion
• Analyze difficult passages using tips and tricks in the reading comprehension section
• Learn the most common vocabulary words tested on the SSAT and ISEE with an entire chapter devoted to vocabulary terms
• State-by-state "Private Schools at-a-Glance" chart with data on more than 1,000 private secondary schools

SSAT & ISEE For Dummies provides students with the resources they need for test day preparation and gives parents sound, expert advice on selecting, applying, and paying for private school.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

How This Book Is Organized 3

Part I: Paving the Way to Private School: Introducing the SSAT and ISEE 3

Part II: Ramping Up for the Verbal, Reading, and Essay Sections 3

Part III: Tackling the Math Sections 3

Part IV: SSAT Practice Exams 3

Part V: ISEE Practice Exams 4

Part VI: The Part of Tens 4

Icons Used in This Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part I: Paving the Way to Private School: Introducing the SSAT and ISEE 5

Chapter 1: Getting to Know the SSAT and ISEE 7

Approaching the SSAT and ISEE 7

Testing your ability 7

Knowing what to expect from test questions 8

Preparing yourself: Practice makes perfect 8

Getting to Know the SSAT 9

Exploring the structure of the SSAT 9

Separating the upper and lower level SSAT 10

Scoring the SSAT 10

How questions are graded 10

What is sent to your school 11

How your school uses the score 11

Registering for the SSAT 12

Knowing what to bring to the SSAT testing center 12

Scoping Out the ISEE 13

Understanding what’s on the ISEE 14

Comparing the upper, middle, and lower level ISEE 14

Upper level ISEE 15

Middle level ISEE 15

Lower level ISEE 15

Scoring the ISEE 16

How questions are graded 16

What is sent to your school 16

How your school uses the score 17

Registering for the ISEE 17

Figuring out what to bring to the ISEE testing center 17

Chapter 2: Picking Up Study Skills and Techniques for Testing Success 19

Clocking Your Time 19

Practice, practice, practice 20

Resist the urge to finish 20

Skip questions 20

Using the Process of Elimination 21

Figuring Out a Guessing Strategy 23

Guessing on the ISEE 23

Guessing on the SSAT 24

Part II: Ramping Up for the Verbal, Reading, and Essay Sections 25

Chapter 3: Defining Your Vocabulary Skills 27

Studying Vocabulary 27

Flipping through flashcards 27

Memorizing mnemonic devices 28

Interpreting words in context 28

Using repetition 29

Breaking Down Vocabulary Words 29

Digging up roots 29

Starting with prefixes 31

Ending with suffixes 32

Vocabulary Practice: Lower Level SSAT and Lower and Middle Level ISEE 33

Vocabulary Practice: Upper Level SSAT and ISEE 36

Chapter 4: Talking Up Verbal Reasoning 41

What Verbal Reasoning Looks Like 41

Making Sense of Analogies 42

Mapping out your strategy for analogies 42

Put the words in a sentence that shows the relationship 43

Plug the answer choices in to your sentence 43

When in doubt, refine the sentence 44

When you don’t know a word (or several), look for clues 45

When you have trouble establishing the relationship, dig deeper 46

Trying your hand at analogy practice questions 46

Getting the Scoop on Synonyms 48

Planning your synonym attack strategy 48

Checking out a few sample synonym questions 49

Filling in Sentence Completion Questions 50

Building a strategy for sentence completion 50

Working through a few sentence completion questions 51

Chapter 5: Practicing Verbal Reasoning 53

Tackling Guided Lower Level SSAT Analogy Questions 53

Practicing Lower Level SSAT Analogy Questions on Your Own 55

Answers to Lower Level SSAT Analogy Questions 57

Tackling Guided Upper Level SSAT Analogy Questions 58

Practicing Upper Level SSAT Analogy Questions on Your Own 60

Answers to Upper Level SSAT Analogy Questions 62

Tackling Guided Lower and Middle Level Synonym Questions 63

Practicing Lower and Middle Level Synonym Questions on Your Own 64

Answers to Lower and Middle Level Synonym Questions 65

Tackling Guided Upper Level Synonym Questions 66

Practicing Upper Level Synonym Questions on Your Own 67

Answers to Upper Level Synonym Questions 68

Tackling Guided Lower and Middle Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions 68

Practicing Lower and Middle Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions on Your Own 70

Answers to Lower and Middle Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions 71

Tackling Guided Upper Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions 72

