Award-Winning ISEE Courses & Classes in Seattle, WA

A Seattle ISEE prep course provided by Varsity Tutors can be a boon to any student getting ready to take the test. The ISEE, or Independent School Entrance Examination, is a test used by independent schools to assess the skills of prospective students. A lot might be riding on the test for your student, as it may have a critical impact on how admissions boards view their application. As the course covers a lot of ground, you might be feeling nervous about how your student will tackle this upcoming test. This is where a Seattle ISEE course can help by giving your student not only a review of the content material that the ISEE will test them on but also the test-taking skills they'll need to excel.

A Seattle ISEE class is taught in an online classroom, so you won't have to worry about how you'll fit another commute into your day. Class sections come in 2-week and 4-week formats, with new classes starting on a rolling weekly basis. With the flexibility an online class offers, you'll also be able to choose from a variety of class times. We've done a lot of work to make sure the course can be as accessible to your student as it can, regardless of how busy your schedule might be.

What will my student study in a Seattle ISEE class?

The ISEE takes a few different forms depending on the grade your student is entering. If they're going into the 2nd through 4th grades, they'll take the Primary Level ISEE. At the 5th or 6th grades, they'll take the Lower Level, 7th and 8th grade is covered by the Middle Level, and the Upper Level is used for students entering the 9th grade and above. Let's take a deeper look at each of these tests so you can have an idea of what a Seattle ISEE course will be teaching your student.

At the Primary Level, the ISEE includes Reading and Math sections, which are multiple-choice and cover reading comprehension skills and basic math skills respectively. There's also a Writing section. At no level does the ISEE grade your student on their writing. Instead, any Writing section will be used as a sample of your student's work so that schools can get to know them and see their creative powers. The Primary Level will provide a picture prompt, and students will be asked to respond with a story. There's also an Auditory Comprehension section that's used only on the 2nd grade ISEE, where students will listen to passages and respond.

The Lower Level ISEE establishes the format that is used for all other levels of the test. The test will cover Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Math Achievement, and an Essay. Verbal Reasoning will assess vocabulary at an elementary level and will require students to understand how context affects words. Quantitative Reasoning sections are intended to assess critical thinking using math concepts and will cover basic probability and estimation. Reading Comprehension will ask students to be able to read passages and locate specific information. Math Achievement focuses on math operations, and so here students will be asked to demonstrate their ability to perform operations using basic algebra and geometry concepts. The Essay will provide a prompt geared toward elementary students, and they'll be asked to write on that topic.

At the Middle Level, Verbal Reasoning will include middle and high school-level vocabulary and will ask students to be able to use parts of words, like prefixes, to figure out what words mean. Quantitative Reasoning will require students to use formulas to solve measurement problems, finding the lengths of lines and the areas of quadrilaterals, and other similar problems. Reading Comprehension will require students to understand figurative as well as literal language and be able to infer extra information that isn't stated outright in passages. Math Achievement will cover estimation, ratio, and proportion; prime factorization, area and perimeter, and Venn Diagrams. The Essay will provide a prompt intended to interest middle school students.

For the Upper Level ISEE, Verbal Reasoning will now require an understanding of prefixes, suffixes, and roots, as well as synonyms. Students will have to show a high school vocabulary. Quantitative Reasoning will bring math problem solving to the fore, with questions that will ask students to answer probability, data analysis, and measurement questions that will require them to make inferences about data sets. Reading Comprehension will ask Upper Level students to be able to identify relationships between passages, make inferences, and understand the tone and intent of the writer. Math Achievement will present operations problems that use variables, exponents, mean, median, mode, range, and sets, area and perimeter, and coordinate grids. The Essay will be ungraded as always, but to make a good impression, students should be able to write a mechanically sound, well-organized, eloquent work that will interest readers.

How will a Seattle ISEE class teach my student?

A Seattle ISEE course is taught entirely online in an interactive classroom environment and is led by a highly qualified teacher. Your student will be able to see and speak with their instructor and will participate in group discussions with their peers as they prep for the ISEE. Learning alongside other students at their level has been proven to increase the ability of students to absorb information and retain it in the long term. As your student shares their own strengths with their classmates, they may also be deepening their own understanding of material. By engaging with the perspectives of other students, they can be exposed to new ways of thinking about their coursework that may prove valuable come test day. Of course, we recognize that private instruction can have serious benefits as well, which is why your student will be able to reserve one-on-one time with their instructor for any material they might find difficult. A group course also provides a real value: you'll be getting access to a skilled, expert instructor at group prices.

We know you and your student likely have busy academic, professional, and personal lives. The flexibility in scheduling that an online course allows for is yet another benefit of a Seattle ISEE course. There are many times to choose from. And with new courses available every week, your student can find what they need whether their test is just around the corner or they're looking to get a jump-start on long-term prep.

How do I get my student enrolled?

If you contact Varsity Tutors, we can provide you with more information about what a Seattle ISEE course will cover and course availability, and can get you signed up for prep. It might be important to consider the secondary effects of an ISEE course as well: independent schools are asking your student to take this test because they need to know whether your student will succeed in their program. As the ISEE covers material can be very fundamental to your child's education, investing in a prep course can be seen as investing in their academic future for years to come.