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ISEE Reading Comprehension practice test: free, timed, by level

You can take a free ISEE Reading Comprehension practice test right here, for the Lower, Middle or Upper Level. Each set has three original, line-numbered passages timed at the real section pace, with all six ISEE question types. Check your answers to see your score by question type, your pace and why each answer is right.

We wrote all 9 passages and 49 questions ourselves. For official practice, E3n, the organization that makes the ISEE, offers free online sample tests and What to Expect on the ISEE guides at admission.org. Section facts on this page come from E3n and were checked November 13, 2026.

Timed ISEE Reading Comprehension practice test

Each level's set follows the real section: passages with line numbers in the margin, each followed by its own questions, four answer choices per question, and the six question types E3n uses. The clock gives you the real time per question, reading included. On a wide screen the passage stays beside its questions; on a phone it sits above them, and every explanation quotes the lines that prove the answer.

ISEE Reading Comprehension practice test: Middle Level, 3 passages, 18 questions, 17:30

Pick the level for the grade you're applying to. Start the clock for the real pace (58 seconds a question, reading time included), answer every question, then check your answers. You can change an answer until you check, as you can within a section on the real ISEE.

17:30 left of 17:30

Time allowed at the real pace: 17:30. Answers and explanations are under each question; the answer key is on the last page.

Directions: Read each passage and answer the questions that follow it. Choose the best answer based on what is stated or implied in the passage.

Passage 1: literary (fiction) · questions 1–6

The radio had been sitting on Mrs. Lindqvist's workbench
for three weeks, its back panel off and its insides spread
out like the pieces of a puzzle no one had finished. Ellie
walked past it every afternoon on her way to feed the
neighbor's cat, and every afternoon she slowed down to
look.
"It was my husband's," Mrs. Lindqvist said one day,
catching her staring. "He could fix anything with a wire
in it. I can't even find the screws."
Ellie had never repaired anything more complicated than a
bicycle chain. But she found a repair guide at the
library, and the next Saturday she arrived with a notebook
and a borrowed soldering iron. For two hours she did
nothing but sort: screws into an egg carton, wires into
labeled envelopes. Mrs. Lindqvist watched from the doorway
with her arms folded, saying nothing.
The first test was a disaster. When Ellie plugged the
radio in, it gave a single angry pop, and a thin thread of
smoke curled up from the back. She yanked the cord out of
the wall, her face burning. She was sure she had ruined
the one thing Mrs. Lindqvist had left of him.
Instead of scolding her, Mrs. Lindqvist laughed, a short,
surprised sound. "That is exactly what happened the first
time he tried," she said. "He used to say every machine
has to complain before it agrees to work."
It took two more Saturdays. Ellie traced every wire
against the diagram and replaced a cracked part that cost
three dollars. When she finally turned the dial, there was
a hiss of static, and then, faint but clear, a man's voice
reading the weather.
Mrs. Lindqvist did not speak for a long moment. Then she
pulled up a second chair and sat down beside the
workbench. "Leave it on," she said quietly. "He always
liked to know if it was going to rain."
1. Which best states the main idea of the passage?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. By patiently repairing a treasured radio, Ellie gives her neighbor back a link to her late husband.. Main idea. Lines 7–9 establish that the radio was her husband's, Ellie works on it over several Saturdays (lines 10–16 and 26–28), and lines 31–34 show what hearing it again means to Mrs. Lindqvist. She doesn't teach Ellie (C); she only watches (lines 15–16) and can't even find the screws (line 9). Nothing mentions pay (D), and A is too general to be the main idea.

Proof, lines 31–34: "He always liked to know if it was going to rain"

2. What did Ellie spend her first Saturday doing?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. sorting the screws and wires. Supporting ideas. Lines 13–15 say that for two hours she did nothing but sort: screws into an egg carton, wires into labeled envelopes. The first test comes in the next paragraph (line 17), and the cracked part is replaced two Saturdays later (lines 26–28).

