Princeton Review SSAT and ISEE Prep, 2023: 6 Practice Tests + Review and Techniques (2023)

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ISBN 9780593450642
Ebook ISBN 9780593451045
All tests are registered trademarks of their respective owners. None of the trademark holders
are affiliated with The Princeton Review.
The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.
The material in this book is up-to-date at the time of publication. However, changes may have
been instituted by the testing body in the test after this book was published.
If there are any important late-breaking developments, changes, or corrections to the
materials in this book, we will post that information online in the Student Tools. Register your
book and check your Student Tools to see if there are any updates posted there.
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Cover design by Suzanne Lee
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Contents
Get More (Free) Content
A Caregiver’s Introduction
A Student’s Introduction
Part I: The Basics of Both Tests
1 Learning Vocabulary
2 Fundamental Math Skills for the SSAT & ISEE
3 Answer Key to Fundamental Math Drills
4 Writing the Essay
Part II: The SSAT
5 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the SSAT
6 SSAT Math
7 SSAT Verbal
8 SSAT Reading
9 Answers and Explanations for SSAT Practice Drills
Part III: SSAT Practice Tests
10 Upper Level SSAT Practice Test
11 Middle Level SSAT Practice Test
12 Answer Key to SSAT Practice Tests
Part IV: The ISEE
13 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the ISEE

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full title of the book
ISBN
page number
Need to report a technical issue?
Contact TPRStudentTech@review.com and provide:
your full name
email address used to register the book
full book title and ISBN
Operating system (Mac/PC) and browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari,
etc.)
Once you’ve registered, you can…
Get our take on any recent or pending updates to the SSAT or
ISEE
Download a full-length SSAT Elementary Level test and take
online versions of the SSAT and ISEE tests found in this book.
Access a student study guide that will help you outline a plan to
get through each chapter in this book.
Get complete explanations for the in-book SSAT and ISEE
Practice Tests

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HOW CAN I HELP?
Congratulations! Your child is considering attending a private school, and by
virtue of the fact that you hold this book in your hands, you have recognized
that either the SSAT or the ISEE is an important part of the admissions
process. Providing your child with the information contained in this book is
an excellent first step toward a strong performance on the SSAT or the ISEE.
As a caregiver, however, you know well the fine line between support and
intrusion. To guide you in your efforts to help your child, we’d like to offer a
few suggestions.
Have a Healthy Perspective
Both the SSAT and the ISEE are standardized tests designed to say
something about an individual student’s chances for success in a private
school. Neither is an intelligence test; neither claims to be.
Set realistic expectations for your child. The skills necessary for a strong
performance on these tests are often very different from those a student uses
in school. The additional stress that comes from being expected to do well
generally serves only to distract a student from taking a test efficiently.
At the same time, beware of dismissing disappointing results with a simple,
“My child doesn’t test well.” While it is undoubtedly true that some students
test better than others, this explanation does little to encourage a student to
invest time and effort into overcoming obstacles and improving performance.
Be Informed
The SSAT and the ISEE are neither achievement
tests nor intelligence tests. To score well, your child
needs to understand what is tested and how it is
tested.
Know How to Interpret Performance

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Each level of the SSAT and ISEE covers a range of grade levels. It is
impossible to interpret scores without considering the grade level of the
student. Percentile rankings have much more value than do either raw or
scaled scores, and percentiles are the numbers schools use to compare
students.
Remember That This Is Not an English or a Math Test
There are both verbal and math questions on the SSAT and on the ISEE.
However, these questions are often based on skills and concepts that are
different from those used on a day-to-day basis in school. For instance, very
few English teachers—at any level—spend a lot of time teaching students
how to approach analogy or sentence completion questions.
This may be frustrating for caregivers, students, and teachers. But in the final
judgment, our educational system would take a turn for the worse if it
attempted to teach students to do well on the SSAT, the ISEE, or even the
SAT. The fact that the valuable skills students learn in school don’t directly
improve test scores is evidence of a flaw in the testing system, not an
indictment of our schools or those who have devoted their professional
careers to education.
Realize That All Tests Are Different
Many of the general rules that students are accustomed to applying to tests in
school do not apply to either the SSAT or the ISEE. Many students, for
instance, actually hurt their scores by trying to work on every question.
Although these tests are timed, accuracy is much more important than speed.
Once your child learns the format and structure of these tests, it will be easier
for your child to apply underlying knowledge to the test and answer more
questions correctly.
Provide All the Resources You Can
This book has been written to provide your child with a very thorough review
of all the math, vocabulary, reading, and writing skills that are necessary for