Practicing Upper Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions on Your Own 73

Answers to Upper Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions 74

Chapter 6: Comprehending Reading Comprehension 75

Ramping Up on Reading Passages 75

Recognizing the types of reading passages 76

Reading passages on the test 76

Scanning passages instead of reading them 77

Circling key words, phrases, and ideas 77

Creating a mental outline 78

Checking out a sample passage 78

Adopting Strategies for Answering Questions about Passages 79

Getting Familiar with Types of Reading Comprehension Questions 79

Global content questions 80

Specific content questions 81

Word-in-context questions 82

What-is-true questions 83

Elimination questions 84

Inference questions 85

Chapter 7: Practicing Reading Comprehension 87

Tackling Guided Lower and Middle Level Reading Comprehension Questions 87

Practicing Lower and Middle Level Reading Comprehension Questions on Your Own 89

Answers to Lower and Middle Level Reading Comprehension Questions 92

Tackling Guided Upper Level Reading Comprehension Questions 93

Practicing Upper Level Reading Comprehension Questions on Your Own 96

Answers to Upper Level Reading Comprehension Questions 99

Chapter 8: Writing a Winning Essay 101

Exploring Essay Writing and Your Exam 101

What do essay readers want to see? 101

How are essays graded? 102

What Will You Write About? 103

Exploring common topics 103

Figuring out how to approach a topic 104

Organizing Your Essay from Beginning to End 106

Starting with an effective introduction 106

Big idea 106

More specific ideas 106

Thesis statement 107

Developing effective body paragraphs 107

Wrapping up with a well-crafted conclusion 108

Proofing Your Essay 108

Checking for common grammar problems 109

Watching out for sentence trouble 110

Chapter 9: Practicing Writing Essays 111

Upper Level Essay 111

Following the example of sample essays 111

Responding to upper level essay practice prompts 113

Lower Level and Middle Level Essay 113

Following the example of sample essays 114

Responding to lower and middle level essay practice prompts 115

Part III: Tackling the Math Sections 117

Chapter 10: Adding Up Arithmetic 119

Solving Basic Arithmetic Questions 119

Reviewing Arithmetic 120

Rules of zero 120

Order of operations 120

Number lines 121

Negative numbers 122

Fractions 123

Reducing and rewriting fractions 123

Adding and subtracting fractions 124

Multiplying and dividing fractions 124

Comparing fractions 125

Dealing with remainders 125

Decimals 125

Decimal places 125

Adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying decimals 126

Converting fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions 126

Rounding and estimating decimals 127

Percents 127

Factors and multiples 129

Exponents 130

Probability 130

Roots 131

Estimating roots 131

Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing roots 131

Simplifying roots 131

Scientific notation 132

Chapter 11: Practicing Arithmetic 133

Attacking Guided Lower and Middle Level Arithmetic Questions 133

Practicing Lower and Middle Level Arithmetic Questions on Your Own 136

Answers to Lower and Middle Level Arithmetic Questions 138

Tackling Guided Upper Level Arithmetic Questions 139

Practicing Upper Level Arithmetic Questions on Your Own 141

Answers to Upper Level Arithmetic Questions 144

Chapter 12: Acing Algebra 147

Attacking Algebra Questions 147

Battling Basic Algebra 147

Solving equations 148

Knowing the rules of expressions 149

Solving inequalities 150

Determining absolute value 150

Working with Statistics, Percents, and Ratios 151

Exploring mean, median, mode, and range 151

Calculating percentage changes 153

Using ratios and proportions 154

Working with Rules, Patterns, Ordering, and Counting 155

Discovering the purpose of functions 155

Seeing the pattern in sequences 155

Arranging permutations and combinations 156

Permutations 156

Combinations 157

Matching up numbers in matrices 157

Chapter 13: Practicing Algebra 159

Practicing Guided Lower and Middle Level Algebra Questions 160

Attacking Lower and Middle Level Algebra Questions on Your Own 162

Answers to Lower and Middle Level Algebra Questions 164

Practicing Guided Upper Level Algebra Questions 166

Tackling Upper Level Algebra Questions on Your Own 168

Answers to Upper Level Algebra Questions 170

Chapter 14: Jamming with Geometry 173

Gearing Up for Geometry Questions 173

Reviewing Geometry Concepts 174

Lines, angles, and perimeter 174

Triangles 176

Finding the area of a triangle 177

Equilateral triangles 178

Isosceles triangles 178

Right triangles 179

Similar triangles 180

Rectangles, squares, and other polygons 180

Circles 181

Solid geometry 182

Volume 182

Surface area 183

Coordinate geometry 183

Equation of a line 184

Slope of the line 184

Miscellaneous geometry 185

Chapter 15: Practicing Geometry 187

Practicing Guided Lower and Middle Level Geometry Questions 187

Attacking Lower and Middle Level Geometry Questions on Your Own 191

Answers to Lower and Middle Level Geometry Questions 195

Practicing Guided Upper Level Geometry Questions 196

Tackling Upper Level Geometry Questions on Your Own 199