Proof, lines 13–15: "For two hours she did nothing but sort"

3. Why does Mrs. Lindqvist most likely laugh in lines 22–23?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. Ellie's mistake reminds her of her husband's first attempt.. Inference. Right after laughing, she says, "That is exactly what happened the first time he tried" (lines 23–24). The pop and smoke remind her of her husband, so she laughs instead of scolding. The radio isn't fixed yet (that takes two more Saturdays, line 26), and her husband's saying encourages Ellie to keep going rather than stop.

Proof, lines 22–25: ""That is exactly what happened the first time he tried,""

4. As it is used in line 22, "scolding" most nearly means
Show answer and explanation

Answer: D. criticizing. Vocabulary in context. Ellie expected trouble: her face was burning and she was sure she had ruined the radio (lines 20–21). "Instead of scolding her" in line 22 means Mrs. Lindqvist didn't do what Ellie feared, which was to criticize her angrily. Praising is close to the opposite, and Mrs. Lindqvist doesn't ignore her: she laughs and talks to her.

Proof, lines 20–22: "Instead of scolding her"

5. The husband's saying that "every machine has to complain before it agrees to work" (lines 24–25) suggests that
Show answer and explanation

Answer: D. setbacks are a normal part of fixing something. Tone, style and figurative language. The saying in lines 24–25 gives a machine human feelings (personification): it "complains" before it "agrees." The complaint is a problem like the pop and smoke in lines 18–19, and the agreement is the machine finally working. So problems along the way are normal. Mrs. Lindqvist says it to encourage Ellie, not to make her quit, and the radio does work in lines 28–30.

Proof, lines 24–25: "every machine has to complain before it agrees to work"

6. Which words best describe the mood of the final paragraph (lines 31–34)?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. quiet and tender. Tone, style and figurative language. In lines 31–34, Mrs. Lindqvist is silent for a long moment, pulls up a chair beside the radio and speaks quietly about her husband. That mood is quiet and tender. Nobody celebrates loudly, nothing is tense, and asking Ellie to leave it on shows she's grateful, not bitter.

Proof, lines 31–34: "she said quietly"

Passage 2: science · questions 7–12

Under a microscope, a tardigrade looks like a tiny, chubby
bear with eight stubby legs, each ending in claws. That
resemblance gave the animal its nickname, the water bear.
Most tardigrades are less than a millimeter long, yet they
are among the toughest animals scientists have ever
studied.
Tardigrades live almost everywhere: in ocean mud, on
mountaintops, in hot springs, and in the damp moss that
grows on roofs and sidewalks. What makes them remarkable
is not where they live but what they can survive. When
their surroundings dry out, many tardigrades pull in their
heads and legs and curl into a dry, shriveled ball called
a tun. In this state the animal loses almost all of its
water, and its activity slows so much that it is nearly
impossible to detect.
A tun can wait out conditions that would kill most living
things. In laboratory tests, tardigrades in this state
have survived extreme cold, extreme heat, and doses of
radiation far stronger than a person could withstand. In
2007, researchers even sent tuns into orbit on the outside
of a spacecraft. After they returned to Earth and were
given water, some of them revived and later produced
young.
Scientists are still working out exactly how tardigrades
do it. One clue involves special proteins. As a tardigrade
dries out, some of these proteins appear to form a glassy
material that holds the parts of each cell in place, much
as packing material protects a fragile object in a box.
Other proteins seem to shield the animal's DNA from
damage.
These discoveries matter beyond the world of water bears.
Many medicines and vaccines must be kept cold, which makes
them hard to deliver to places without reliable
refrigeration. If researchers can learn to copy the
tardigrade's tricks, they might one day be able to store
such medicines dry and at room temperature.
7. The passage is mainly about
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. how tardigrades survive harsh conditions and why scientists want to understand it. Main idea. Lines 9–10 say what makes tardigrades remarkable "is not where they live but what they can survive," which rules out B. The rest of the passage explains the tun state, what tuns survive, how proteins may help (lines 24–30) and why that matters (lines 31–36). Space and vaccines are single examples within that.

