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SSAT and ISEE For Dummies
Vince Kotchian (Author), Curt Simmons (Author)
9781118115558, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 23 March 2012
512 pages
27.4 x 20.8 x 3.3 cm, 0.885 kg
Your ticket to the private school of your choice The Secondary School Aptitude Test (SSAT) and Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE) are the two most common standardized aptitude tests used in American private secondary schools. If you're a parent or student looking to apply for admissions at a private, military, or boarding school, SSAT & ISEE For Dummies is your family's ticket to success. Here, you'll get all the prep needed to score higher on the SSAT and ISEE exams, the most up-to-date information on the tests, hundreds of practice questions, thorough test-specific math and verbal workouts, six full-length practice tests (all with detailed answer explanations), and solid test-taking advice. SSAT & ISEE For Dummies provides students with the resources they need for test day preparation and gives parents sound, expert advice on selecting, applying, and paying for private school.
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 How This Book Is Organized 3 Part I: Paving the Way to Private School: Introducing the SSAT and ISEE 3 Part II: Ramping Up for the Verbal, Reading, and Essay Sections 3 Part III: Tackling the Math Sections 3 Part IV: SSAT Practice Exams 3 Part V: ISEE Practice Exams 4 Part VI: The Part of Tens 4 Icons Used in This Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part I: Paving the Way to Private School: Introducing the SSAT and ISEE 5 Chapter 1: Getting to Know the SSAT and ISEE 7 Approaching the SSAT and ISEE 7 Testing your ability 7 Knowing what to expect from test questions 8 Preparing yourself: Practice makes perfect 8 Getting to Know the SSAT 9 Exploring the structure of the SSAT 9 Separating the upper and lower level SSAT 10 Scoring the SSAT 10 How questions are graded 10 What is sent to your school 11 How your school uses the score 11 Registering for the SSAT 12 Knowing what to bring to the SSAT testing center 12 Scoping Out the ISEE 13 Understanding what’s on the ISEE 14 Comparing the upper, middle, and lower level ISEE 14 Upper level ISEE 15 Middle level ISEE 15 Lower level ISEE 15 Scoring the ISEE 16 How questions are graded 16 What is sent to your school 16 How your school uses the score 17 Registering for the ISEE 17 Figuring out what to bring to the ISEE testing center 17 Chapter 2: Picking Up Study Skills and Techniques for Testing Success 19 Clocking Your Time 19 Practice, practice, practice 20 Resist the urge to finish 20 Skip questions 20 Using the Process of Elimination 21 Figuring Out a Guessing Strategy 23 Guessing on the ISEE 23 Guessing on the SSAT 24 Part II: Ramping Up for the Verbal, Reading, and Essay Sections 25 Chapter 3: Defining Your Vocabulary Skills 27 Studying Vocabulary 27 Flipping through flashcards 27 Memorizing mnemonic devices 28 Interpreting words in context 28 Using repetition 29 Breaking Down Vocabulary Words 29 Digging up roots 29 Starting with prefixes 31 Ending with suffixes 32 Vocabulary Practice: Lower Level SSAT and Lower and Middle Level ISEE 33 Vocabulary Practice: Upper Level SSAT and ISEE 36 Chapter 4: Talking Up Verbal Reasoning 41 What Verbal Reasoning Looks Like 41 Making Sense of Analogies 42 Mapping out your strategy for analogies 42 Put the words in a sentence that shows the relationship 43 Plug the answer choices in to your sentence 43 When in doubt, refine the sentence 44 When you don’t know a word (or several), look for clues 45 When you have trouble establishing the relationship, dig deeper 46 Trying your hand at analogy practice questions 46 Getting the Scoop on Synonyms 48 Planning your synonym attack strategy 48 Checking out a few sample synonym questions 49 Filling in Sentence Completion Questions 50 Building a strategy for sentence completion 50 Working through a few sentence completion questions 51 Chapter 5: Practicing Verbal Reasoning 53 Tackling Guided Lower Level SSAT Analogy Questions 53 Practicing Lower Level SSAT Analogy Questions on Your Own 55 Answers to Lower Level SSAT Analogy Questions 57 Tackling Guided Upper Level SSAT Analogy Questions 58 Practicing Upper Level SSAT Analogy Questions on Your Own 60 Answers to Upper Level SSAT Analogy Questions 62 Tackling Guided Lower and Middle Level Synonym Questions 63 Practicing Lower and Middle Level Synonym Questions on Your Own 64 Answers to Lower and Middle Level Synonym Questions 65 Tackling Guided Upper Level Synonym Questions 66 Practicing Upper Level Synonym Questions on Your Own 67 Answers to Upper Level Synonym Questions 68 Tackling Guided Lower and Middle Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions 68 Practicing Lower and Middle Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions on Your Own 70 Answers to Lower and Middle Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions 71 Tackling Guided