Answers to Upper Level Geometry Questions 203

Chapter 16: Cracking Word Problems and Quantitative Comparisons 205

Checking Out Some Basic Word Problem Strategies 205

Calculating Arithmetic Word Problems 207

Working through Algebra Word Problems 207

Finding the average 207

Discovering the distance, rate, or time 208

Interpreting Graph and Chart Problems 209
x- and y-axis graphs 209

Tables 210

Answering Quantitative Comparison Word Problems 211

Part IV: SSAT Practice Exams 213

Chapter 17: SSAT Upper Level Practice Exam 215

Answer Sheet 217

Section 1: Writing Sample 219

Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 220

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 226

Section 4: Verbal 234

Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 240

Chapter 18: Answers to SSAT Upper Level Practice Exam 243

Section 1: Writing Sample 243

Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 244

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 246

Section 4: Verbal 248

Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 251

Answers at a Glance 253

Chapter 19: SSAT Lower Level Practice Exam 1 255

Answer Sheet 257

Section 1: Writing Sample 259

Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 260

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 264

Section 4: Verbal 272

Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 278

Chapter 20: Answers to SSAT Lower Level Practice Exam 1 283

Section 1: Writing Sample 283

Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 284

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 285

Section 4: Verbal 288

Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 291

Answers at a Glance 293

Chapter 21: SSAT Lower Level Practice Exam 2 295

Answer Sheet 297

Section 1: Writing Sample 299

Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 300

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 306

Section 4: Verbal 314

Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 320

Chapter 22: Answers to SSAT Lower Level Practice Exam 2 323

Section 1: Writing Sample 323

Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 324

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 326

Section 4: Verbal 328

Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 332

Answers at a Glance 334

Part V: ISEE Practice Exams 337

Chapter 23: ISEE Upper Level Practice Exam 339

Answer Sheet 341

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 343

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 347

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 354

Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 361

Section 5: Essay 369

Chapter 24: Answers to ISEE Upper Level Practice Exam 371

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 371

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 373

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 377

Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 380

Section 5: Essay 384

Answers at a Glance 385

Chapter 25: ISEE Middle Level Practice Exam 387

Answer Sheet 389

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 391

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 395

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 403

Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 410

Section 5: Essay 418

Chapter 26: Answers to ISEE Middle Level Practice Exam 419

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 419

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 421

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 424

Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 426

Section 5: Essay 429

Answers at a Glance 429

Chapter 27: ISEE Lower Level Practice Exam 431

Answer Sheet 433

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 435

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 438

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 445

Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 450

Section 5: Essay 455

Chapter 28: Answers to ISEE Lower Level Practice Exam 457

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 457

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 459

Section 3: Reading Comprehension 462

Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 463

Section 5: Writing Sample 465

Answers at a Glance 466

Part VI: The Part of Tens 469

Chapter 29: Ten Tips for Test Day 471

Get Organized 471

Pack a Snack 471

Catch Plenty of Zzz’s 472

Rise and Shine 472

Eat a Good Breakfast 472

Resist the Urge to Study 473

Review the Test Order 473

Get out the Door on Time 473

Arrive a Bit Early 473

Take a Deep Breath and Dive In 474

Chapter 30: Ten Ways to Calm Your Nerves 475

Check Your Breathing 475

Do Some Pacing 475

Use the Muscle Tension/Relaxation Technique 476

Sing a Song (To Yourself Anyway!) 476

Use Your Pencil as a Pointer 476

Slow Down 476

Skip a Question 477

Stretch Your Neck 477

Move Your Feet 477

Keep Everything in Perspective 477

Index 479

Vince Kotchian is an elite test-prep tutor and admissions consultant who has helped hundreds of students get into the schools of their choice. Curt Simmons is a professional educator and freelance writer who has authored several test-prep titles on a variety of topics, including many For Dummies titles.