Proof, lines 9–10: "What makes them remarkable is not where they live but what they can survive"

8. According to the passage, what does a tardigrade do when its surroundings dry out?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. It curls into a dried-up ball called a tun.. Supporting ideas. Lines 10–13 say that when their surroundings dry out, many tardigrades pull in their heads and legs and curl into a dry, shriveled ball called a tun. Mud and moss are places tardigrades live (lines 7–9), not things they do when it gets dry.

Proof, lines 10–13: "curl into a dry, shriveled ball called a tun"

9. According to the passage, what happened to some of the tardigrades sent into orbit in 2007?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: D. They became active again after being given water and later produced young.. Supporting ideas. Lines 21–23 say that after they returned to Earth and were given water, "some of them revived and later produced young." Nothing says they grew or stayed tuns, and lines 17–19 say tuns survive radiation far stronger than a person could withstand.

Proof, lines 19–23: "some of them revived and later produced young"

10. Which statement is best supported by the last paragraph (lines 31–36)?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. Medicines that could be stored at room temperature would be easier to get to places without reliable refrigeration.. Inference. Lines 32–34 say medicines that must be kept cold are hard to deliver to places without reliable refrigeration, so medicines that could be stored at room temperature (lines 35–36) would be easier to deliver. "Might one day" shows this hasn't happened yet, which rules out A, and the passage says scientists are still working on it (line 24).

Proof, lines 31–36: "might one day be able to store such medicines dry and at room temperature"

11. As it is used in line 22, "revived" most nearly means
Show answer and explanation

Answer: D. became active again. Vocabulary in context. In the tun state, a tardigrade's activity slows so much it is nearly impossible to detect (lines 13–15). After being given water, some "revived and later produced young" (lines 21–23), so revived means became active, or came back to life. Dried out again is the opposite.

Proof, lines 21–23: "given water, some of them revived"

12. Which best describes how the passage is organized?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. It describes an animal, explains how it survives harsh conditions, and then explains why that research matters.. Organization and logic. Lines 1–6 describe the tardigrade, lines 7–30 explain the tun and how it may protect the animal, and line 31 turns to why it matters: "These discoveries matter beyond the world of water bears." No single scientist is followed, the bear comparison is only the nickname (lines 1–3), and nothing argues for protection.

Proof, line 31: "These discoveries matter beyond the world of water bears"

Passage 3: social studies and history · questions 13–18

In the early 1800s, moving goods across the young United
States was slow and expensive. Farmers west of the
Appalachian Mountains could grow plenty of wheat, but
hauling it to eastern cities by wagon over rough roads
often cost more than the wheat was worth. New York's
governor, DeWitt Clinton, believed the answer was water.
He proposed a canal that would connect the Hudson River at
Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo, a distance of about 363
miles.
Many people thought the idea was foolish. The longest
canal in the country at the time ran less than thirty
miles. Critics mocked the project as "Clinton's Ditch,"
and President Thomas Jefferson reportedly called it
"little short of madness." Few engineers in America had
ever built anything like it.
Work began in 1817. Crews of laborers cleared forests and
dug through clay and rock, mostly with hand tools and the
help of horses. Because the land rises between the Hudson
River and Lake Erie, the canal also needed locks, chambers
that raise or lower boats from one water level to the
next. Dozens of them were built along the route.
The canal opened in 1825, and its effects came quickly.
The cost of shipping a ton of goods between Buffalo and
New York City fell by roughly 90 percent, and the trip
took days instead of weeks. Wheat, lumber, and other
products flowed east, while settlers and manufactured
goods flowed west. Towns along the route, such as Syracuse
and Rochester, grew into busy cities.
The biggest winner was New York City. With a water route
that reached deep into the interior of the continent, its
harbor became the busiest in the nation, and the city grew
into the country's leading center of trade. The project
that critics had called a ditch had changed the shape of
American business.
13. Which best states the main idea of the passage?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. A canal that many people mocked ended up transforming trade in the United States.. Main idea. The passage moves from doubt (lines 10–15) to results (lines 22–34), and the last sentence sums it up: "The project that critics had called a ditch had changed the shape of American business" (lines 32–34). The locks (A) are one detail, Clinton isn't ranked against other governors (C), and lines 4–5 say wagons cost too much (D).

