Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment ISEE vs. SSAT

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but I wonder if anyone has experience with either of the above tests. We are considering a certain hard-to-get-into private school for middle school and high school, and they require one of two tests, the ISEE or the SSAT. Unlike a situation in which a person is merely looking for IQ info, the goal having dd take one of these tests would be to score as high as possible so as to increase the odds of admission to the school. It's not stricly a gifted school, but it seems there are quite a number of bright kids (e.g. something like 10% of the graduating high school class were national merit scholars). I really like what I've read about the program so far (except for the cost, of course).

We have a few more years to think about it - three more years before DD would need to take the test - but I find myself trying to plan for the future. DD was a bit of a 2E kid/late bloomer, though now she seems to be making progress (finally ahead of grade level in reading, etc.). We did IQ testing a year and a half ago, and don't really have a current plan to repeat it at the moment since we wouldn't use the score for anything more than information (at the time, the testers had said that her score might go up following completion of vision therapy et al.). The only thing I could use re-testing IQ/achievement info for would be to see if she indeed is achieving commensurate with her abilities (was not the case last time), in time to rectify/work on managing any other LD-type issues prior to the admission testing for middle school. But then there's that hefty price tag (guess it's not much when compared to the cost of a single year of school though - thinking out loud here )

So, if anyone knows whether there are advantages of either the ISEE or SSAT over the other, for a VSL with possible LDs, I'd love to hear about it. I know very little about either one of these tests. Thanks!!

I think the ISEE may be more difficult to score well.

My daughter took the SSAT and my son took the ISEE last year. I�m not extremely knowledgeable about either, but I believe that the SSAT is a more �run of the mill� test and given to a more general population pool while the ISEE is often the exclusive test used by the more selective schools. As such, there is commercial opportunity and many test prep businesses to help get kids �in� these schools. I learned this fact after my son took the test cold.

I didn�t feel the need to purchase even the official ISEE prep for less than $20 at the time we signed him up online. We are used to seeing high numbers on any grade level test he takes and were quite surprised to see average percentiles for the verbal (analogy) portion of the ISEE. Math was high per usual. After we received the results, I did a little research and found a few articles and many advertisements and came to the above conclusion. DS probably redeemed himself for admittance between his ISEE math portion and required essay. He also wrote thoughtful answers for the extensive application and I would assume did well during the interview portion of his evaluation.

A 2E consideration may be that the ISEE doesn�t allow calculators while (I believe) the SSAT does. While I�m thinking about it, I don�t believe the SSAT had an essay portion either.

Thank you delbows, this information is very, very helpful!!!

There are also various web resources to try out. You can google for practice questions. There are some books available at Amazon.


My child has had success using the online web resource at this ISEE Prep website. It contains videos from experts and practice questions as well.

What's a "good" ISEE score? My daughter just took ISEE for applying for 6th grade next year and she got the following results. Are these good or bad?
Verbal: 864, 67%, 6
Reading: 860, 46%, 5
Quantitative: 882, 91%, 8
Math: 881, 86%, 7
Thank you!

Some of the boarding school solicitations sent to my son last year stated that for scholarship consideration, ISEE scores at or above 90% are expected. However, what score is considered good will vary by school. And remember, these are not general population percentiles. Just a guess, but I would think that any student who applies to a school requiring the ISEE falls MINIMALLY in the top half on a regular nationally normed grade level test such as ITBS.
To correct for my post last year; My daughter did not take the SSAT, but rather the fairly common Catholic/private high school entrance exam (don�t remember the acronym).

the scores dont sound bad to me. I heard that the stanines and percentages are lower than normal this year. What percentage of questions did she get correct?