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success on the SSAT and ISEE. We have also included practice drills for
each chapter and practice tests that simulate actual SSAT or ISEE
examinations. For a more realistic testing experience, register this book to
access the tests in an online format.
The very best practice test questions, however, are naturally the ones written
by the organizations who write the real test questions—the Enrollment
Management Association (EMA) for the SSAT and the Educational
Resources Bureau (ERB) for the ISEE. We encourage you to contact both
organizations (websites, email addresses and phone numbers can be found on
this page) to obtain any resources containing test questions that you can use
for additional practice.
In addition, both the SSAT and the ISEE change with time in very subtle
ways. Thus, we suggest supplementing the information in this book with
ERB’s What to Expect on the ISEE, which you can find at isee.erblearn.org,
and EMA’s The Official Study Guide for the SSAT, which you can order at
ssat.org/prepare/practice.
Make sure the materials you choose are, to the greatest extent possible,
reflective of the test your child will take and not a test that was given years
earlier. Also, try to avoid the inevitable confusion that comes from asking a
student to follow two different sets of advice. Presumably, you have decided
(or are about to decide) to trust The Princeton Review to prepare your child
for this test. In doing so, you have made a wise decision. As we have said, we
encourage you to provide any and all sources of additional practice material
(as long as it is accurate and reflective of the current test), but providing other
test preparation advice tends to muddy the waters and confuse students.
Be Patient and Be Involved
Preparing for the SSAT or the ISEE is like learning how to ride a bicycle.
You will watch your child struggle, at first, to develop a level of familiarity
and comfort with the test’s format and content.

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Developing the math, vocabulary, reading, and writing skills that your child
will use on the SSAT or the ISEE is a long-term process. In addition to
making certain that your child is committed to spending the time necessary to
work through the chapters of this book, you should also be on the lookout for
other opportunities to be supportive. One way to do this is to make
vocabulary development into a group activity. In the vocabulary chapter, we
provide an extensive list of vocabulary words; you can work on them
together by creating flashcards at the breakfast table or during car trips. You
may even pick up a new word or two yourself!
Important: If your child is in a lower grade, you may want to offer extra
guidance as your child works through this book and prepares for the test.
Because this book covers preparation for the full range of grade levels taking
the tests (first through eleventh grades), some of the content review will be
beyond the areas that your child is expected to know. It is an excellent idea to
work through the book along with younger children, so that they don’t
become intimidated by these higher-level questions that should be skipped.
Check out your Student Tools to see the suggested study schedule.
A SHORT WORD ON ADMISSIONS
The most important insight into private school admissions that we can offer is
that a student’s score on the SSAT or the ISEE is only one of many
components involved in admission decisions. While many schools will
request SSAT or ISEE scores, all will look seriously at your child’s academic
record. Think about it: which says more about a student—a single test or
years of solid academic performance?
In terms of testing, which is the focus of this book, some schools will specify
which test they want applicants to take—the SSAT or the ISEE. Others will
allow you to use scores from either test. If you are faced with a decision of
whether to focus on the SSAT, the ISEE, or both, we encourage you to be an
informed consumer. This book contains practice tests for the ISEE and the
SSAT, and your child should attempt both. Then, based on the requirements