Proof, lines 32–34: "The project that critics had called a ditch had changed the shape of American business"

14. According to the passage, why did the canal need locks?
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. The land rises between the Hudson River and Lake Erie.. Supporting ideas. Lines 18–21 say that because the land rises between the Hudson River and Lake Erie, the canal needed locks to raise or lower boats from one water level to the next. The Appalachians are mentioned only as where farmers lived (lines 2–3), and nothing says locks were for unloading or slowing boats.

Proof, lines 18–21: "Because the land rises between the Hudson River and Lake Erie"

15. Critics called the project "Clinton's Ditch" (line 12) most likely because they
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. thought it was a foolish plan that would amount to little more than a ditch. Inference. Line 10 says many people thought the idea was foolish, and line 12 says critics "mocked" the project. Calling a 363-mile canal a ditch makes it sound small and pointless, and attaching Clinton's name blames him for it. Critics who mocked it didn't admire it, and the depth of the canal is never discussed.

Proof, lines 10–12: "Many people thought the idea was foolish"

16. It can be inferred from lines 2–5 that, before the canal was built, many western farmers
Show answer and explanation

Answer: D. had trouble making money by selling their wheat in eastern cities. Inference. Lines 2–5 say hauling wheat east by wagon often cost more than the wheat was worth. A farmer who spends more on shipping than the crop brings in loses money, so selling in eastern cities was hard to do at a profit. Line 3 says farmers grew "plenty of wheat," which rules out A, and the water route didn't exist yet.

Proof, lines 2–5: "often cost more than the wheat was worth"

17. As it is used in line 12, "mocked" most nearly means
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. made fun of. Vocabulary in context. Line 10 says people thought the idea was foolish, and line 14 quotes Jefferson calling it "little short of madness." Giving the canal an insulting nickname is making fun of it. Supported is nearly the opposite, and measured and copied don't fit critics.

Proof, lines 10–14: "Critics mocked the project"

18. The last sentence of the passage (lines 32–34) mainly serves to
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. contrast what critics expected with what the canal actually achieved. Organization and logic. Lines 32–34 bring back the critics' insult from line 12 ("a ditch") and set it against the result: it "had changed the shape of American business." That contrasts the early doubts with what the canal achieved. It adds no new problem, and the building and the route were covered earlier (lines 7–9 and 16–21).

Proof, lines 32–34: "that critics had called a ditch"

0 of 18 answered. Blanks score zero, so guess on any you skip.

Answer key: Middle Level

1. B 2. A 3. C 4. D 5. D 6. C 7. A 8. C 9. D 10. B 11. D 12. C 13. B 14. A 15. C 16. D 17. B 18. A

Original passages and questions by Test Ninjas, test-ninjas.com/isee-reading-comprehension-practice-test

Last verified against E3n's ISEE pages on admission.org, the ISEE Quick Facts Guide 2026-27 and the What to Expect on the ISEE guides for the Lower, Middle and Upper Level: November 13, 2026. All passages and questions are original and written by Test Ninjas.

Keep practicing ISEE reading A free Test Ninjas account gives you more ISEE practice by level, including full-length tests, with an explanation for every answer.
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How does ISEE Reading Comprehension work at each level?

ISEE Reading Comprehension is 25 questions in 25 minutes at the Lower Level and 36 questions in 35 minutes at the Middle and Upper Levels (ISEE Quick Facts 2026-27). The Lower Level has five passages with five questions each; the Middle and Upper Levels have six passages with six questions each.