Upper Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions 72 Practicing Upper Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions on Your Own 73 Answers to Upper Level ISEE Sentence Completion Questions 74 Chapter 6: Comprehending Reading Comprehension 75 Ramping Up on Reading Passages 75 Recognizing the types of reading passages 76 Reading passages on the test 76 Scanning passages instead of reading them 77 Circling key words, phrases, and ideas 77 Creating a mental outline 78 Checking out a sample passage 78 Adopting Strategies for Answering Questions about Passages 79 Getting Familiar with Types of Reading Comprehension Questions 79 Global content questions 80 Specific content questions 81 Word-in-context questions 82 What-is-true questions 83 Elimination questions 84 Inference questions 85 Chapter 7: Practicing Reading Comprehension 87 Tackling Guided Lower and Middle Level Reading Comprehension Questions 87 Practicing Lower and Middle Level Reading Comprehension Questions on Your Own 89 Answers to Lower and Middle Level Reading Comprehension Questions 92 Tackling Guided Upper Level Reading Comprehension Questions 93 Practicing Upper Level Reading Comprehension Questions on Your Own 96 Answers to Upper Level Reading Comprehension Questions 99 Chapter 8: Writing a Winning Essay 101 Exploring Essay Writing and Your Exam 101 What do essay readers want to see? 101 How are essays graded? 102 What Will You Write About? 103 Exploring common topics 103 Figuring out how to approach a topic 104 Organizing Your Essay from Beginning to End 106 Starting with an effective introduction 106 Big idea 106 More specific ideas 106 Thesis statement 107 Developing effective body paragraphs 107 Wrapping up with a well-crafted conclusion 108 Proofing Your Essay 108 Checking for common grammar problems 109 Watching out for sentence trouble 110 Chapter 9: Practicing Writing Essays 111 Upper Level Essay 111 Following the example of sample essays 111 Responding to upper level essay practice prompts 113 Lower Level and Middle Level Essay 113 Following the example of sample essays 114 Responding to lower and middle level essay practice prompts 115 Part III: Tackling the Math Sections 117 Chapter 10: Adding Up Arithmetic 119 Solving Basic Arithmetic Questions 119 Reviewing Arithmetic 120 Rules of zero 120 Order of operations 120 Number lines 121 Negative numbers 122 Fractions 123 Reducing and rewriting fractions 123 Adding and subtracting fractions 124 Multiplying and dividing fractions 124 Comparing fractions 125 Dealing with remainders 125 Decimals 125 Decimal places 125 Adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying decimals 126 Converting fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions 126 Rounding and estimating decimals 127 Percents 127 Factors and multiples 129 Exponents 130 Probability 130 Roots 131 Estimating roots 131 Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing roots 131 Simplifying roots 131 Scientific notation 132 Chapter 11: Practicing Arithmetic 133 Attacking Guided Lower and Middle Level Arithmetic Questions 133 Practicing Lower and Middle Level Arithmetic Questions on Your Own 136 Answers to Lower and Middle Level Arithmetic Questions 138 Tackling Guided Upper Level Arithmetic Questions 139 Practicing Upper Level Arithmetic Questions on Your Own 141 Answers to Upper Level Arithmetic Questions 144 Chapter 12: Acing Algebra 147 Attacking Algebra Questions 147 Battling Basic Algebra 147 Solving equations 148 Knowing the rules of expressions 149 Solving inequalities 150 Determining absolute value 150 Working with Statistics, Percents, and Ratios 151 Exploring mean, median, mode, and range 151 Calculating percentage changes 153 Using ratios and proportions 154 Working with Rules, Patterns, Ordering, and Counting 155 Discovering the purpose of functions 155 Seeing the pattern in sequences 155 Arranging permutations and combinations 156 Permutations 156 Combinations 157 Matching up numbers in matrices 157 Chapter 13: Practicing Algebra 159 Practicing Guided Lower and Middle Level Algebra Questions 160 Attacking Lower and Middle Level Algebra Questions on Your Own 162 Answers to Lower and Middle Level Algebra Questions 164 Practicing Guided Upper Level Algebra Questions 166 Tackling Upper Level Algebra Questions on Your Own 168 Answers to Upper Level Algebra Questions 170 Chapter 14: Jamming with Geometry 173 Gearing Up for Geometry Questions 173 Reviewing Geometry Concepts 174 Lines, angles, and perimeter 174 Triangles 176 Finding the area of a triangle 177 Equilateral triangles 178 Isosceles triangles 178 Right triangles 179 Similar triangles 180 Rectangles, squares, and other polygons 180 Circles 181 Solid geometry 182 Volume 182 Surface area 183 Coordinate geometry 183 Equation of a line 184 Slope of the line 184 Miscellaneous geometry 185 Chapter 15: Practicing Geometry 187 Practicing Guided Lower and Middle Level Geometry Questions 187 Attacking Lower and Middle Level Geometry Questions on Your Own 191 