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of your desired school and the results of the practice tests, you can decide
which test best suits your child. Students may register to take the ISEE up to
three times in a 12-month admission cycle, once in any or all of three testing
seasons. The seasons are Fall (August–November), Winter (December–
March), and Spring/Summer (April–July). ISEE does not encourage multiple
testing, but does offer students and families that option. The Middle and
Upper Level SSAT may be taken up to eleven times during the testing year
(which EMA defines as August 1st– July 31st)—three computer based
administrations (either online at-home or at a Prometric Test Center), six
paper-based Standard administrations, and one paper-based Flex
administration in each of the two Flex periods (the first period is typically
from August to mid-November and the second is typically from late-
November to the end of July). The Elementary Level SSAT is only offered as
a paper-based test and may be taken up to two times—two Standard
administrations or one Standard administration and one Flex test.
Be an Informed Caregiver
For the most accurate information about their
admissions policies, don’t hesitate to call the
schools to which your child may apply.
There are some differences in question types between the two tests. While
both the SSAT and the ISEE test vocabulary, they do so in different ways.
The SSAT, for example, contains a section on analogies, which many
students may not be familiar with, while the ISEE includes a section of
sentence completions. On the other hand, Middle and Upper Level ISEE test-
takers will be faced with a number of quantitative comparison questions in
the Math section, and these can be tricky at first, especially for younger
students. Take these differences into consideration if you have the option to
choose between the two tests.

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What is a Flex Test?
A Flex test is a paper-based SSAT given on a
flexible schedule other than the six typical testing
Saturdays. Learn more at ssat.org/pages/what-is-a-
flex-test
Resources
SSAT
The Enrollment Management Association (EMA)
609-683-4440
www.ssat.org
info@ssat.org
ISEE
Educational Records Bureau (ERB)
800-989-3721
www.erblearn.org
info@erblearn.org
www.iseetest.org
REGISTERING FOR THE SSAT
Before you go any further in preparing for the SSAT, you must complete one
essen-tial step: sign up for the SSAT. The online at-home Middle and Upper
Level tests are offered at least one weekend each month (usually on both
Saturday and Sunday). Additional weekday test dates are also available
during peak testing times. Students also have the option to take the online test
at Prometric Test Centers on a wide variety of dates. Paper-based Standard
administrations are offered six times per testing year, typically in October,
November, December, January, February, and April. In addition, Middle and
Upper Level students can take one paper-based Flex test in each of the two
Flex periods. The Elementary Level is only offered as a paper-based test.

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Check www.ssat.org to determine whether there is a Standard Elementary
administration available in your area on your preferred date or call the school
your child is applying to and ask whether the school is offering a Flex
administration. Additional information on the various testing options can be
found at www.ssat.org/testing/about-the-test#testing-options. Testing dates
and times can fill up; by registering early, your child will avoid the
possibility of having to take the test on an inconvenient date or at an
inconvenient time. You can register online at www.ssat.org.
Plan Ahead
Not only will early registration give you one less
thing to worry about as the test approaches, but it
will also make it easier to get your first-choice test
date and time.
Registration for online testing is available until twenty-four hours prior to the
test (though dates typically fill up far in advance of that deadline so we
strongly recommend that you select a date and time well in advance). The
regular registration deadline for the paper-based Standard test (at domestic
test centers) is the Sunday three weeks before the test date; from that point
until the next Sunday, there is a $50 Late Fee. The deadline for students with
accommodations is the Sunday two weeks before the test date. Students
without accommodations may continue to register after that point for an
additional $90 Rush Fee. Registration for paper-based Standard test dates
closes at 11:59 P.M. the Wednesday before the test date. The cost to test in the
United States and Canada starts at $95 for the Elementary Level Standard or
school-based Flex test and $155 for the Middle and Upper Level paper-based
Standard or school Flex tests, and are higher for testing with an educational
consultant, online at a Prometric center, or online at home. For a full list of
current fees, see www.ssat.org/testing/about-the-test#pricing. Internationally,
the cost is $210 for the Elementary Level test and $299 for the Middle and
Upper Level tests. There are additional fees for optional add-ons such as
score availability alerts or mailed paper score reports (online score report