Sources: admission.org, About the ISEE and the Quick Facts Guide 2026-27 for questions and time; E3n's What to Expect on the ISEE guides for the Lower, Middle and Upper Level for passages and unscored items. Checked November 13, 2026.
LevelPassagesQuestionsTimePer passage
Lower Level (applying to grades 5–6)5 passages × 5 questions25 (20 scored, 5 unscored)25 min5 minutes
Middle Level (applying to grades 7–8)6 passages × 6 questions36 (30 scored, 6 unscored)35 min5 minutes 50 seconds
Upper Level (applying to grades 9–12)6 passages × 6 questions36 (30 scored, 6 unscored)35 min5 minutes 50 seconds

The level is set by the grade the student is applying to, not the grade they are in now (admission.org): Lower Level for applicants to grades 5 and 6, Middle Level for grades 7 and 8, and Upper Level for grades 9 through 12. A current fourth grader applying to fifth grade takes the Lower Level. If you aren't sure, see ISEE test levels explained.

Reading Comprehension is the third section, after Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and a short break, and before Mathematics Achievement and the essay. The What to Expect guides say a few questions in each section are tryouts for future tests and don't count: 5 of the 25 at the Lower Level and 6 of the 36 at the Middle and Upper Levels. They look like every other question, so treat each one as if it counts.

What changes by level is the reading, not the format. E3n says each passage is written for the test and is age- and length-appropriate, on subjects such as history, science, literature, the arts and contemporary life. So Lower Level passages are shorter and plainer, and Middle and Upper Level passages are longer, with harder vocabulary. At the Middle and Upper Levels, the guides also add the features of different genres (narrative, informational and instructional writing) to the organization questions. Our Upper set leans toward nonfiction, with two nonfiction passages and one story.

Our practice sets are about half a section, timed at the same pace:

Clock = questions × the real seconds per question (1 minute at the Lower Level, about 58 seconds at the Middle and Upper Levels). The Lower set has 5, 4 and 4 questions on its passages; Middle and Upper have 6 per passage, as on the real test.
LevelIn this testQuestionsClock
Lower Level3 passages (literary, science, social studies)1313:00
Middle Level3 passages (literary, science, social studies)1817:30
Upper Level3 passages (humanities, science, literary)1817:30

There is no penalty for wrong answers: scores are based only on correct answers, and you can return to skipped questions within the section if time allows (Quick Facts). So never leave a reading question blank. Our ISEE guessing strategy guide explains why a guess always helps.

What are the six ISEE reading question types?

E3n sorts every Reading Comprehension question into six types: main idea, supporting ideas, inference, vocabulary in context, organization and logic, and tone, style and figurative language. Inference has the widest range at every level, and inference, supporting ideas and vocabulary together make up most of the section. The ranges below are from Appendix A of each level's What to Expect guide.

TypeWhat it asksReal section: Lower / Middle / UpperIn our sets
Main ideaWhat the whole passage, or one paragraph, is mostly about; the author's purpose; the best title.3–4 / 3–7 / 3–72 / 3 / 3
Supporting ideasSomething stated directly in the passage ("According to the passage...").3–6 / 5–12 / 5–112 / 4 / 3
InferenceA conclusion the passage supports but doesn't state: why a character acts, what the author would agree with, what is likely next.4–8 / 6–13 / 6–143 / 4 / 5
Vocabulary in contextWhat a word means as it is used in a given line ("most nearly means").4–8 / 5–9 / 5–93 / 3 / 3
Organization and logicHow the passage is built, or why a paragraph, sentence or example is there.2–4 / 3–5 / 3–52 / 2 / 2
Tone, style and figurative languageMood, tone, point of view, and figures of speech such as similes, metaphors and personification.1–3 / 1–4 / 1–41 / 2 / 2

How to handle each one:

  • Main idea. The choice that covers the whole passage. Watch for choices that are true but describe only one paragraph.
  • Supporting ideas. Find the words in the passage. If you can't point to them, it isn't the answer.
  • Inference. The answer must follow from the lines, not just be possible. Extreme or outside-knowledge choices are traps.
  • Vocabulary in context. Cover the word, predict a replacement from the sentence, then match. The most common meaning is often the trap.
  • Organization and logic. Name what each paragraph does (introduces, explains, contrasts, sums up) as you read.
  • Tone, style and figurative language. Pick a tone word that is as strong as the passage: most ISEE passages are measured, not furious or ecstatic.