Answers to Lower and Middle Level Geometry Questions 195 Practicing Guided Upper Level Geometry Questions 196 Tackling Upper Level Geometry Questions on Your Own 199 Answers to Upper Level Geometry Questions 203 Chapter 16: Cracking Word Problems and Quantitative Comparisons 205 Checking Out Some Basic Word Problem Strategies 205 Calculating Arithmetic Word Problems 207 Working through Algebra Word Problems 207 Finding the average 207 Discovering the distance, rate, or time 208 Interpreting Graph and Chart Problems 209 Tables 210 Answering Quantitative Comparison Word Problems 211 Part IV: SSAT Practice Exams 213 Chapter 17: SSAT Upper Level Practice Exam 215 Answer Sheet 217 Section 1: Writing Sample 219 Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 220 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 226 Section 4: Verbal 234 Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 240 Chapter 18: Answers to SSAT Upper Level Practice Exam 243 Section 1: Writing Sample 243 Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 244 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 246 Section 4: Verbal 248 Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 251 Answers at a Glance 253 Chapter 19: SSAT Lower Level Practice Exam 1 255 Answer Sheet 257 Section 1: Writing Sample 259 Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 260 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 264 Section 4: Verbal 272 Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 278 Chapter 20: Answers to SSAT Lower Level Practice Exam 1 283 Section 1: Writing Sample 283 Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 284 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 285 Section 4: Verbal 288 Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 291 Answers at a Glance 293 Chapter 21: SSAT Lower Level Practice Exam 2 295 Answer Sheet 297 Section 1: Writing Sample 299 Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 300 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 306 Section 4: Verbal 314 Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 320 Chapter 22: Answers to SSAT Lower Level Practice Exam 2 323 Section 1: Writing Sample 323 Section 2: Quantitative, Part 1 324 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 326 Section 4: Verbal 328 Section 5: Quantitative, Part 2 332 Answers at a Glance 334 Part V: ISEE Practice Exams 337 Chapter 23: ISEE Upper Level Practice Exam 339 Answer Sheet 341 Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 343 Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 347 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 354 Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 361 Section 5: Essay 369 Chapter 24: Answers to ISEE Upper Level Practice Exam 371 Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 371 Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 373 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 377 Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 380 Section 5: Essay 384 Answers at a Glance 385 Chapter 25: ISEE Middle Level Practice Exam 387 Answer Sheet 389 Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 391 Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 395 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 403 Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 410 Section 5: Essay 418 Chapter 26: Answers to ISEE Middle Level Practice Exam 419 Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 419 Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 421 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 424 Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 426 Section 5: Essay 429 Answers at a Glance 429 Chapter 27: ISEE Lower Level Practice Exam 431 Answer Sheet 433 Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 435 Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 438 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 445 Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 450 Section 5: Essay 455 Chapter 28: Answers to ISEE Lower Level Practice Exam 457 Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 457 Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 459 Section 3: Reading Comprehension 462 Section 4: Mathematics Achievement 463 Section 5: Writing Sample 465 Answers at a Glance 466 Part VI: The Part of Tens 469 Chapter 29: Ten Tips for Test Day 471 Get Organized 471 Pack a Snack 471 Catch Plenty of Zzz’s 472 Rise and Shine 472 Eat a Good Breakfast 472 Resist the Urge to Study 473 Review the Test Order 473 Get out the Door on Time 473 Arrive a Bit Early 473 Take a Deep Breath and Dive In 474 Chapter 30: Ten Ways to Calm Your Nerves 475 Check Your Breathing 475 Do Some Pacing 475 Use the Muscle Tension/Relaxation Technique 476 Sing a Song (To Yourself Anyway!) 476 Use Your Pencil as a Pointer 476 Slow Down 476 Skip a Question 477 Stretch Your Neck 477 Move Your Feet 477 Keep Everything in Perspective 477 Index 479
x- and y-axis graphs 209
Subject Areas: Education [JN]
