Here are a couple of sample problems you might see on the mid-level ISEE along with their solutions.
VERBAL
In context, the word “hailing” (line 9) almost means
(A) denying
(B) criticize
(c) praying
(D) originating
In this reading comprehension question, the student is asked to identify which answer option best defines the word in the context of the passage.
To answer this question, the student must locate the word in the passage (line 9) and read enough of the passage surrounding the word to gather contextual clues about the meaning of the word. Most of the time, this requires a student to read at least the sentence before and after it. For this problem, the relevant sentences are:
Despite the derision directed at the women’s movement by various newspapers, Frederick Douglass continued to lend his active support. In fact, few women’s rights conventions were held during the 1850s at which Douglass was not a featured speaker and whose proceedings were not fully reported in his paper. Invariably, the notice would be accompanied by an editorial comment. waving the meeting and expressing the editor’s hope that it ‘will have a powerful effect on the public mind’. In 1853, when Douglass was considering changing the name of the paper after him, he rejected the proposed title, The Brotherhood, because it ‘implied the exclusion of the brotherhood’.
From the context presented in the first, second, and fourth prizes, we learn that Douglass was an advocate for women’s rights. In the first sentence, we learn that most newspapers ridiculed the women’s movement, but Douglass’s article “continued to pay [the women’s movement] active support.” The second prize shows us how Douglass supported the women’s rights movement. We also learn that Douglass’s newspaper reported on the proceedings of the meeting. As we know that Douglass’s newspaper supports (positive connotation) women’s rights, we can conclude that the editorial comment in your article would be praying (positive connotation) the meeting, which is answer choice (C). Clearly, it would not be denying or criticizing the meetings, those two words have negative connotations. The answer is not (D) because originating does not make sense in the context of the award.
MATH
William is preparing a new flower garden for his garden. He designed the garden to have 225 square meters of space and four sides of equal length. If William walked around all the edges of his garden, how many meters would he walk?
William’s garden has four sides of equal length; therefore, we can assume that the garden is in the shape of a square*. If the garden is a square, then we know that the area of the garden is equal to the length of one side of the garden squared.
A=s*s
The problem tells us that the garden has an area of 225 square meters. Therefore,
225 = m*s
s = 15
We now know that one side of William’s garden is 15 meters long. If he walks around his garden once, he has walked the length of the garden. perimeter. The perimeter of a square is defined as the sum of the lengths of each side.
P = s + s + s + s = 4s
P = 4(15) = 60 meters
Therefore, William will walk 60 yards
*Technically, the information presented in the problem only allows us to assume that the garden is a rhombus. Without telling us that all four sides AND all four angles are equal, we can’t technically assume it’s a square. However, without assuming that the garden is a square, we cannot solve the problem!