Each type has its own guide with worked examples: main idea, supporting ideas, inference, vocabulary in context, organization and logic and tone and figurative language.

How to read ISEE passages under time

Budget about 5 minutes per passage at the Lower Level and 5 minutes 50 seconds at the Middle and Upper Levels. Read the whole passage once, quickly, for the main idea, then answer the questions by going back to the lines that prove each answer. E3n's own advice in the What to Expect guides is the same: read the passage first, ask what the main idea is, and use the line numbers to find what you need.

1. Read once, actively, in about two minutes

Don't read the questions first and hunt; on the ISEE, roughly half the questions (main idea, organization, tone, many inferences) depend on the whole passage. Read at a steady pace and, after each paragraph, give it a two- or three-word label in the margin or in your head: "otters: fur not fat," "grooming keeps air," "eat a lot." Those labels are your map and your main idea.

2. Prove every answer with a line

Every right answer on a reading test is supported by specific words in the passage. Before you choose, find them. Questions that give a line number tell you where to look; read a line or two before and after it as well. If you can't point to the words that support a choice, it's probably a trap. That's why every explanation in our sets quotes the lines that prove the answer.

3. Know the four wrong-answer traps

  • True but too narrow. A detail from one paragraph offered as the main idea, as in Lower question 6, where using rocks and sleeping in kelp are real details but not the point.
  • Goes too far. An inference that could be true but isn't supported, or uses extreme words like always, never or only.
  • Wrong part of the passage. Words copied from a different paragraph. Middle question 2 offers the first test of the radio, which happens a paragraph later.
  • Most common meaning. In vocabulary questions, the everyday meaning of the word rather than its meaning in that line, like medicines for remedies in Upper question 11.

4. Keep moving

Watch the clock at each passage, not each question. If a question isn't clear after about 45 seconds, guess, mark it and move on; a fresh passage's easy detail question is worth exactly as much as the hard inference you're stuck on. Leave the last minute to fill in a guess for anything blank. For more on pacing across the whole test, see ISEE time management strategies.

How to use your practice test results

Use the results to decide what to study, not to predict a score. A percent correct is not an ISEE stanine or percentile. The real test converts your number right to a scaled score from 760 to 940, then compares it with students applying to the same grade over the past three years to give a percentile and a stanine (admission.org, ISEE score reports). A half-length set can't do that.

  • Score by type. The results list your two weakest types with a link to each guide. Supporting-idea misses usually mean you answered from memory instead of checking the lines. Inference misses usually mean a choice that went too far. Vocabulary misses often mean you picked the word's everyday meaning.
  • Score by passage. If one passage dragged you down, look at its genre. Many students do well on stories and lose points on science or history, or the other way round. Read more of whichever kind cost you.
  • Pace. If you went over, find where the time went: usually rereading a passage several times or getting stuck on one question. The pace readout shows how far into the real section you'd get at your speed.
  • Missed-question review. For every miss, use Highlight in the passage to see the proof lines, then say in one sentence why your choice was wrong. Naming the trap is what keeps you from falling for it again.
Want a score estimate? Take a full-length practice test, such as the one in E3n's What to Expect guide or our free ISEE practice tests, then enter your raw scores in the ISEE score calculator for a rough scaled score, percentile and stanine.

A 3-week ISEE reading plan

Three weeks of 30 to 40 minutes a day is enough to fix your weakest question types and get comfortable with the pace. Reading skill itself grows slowly, so keep reading every day, including things that aren't test prep. If you have only two weeks, skip days 16 to 18 and 20.