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access is free). Fees are paid online by Visa, MasterCard, or American
Express. In some cases, you may be able to obtain an SSAT fee waiver.
Fees for the most popular SSAT testing options:
• $95 for Elementary Level Standard or school-
based Flex test
• $135 for a Flex test
• $155 for Middle Level/Upper Level Standard or
school flex
• $235 for SSAT at Home
If you have already registered and want to change your Prometric Test Center
date or location at least 29 days in advance of your original appointment,
there is no fee. If you want to change within 3–28 days of your Prometric
appointment, there’s a change fee of $35. There is no charge to reschedule an
at-home appointment, but it must be done at least three days in advance of
your original appointment.
Students who need special testing accommodations must apply and be
approved for accommodations before registering for a test date. Make sure to
apply for accommodations early; it typically takes at least 3-4 weeks for
applications to be reviewed. Once approved, accommodations will apply to
all of a student’s tests within a testing year (August 1st to July 31st). Find
more information at ssat.org/testing/accommodations/overview.
REGISTERING FOR THE ISEE
Before you go any further in preparing for the ISEE, you must do one
essential thing: sign up for the ISEE. Go to https://iseeonline.erblearn.org/,
and create an online account or call 1 (800) 446-0320 or (919) 956-8524 to
register. The ISEE is offered in an online format at home, Prometric Test
Centers, schools, and testing offices. The ISEE is also offered in a paper
format at schools and testing offices. Phone registration is not available for
at-home or Prometric center testing.

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Students may register to take the ISEE one time in any or all of three testing
seasons. As previously mentioned, ISEE testing seasons are defined as Fall
(August–November), Winter (December–March), and Spring/Summer
(April–July). Students do not have to select schools to receive ISEE scores at
the time of registration; they may add them at no extra charge after a test is
scored. The regular registration deadline for on-site testing at a school or
satellite site is three weeks before the test date. The registration fee varies by
location and modality, and you can pay by Visa, MasterCard, American
Express, or check. There are additional fees for rescheduling and late
registration. Registration closes two weeks before each test date, but some
sites may offer Walk-In Registration. For more details on fees and the
different testing options, visit www.erblearn.org/families/isee-pricing.
Fees for the most popular ISEE testing options:
• $140 for online at-home, online at school, or
paper-based at school testing administered by a
school
• $200 for online at-home testing administered by
ERB
• $200 for online testing at a Prometric Testing
Center
Walk-In Registration
Walk-in registration is available at a limited number of ISEE test site schools.
It is available on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be assured due to
limitations on testing materials and staff. The Walk-In Registration fee is
$180 and must be processed online by Visa or MasterCard only. If you are a
candidate for walk-in registration, you must call the test site school directly to
see if you may be accommodated and receive a Walk-In Registration Code.

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HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
You’ve got a hefty amount of paper and information in your hands. How can
you work through it thoroughly, without spending eight hours on it the
Saturday before the test?
Plan ahead.
Before you start, go to your Student Tools and download the study guide.
We’ve broken down the contents of this book into 12 study sessions and
suggested a timeline for you to follow. Some of these sessions will take
longer than others, depending on your strengths and weaknesses. If any of
them takes more than two hours, take a break and try to finish the session the
following day. You may want to do one, two, or three sessions a week, but
we suggest you give yourself at least a day or two in between to absorb the
information you’ve just learned. The one thing you should be doing every
day is quizzing yourself on vocabulary and making new flashcards.
We also caution against thinking that you can work through this book during
summer vacation, put it aside in September, and be ready to take the test in
December. If you want to start that early, work primarily on vocabulary until
about 10 weeks before the test. Then you can start on techniques, and they’ll
be fresh in your mind on the day of the test. If you’ve finished your
preparation too soon and have nothing to practice on in the weeks before the
test, you’re going to get rusty.
If you know you are significantly weaker in one of the subjects covered by
the test, you should begin with that subject so you can practice it throughout
your preparation.
If You Want to Start Early
If you have more than ten weeks to prepare, start
with vocabulary building and essay writing. These
skills only improve with time.

