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ISEE Upper Level FAQs

The Upper Level ISEE decides admission to grades 9 through 12 at most independent day and boarding schools. Answers below reflect current E3n policy and fees.

1. What is the Upper Level ISEE?
2. What is the exact format?
3. How does it differ from the SSAT?
4. When is it offered?
5. How does registration work?
6. What does it cost?
7. When do we see scores?
8. How many attempts are allowed?
9. What is a competitive score?
10. How should a student prepare?

The entrance examination for students currently in grades 8 through 11 who are applying to enter grades 9 through 12. Because ninth grade is a natural entry point, this is the most competitive sitting of the three levels: a larger applicant pool, and schools filling their biggest incoming class of the cycle.

Two ten-minute breaks are built in. The essay is unscored but is sent to every school, and admission officers read it as a writing sample produced without help from anyone.

Both are accepted by most independent schools. The ISEE has no guessing penalty, asks quantitative comparison questions, and permits one sitting per season; the SSAT deducts a quarter point for wrong answers and is offered on fixed national dates. Students who guess aggressively when time runs short usually do better on the ISEE, and that is a real consideration when choosing.

Year round across three seasons: August-November, December-March and April-July. Choose at-home remote proctoring, a school or office administration, or a Prometric center.

Register at iseetest.org, where you select the format and date and designate score recipients. Register early in the season you want; at-home and Prometric seats near large metropolitan areas go first.

For 2026-27: $170 at home proctored by a school, $225 for a school or office group sitting, $250 at home proctored by E3n or at a Prometric center, and $255 for an accommodated individual administration.

Reports appear in your ISEE account, typically within a few business days of an online test. Families review them before releasing them to schools.

One per testing season, three per year at most, and every attempt appears on the report a school receives.

Stanines of 8 and 9 are the working target for the most selective schools; 7 is competitive at most. Percentiles are calculated against other ISEE applicants in the same grade, which is a strong field, so a 60th percentile here is not the 60th percentile of a classroom.

Give it eight to ten weeks. Most of the gain on this level comes from three places: vocabulary breadth for synonyms, algebra fluency under time pressure, and a reading approach that handles six passages without slowing on the hardest one. Test Masters teaches all three explicitly, because a student who knows the exam’s habits stops reacting to it and starts running it.

See the Test Masters ISEE Upper Level course, or call (281) 276-7777.