WhenWhat to do
Day 1Take this page's test at your level with the timer on. Write down your score by type and which passage cost you the most time.
Days 2–3Read one passage-length article or story a day (a science or history article from a magazine for your age, or a short story) and write one sentence for the main idea of each paragraph.
Day 4Work on your weakest type from day 1: read our guide for it, then redo your missed questions from this page without looking at the answers.
Days 5–6One timed passage a day from E3n's What to Expect guide or our daily ISEE reading practice. Before checking, write the line numbers that prove each answer.
Day 7Rest, or read something you enjoy for 20 minutes.
Day 8Retake this page's test at your level, timed. Compare your score by type and pace with day 1.
Days 9–11Two passages a day at the real pace (Lower: about 5 minutes each; Middle and Upper: about 6). Mix fiction and nonfiction. Keep a list of vocabulary-in-context words you missed.
Days 12–13Second-weakest type: read its guide and do 10 questions of that type. For each tone or inference miss, write why the answer you chose went too far.
Day 14Rest, or read a longer article and summarize it in three sentences.
Day 15Take the Reading Comprehension section of the practice test in your level's What to Expect guide, timed as the guide instructs.
Days 16–18Review every miss from day 15. Then one passage a day from the next level up on this page, untimed, for harder reading.
Days 19–20Full-length timed practice of the section, or as much of it as you can, answering every question. Practice guessing when a question isn't clear in 45 seconds.
Day 21Light review: reread your notes on the traps you fall for. Before test day, plan to answer every question; blanks score zero.

For a fresh reading question set each day, use our daily ISEE reading practice. For more on the passages themselves, read ISEE reading passage types and ISEE reading comprehension strategies. To practice the vocabulary side of the test, try the ISEE Verbal Reasoning practice test.

Frequently asked questions

On this page. Test Ninjas has a free, timed ISEE Reading Comprehension practice test for the Lower, Middle and Upper Levels, with three original passages per level, results by question type and an explanation for every answer. E3n, which makes the ISEE, also offers a free online sample test for each level and What to Expect on the ISEE guides with a full practice test, both linked from admission.org.

The Lower Level section has 25 questions in 25 minutes: five passages with five questions each. The Middle and Upper Level sections each have 36 questions in 35 minutes: six passages with six questions each. Some questions are unscored tryout items, 5 at the Lower Level and 6 at the Middle and Upper Levels, according to E3n's What to Expect on the ISEE guides. You can't tell which ones they are.

About 5 minutes per passage at the Lower Level (25 minutes for five passages) and just under 6 minutes at the Middle and Upper Levels (35 minutes for six). That time covers reading the passage and answering its questions. A good split is about 2 minutes to read and 3 to 4 to answer.

No. ISEE scores are based only on the number of questions answered correctly, and nothing is taken off for a wrong answer. A blank and a wrong answer both score zero, so answer every question before time is called, even if you have to guess.

You can print this page as one. Choose a level and use Print this level. The printout leaves out the site header, the timer and the buttons, keeps the line-numbered passages next to their questions, folds each answer and explanation under its question, and puts an answer key on the last page. E3n's What to Expect on the ISEE guides, free PDFs on admission.org, also include a paper practice test for each level.

E3n says Reading Comprehension passages are written for the test and cover subjects such as history, science, literature, the arts and contemporary life. Expect a mix of fiction and nonfiction: stories, articles about science and nature, and history or social studies pieces. Every passage has line numbers in the margin because some questions point to specific lines.

Verbal Reasoning tests vocabulary with synonyms and sentence completions and has no passages. Reading Comprehension gives you passages and asks six kinds of questions about them: main idea, supporting ideas, inference, vocabulary in context, organization and logic, and tone, style and figurative language. Reading Comprehension is the third section of the test, after a short break.

No. Test Ninjas wrote every passage, question and explanation on this page to match the format, question types and difficulty of each level's Reading Comprehension section. None is copied or adapted from an official ISEE. Official questions come from E3n's free sample tests and its What to Expect on the ISEE guides.

Official sources

Related ISEE guides

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