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At Each Session
At each practice session, make sure you have sharpened pencils, blank index
cards, and a dictionary. If you’ll be testing online, you should also have a
notebook or stack of scratch paper. Each chapter is interactive; to fully
understand the techniques we present, you need to be ready to try them out.
As you read each chapter, practice the techniques and do all the exercises.
Check your answers in the Answer Key as you finish each set of problems,
and try to figure out what types of errors you made so you can correct them.
Review all of the techniques that give you trouble.
Get Your Pencil Moving
You’ll get the most out of this book by trying out
techniques as you read about them.
As you begin each session, review the chapter you completed during the
previous session before moving on to a new chapter.
When You Take a Practice Test
We recommend some specific times to take practice tests in the following
session outlines. Here are some guidelines for taking these tests.
Know whether you will be testing on paper or online, and practice
accordingly. If you’re taking an online SSAT, you’ll be permitted two
pieces of scratch paper and one pencil. If you’re taking an online ISEE,
you’ll be permitted up to four pieces of scratch paper and two pens
and/or two pencils.
Time yourself strictly. Use a timer, watch, or stopwatch that will ring,
and do not allow yourself to go over the allotted time for any section. If
you try to do so on the real test, your scores will probably be canceled.
Take a practice test in one sitting, allowing yourself only the breaks that
you’ll have on test day (see this page for SSAT and this page for ISEE)

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and no more than two minutes between other sections. You need to build
up your endurance for the real test, and you also need an accurate picture
of how you will do.
If you’re taking an online test, register this book to take the included tests
online.
If your online test will be at home, set up your work area the same way
you will on test day. Make sure that you have a quiet, private space and
that the computer you’re using meets your test’s technical requirements.
The only things on your work space other than your computer, mouse,
and keyboard should be a writing instrument and your allotted pieces of
scratch paper (2 for SSAT or 4 for ISEE).
If you’re taking a paper-based test, always practice with an answer sheet
with bubbles to fill in, just as you will do for the real test. For the
practice tests in this book, use the attached answer sheets. You need to be
comfortable transferring answers to the separate sheet because you might
end up skipping around a bit. Thoroughly fill in each bubble you choose,
and make no other marks in the answer area. As you fill in the bubble for
a question, check to be sure you are on the correct number on the answer
sheet. If you fill in the wrong bubble on the answer sheet, it won’t matter
if you’ve worked out the problem correctly in your test booklet. All that
matters to the machine scoring your test is the No. 2 pencil mark.
The EMA and the ERB consider their Score Reports
proprietary information, so we can’t reproduce them
for our practice tests. You can get an idea of how
you did by marking off how many you got right in the
answer key after each test. Keep the learning going!
The Day of the Exam
Wake up refreshed from at least eight hours of sleep the night before.
Eat a good breakfast.

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Plan to arrive at the test center or check in to the online proctoring site
about a half hour before your test is scheduled to begin.
If you’re testing at a school or test center, bring your SSAT admission
ticket or ISEE Verification Letter, four No. 2 pencils with erasers, and,
for the paper ISEE only, two working blue or black pens (erasable pens
are acceptable). Prometric Test Centers will provide a pencil and scratch
paper. The test center may not allow you to take food or beverages into
the room, but you can leave them in the hall, in case you have a chance
to get them during a short break. Do not take a cell phone or any books,
papers, or calculators.
Remind yourself that you do not have to work out every question on the
test to get a good score. Don’t let yourself become rushed. Pace yourself.
If you’re not testing at home, take a sweater! You
never know how cold the room might be.
GENERAL TEST-TAKING TECHNIQUES FOR
THE SSAT & ISEE
Pacing
Most people believe that to do well on a test, it is important to answer every
question. While this is true of most of the tests you take in school, it is not
true of many standardized tests, including the SSAT and ISEE. On these
tests, it is very possible to score well without attempting all of the questions;
in fact, many students can improve their scores by answering fewer
questions.
“Wait a second. I can get a better score by attempting fewer questions?” Yes.
On the Middle and Upper Level SSAT, you are penalized only for the
questions you answer incorrectly, not for the questions you skip. Because all
of the questions are worth the same number of points, it’s better to answer an

