SSAT
The SSAT, the Secondary School Admissions Test, is an entrance exam for students applying to independent schools for grades 3-12. It is a multiple-choice test that contains verbal, math, and reading sections. There are three levels: elementary, middle, and upper. Students applying to a private middle school (students in grades 5-7) take the middle level test, and students applying to high school (students in grades 8-11) take the upper level test. The middle and upper level tests are 3 hours and 5 minutes long. The tests contain 6 sections: a writing sample, two Quantitative (math), one Reading Comprehension, one Verbal, and an Experimental section that is not factored into the score.
Visit the SSAT website, www.ssat.org, for more information.
Our approach
Through administering a pre-test, we can better determine which areas of the test your student will need the most practice with and provide an estimate of recommended tutoring hours. We use as many previously-administered SSATs as are available for practice and provide mock tests to help students build mental endurance. Our lessons emphasize knowing the test: how and when to make educated guesses, when to omit, and how to attack (or avoid) the hardest, most time-consuming questions.
For comprehensive prep in all 3 areas of the SSAT, we recommend 24-30 hours of tutoring over 3-4 months.
SSAT Quantitative (8-10 hours recommended)
On the SSAT math, students are prohibited from using a calculator, so they need to refresh basic math computational skills, operations with numbers, and general number sense. The test covers arithmetic, elementary algebra, and geometry. For many middle school students who have not reached pre-algebra, the algebra concepts can seem especially unfamiliar. Our tutoring will not only review the math concepts students need to know, but will also provide test-taking techniques, pacing practice, and math approaches that can save time.
SSAT Verbal (8 hours recommended)
The Verbal questions come in two types: synonyms and analogies. The SSAT is one of the few standardized tests to still include analogy questions, which require combining logical reasoning with word recognition. We teach strategies for the analogies that allow students to identify the relationship between the two words more quickly. Improvements in the Synonym questions come more from traditional vocabulary building than anything else, but we do incorporate practice with Latin & Greek roots and other word recognition strategies.
SSAT Reading Comprehension (8-10 hours recommended)
To enhance our student’s reading comprehension, we teach active reading strategies, which include identifying the author’s main idea, purpose, tone, and passage structure. We help students to find the evidence in the text to support the correct answer and help eliminate wrong answer choices. Through direct instruction of reading comprehension strategies and test-taking techniques, students improve their understanding, pace, and performance.
ISEE
The ISEE (pronounced ICE-E), the Independent School Entrance Exam, is an entrance exam for students applying to independent schools for grades 2-12. There are four different versions of the ISEE: Primary, for students applying to grades 2-4; Lower Level, for students applying to grades 5 or 6; Middle Level, for students applying to grades 7 or 8; and Upper Level, for students applying to grades 9-12. The ISEE is mostly a multiple-choice test that contains verbal, math, reading sections. For all levels past Primary, there is also a writing portion that students must complete after the multiple-choice sections.
The Middle and Upper Level tests are 2 hours and 40 minutes of testing. These two tests feature 5 sections: verbal reasoning, testing synonyms and sentence completion; quantitative reasoning, testing mathematical word problems and quantitative comparisons (deciding which column is the larger number); reading comprehension, testing long passage comprehension; mathematics achievement, testing general mathematical ability; and a one prompt essay.
Visit www.erblearn.org, for more information.
Our approach
Through administering a pre-test, provided by ERB, we can better determine which areas of the test your student will need the most practice with and provide an estimate of recommended tutoring hours. After the diagnostic, we use ERB’s testing partner Test Innovators to administer further practice tests until your child is fully confident on all sections of the test. Our lessons emphasize knowing the test: how and when to make educated guesses, when to omit, and how to attack (or avoid) the hardest, most time-consuming questions.
For comprehensive prep in all 4 major areas of the ISEE, we recommend 24-30 hours of tutoring over 3-4 months.
ISEE Verbal (8-10 hours recommended)
The Verbal questions come in two types: synonyms and sentence completion. Ultimately, this section is a vocabulary test. As such, improvements in the synonym questions come from traditional vocabulary building, and we incorporate practice with Latin & Greek roots and other word recognition strategies. For sentence completion questions, we use the same strategies while also emphasizing how to use context clues from the text.
ISEE Quantitative Reasoning & Mathematics Achievement (8-10 hours recommended)
On the ISEE math sections, students are prohibited from using a calculator, so they need to refresh basic math computational skills, operations with numbers, and general number sense. The test covers arithmetic, elementary algebra, and geometry. For many middle school students who have not reached pre-algebra, the algebra concepts can seem especially unfamiliar. Our tutoring will not only review the math concepts students need to know, but will also provide test-taking techniques, pacing practice, and math approaches that can save time.
ISEE Reading Comprehension (8-10 hours recommended)
To enhance a student’s reading comprehension, we teach active reading strategies, which include identifying the author’s main idea, purpose, tone, and passage structure. We help students to find the evidence in the text to support the correct answer and help eliminate wrong answer choices. Through direct instruction of reading comprehension strategies and test-taking techniques, students improve their understanding, pace, and performance.
ISEE Essay
This essay is scored separately and does not factor into a student’s main score. This section tends to be the least important, and many schools do not place a great emphasis on this score. If the independent school your child is applying to is interested in this essay score, we can also incorporate essay planning and writing, but we will not work on this section unless it is requested.