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easier question you understand and are likely to get right than waste time
with one you don’t. So for the most part, you’ll give your attention to
problems you think you can answer, and decide which questions are too
thorny to waste time on. This test-taking approach is just as important to
score improvement as your knowledge of vocabulary and math rules!
On the ISEE, it is best to answer all questions
because there is no guessing penalty.
In general, all math and verbal questions on the SSAT and ISEE gradually
increase in difficulty from first to last. (The one exception is the Reading
section, where question difficulty is mixed.) This means that for most
students, the longest and most complicated problems are at the end of each
section. For this reason, all students should focus the majority of their
attention on the questions they know they can answer. Why rush through
these and make careless errors, when you could spend time and get all of
them right? Attempt the ones you find more challenging last—if you have
time.
The reason that this approach to pacing can actually increase scores on the
Middle and Upper Level SSAT is that skipped questions gain you zero
points, whereas each incorrect answer reduces your raw score by a quarter-
point. Because your raw score will decrease only if you answer a question
incorrectly, skipping is the best strategy for a problem that has you
completely stumped. Ideally, you will either get a question right or skip it
(with some exceptions when you can guess intelligently and aggressively).
Skipping will be a major tool for the questions you find most troublesome.
Guessing will be part of the whole test, so let’s look at how guessing and

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skipping work together. Again, ISEE and Elementary SSAT students should
select an answer for every question since wrong answers and blanks are
treated the same on those tests.
Points are not deducted for wrong answers on the
SSAT Elementary Level test. Thus, do not leave any
answers blank. Even so, pace yourself wisely to
increase your accuracy on questions you know or
think you know the answers to. This is also true for
all levels of the ISEE.
Guessing on the Middle and Upper Level SSAT
When should you guess? Whenever you can eliminate even one wrong
answer with certainty. Yes, really. We’ll get to why in a minute. Eliminate
the wrong answers and you’ll have the right answer by Process of
Elimination (we’ll explain more about this later). So eliminate the answers
that are clearly wrong and guess! Be aggressive.
Over the course of the whole test, this strategy will increase your score.
How? Well, let’s look again at how SSAT questions are scored: right answers
are rewarded and wrong answers are penalized.
Correct answers: +1 point
Wrong answers: – point
Blank answers: 0 points
Suppose we asked you to place a bet on five attempts to draw a yellow
marble from a bag. The bag contains four black marbles and one yellow

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marble, and you have to put the drawn marble back after each attempt.
There’s only one chance in five that you’ll draw the yellow marble, but if you
do, you get a dollar. There’s a four in five chance of a black marble; when
you draw black, you pay us 25¢. Would you do it? Maybe yes, maybe no. If
you drew yellow once and black four times, you’d get a dollar and then pay
25¢ four times, ending up with nothing. You wouldn’t lose money, but you
wouldn’t win any, either. Similarly, there are five choices on every SSAT
question, but only one right answer. So if you just guess randomly without
eliminating anything first, you will be right about one time and wrong about
four times for every five questions you do. That means that the one time you
were right, you would get one full raw point (yay!), but you would lose a
quarter-point four times (boo!). All of this would bring you right back to
where you started.
1 – 4( ) = 0
So random guessing will pretty much keep your score flat. Here is where our
guessing strategy comes in. What if, instead of a one-in-five chance of
drawing yellow, the odds were one in four? This time, if four attempts
usually resulted in drawing one yellow ($1 for you) and three blacks (pay out
75¢), you’d make a little money and come out on top. On an SSAT question,
if you can eliminate one choice out of the five, you’re in the same situation.
You now have only four possible answers, and you will be right about once
for every three times you are wrong. Now the penalty for wrong answers will
have less impact. If you narrow it down to three choices, you’ll get about one
right for every two times you’re wrong. Good odds? You bet. That’s like
making a dollar and losing 50¢. If you can do this throughout the test, you
will gradually increase your score. That’s why it pays to spend time
eliminating the wrong answers and then guessing aggressively.
1 – 3( ) =

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Scholastic Assessment Test

Princeton Review SSAT and ISEE Prep, 2023: 6 Practice Tests + Review and Techniques (2023)

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