← ISEE® Middle Level

Reading Comprehension: Six Passages, Six Strands

Six passages of about 450 words in 35 minutes, and ERB's six strands as shapes: nested circles for scope, a dotted box for inference, a dial for tone.

26 topics · 101 questions

Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.

How the Reading Section Is Built

  1. How it worksHow do six passages of roughly 450 words each, with six questions apiece, fill 35 minutes of test time?
  2. How it worksWalk me through why reading questions follow the order of the text while every other ISEE section ramps by difficulty.
  3. Worked exampleShow me a 35-minute plan for six passages where reading takes two minutes and six questions take three.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't the first question after a set of six guaranteed to be the easiest one of them?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Reading Comprehension gives six passages of about 470 words, six questions apiece, inside 35 minutes. What does building the section that way buy, and what does it cost?

The Six Strands Behind Every Question

  1. How it worksHow do main idea, supporting ideas, inference, vocabulary, organization and tone carve up 36 reading items?
  2. Worked exampleShow me one short paragraph about migrating geese turned into six questions, one from each ISEE reading strand.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes about how you read when you know inference alone can claim up to 13 of the 36 items?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't every reading question secretly a main-idea question wearing a different costume?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A reading section carries 36 items drawn from six strands. A student expects about 6 items from each strand. Why is that the wrong picture?

Narrative, Expository, Persuasive, Descriptive

  1. How it worksHow do narrative, expository, persuasive and descriptive texts each announce themselves in their first two sentences?
  2. How it worksWalk me through how a persuasive text buries a counterpoint that a narrative one would never contain.
  3. Worked exampleShow me the same facts about a flood written once as narrative, once as expository and once as persuasive.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a text about history is built as a story rather than as an explanation?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage opens: The 1969 flood took the low bridge first, and by dawn the water had reached the second row of houses. What genre does that opening announce?

Arts, Contemporary Life, History and Science Texts

  1. How it worksHow does a science text build every term it needs inside itself before it asks you a single question?
  2. Worked exampleShow me a history text defining the word guild in its second sentence so no background is ever needed.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes about your reading speed when the subject is one you have never studied at all?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 A tardigrade is a microscopic animal, under a millimetre long, 2 that lives in moss and sediment. Under stress it enters a state 3 called cryptobiosis: it expels most of its water, curls into a 4 barrel shape, and its measurable activity falls to near zero. 5 Specimens revived after 76 years in a dried museum sample fed 6 and reproduced within days. A student has never heard of a tardigrade. Can she answer questions on this passage?

Main Idea: Getting the Circle the Right Size

  1. How it worksHow do you draw a text's scope as one circle and test each choice as a circle around it or inside it?
  2. How it worksWalk me through why a main idea has to cover the final paragraph just as much as the opening one.
  3. Worked exampleShow me choices that are too narrow, too broad and exactly right for a paragraph about why bees dance.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't the most detailed, most impressive-sounding choice usually the main idea?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens when two choices are both the right size but only one of them covers the final paragraph?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 A returning honeybee dances on the comb, and the angle of her 2 run against vertical gives the direction of the food relative to 3 the sun. The length of the waggle gives the distance. Bees that 4 follow the dance fly out and check for themselves, and only the 5 ones that agree return and dance in their turn. A hive of 48 6 thousand therefore commits to a site no single bee has decided. Which choice is the main idea?

Main Idea of One Section, Not the Whole Text

  1. How it worksHow does shrinking the scope circle down to one paragraph change which choice counts as too broad?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't a text's overall point the right answer when a question names one paragraph of it?
  3. Worked exampleShow me a paragraph whose own point is narrower than the whole text's, and the choice that confuses the two.
  4. Going furtherWhat changes when a paragraph's main idea is stated nowhere inside it and has to be assembled?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 Rivers carry more than water. A river in flood lifts sand, 2 gravel and whole trees, and drops them where it slows. 3 4 The delta at the mouth is built entirely from that cargo. The 5 7 river deposits enough each year to push its coastline 6 seaward, and farmers there work soil that fell as mountain rock. What is the main idea of the second paragraph, lines 4 to 6?

Supporting Ideas: Finding What Is Actually Stated

  1. How it worksHow do the line numbers printed down the left margin let you land on the exact sentence a question was built from?
  2. Worked exampleShow me finding the stated reason in: Owls hunt at night because their eyes gather light that ours cannot.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a choice that repeats exact words from the text automatically the supporting-idea answer?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 Owls hunt at night because their eyes gather light that ours 2 cannot. A barn owl's retina holds about 7 times the rod cells 3 of a human retina, and its pupil opens wider for its size than 4 any daylight bird's. Hearing does the rest on the darkest nights. According to the passage, why do owls hunt at night?

Support for an Idea That Is Not the Main Idea

  1. How it worksHow do you tell which of several claims a given detail is actually holding up?
  2. How it worksWalk me through drawing a text as a tree where each detail attaches to one branch, not always to the trunk.
  3. Worked exampleShow me a detail about rainfall that props up a side claim about farming rather than the central claim.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't every fact a writer includes evidence for the thesis they are arguing?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 The valley's population fell steadily after 1899. Wages in the 2 mills to the south were higher, and the railway made leaving 3 cheap. Farming had also grown harder: rainfall in the valley 4 dropped by nearly a third across the same period, and the thin 5 upland soil could not hold what little fell. The rainfall detail in lines 3 to 5 is holding up which claim?

Inference: Exactly One Step Beyond the Text

  1. How it worksHow do you draw stated facts as solid boxes and a valid inference as a dotted box touching their edge?
  2. How it worksWalk me through drawing a dotted box that rests on two solid facts rather than balancing on only one.
  3. Worked exampleShow me the one-step inference from: She checked the sky twice, then packed the umbrella she never carried.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't she hates rain a valid inference from someone packing an umbrella after checking the sky?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens when two choices both sit one step out but only one uses facts the writer actually gave?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 She checked the sky twice on the way to the door, then went 2 back for the umbrella she had not carried in 14 months. What is the safe one-step inference?

The Over-Reach: Two Steps Past the Evidence

  1. How it worksHow do words like always, never, all and proves shove a choice two steps out and off the edge?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't a conclusion that is probably true in real life a conclusion the writer has supported?
  3. How it worksHow does an over-reach differ from a choice that simply repeats a stated fact in fresh words?
  4. Worked exampleShow me the over-reach among four conclusions drawn from: Three of the town's five bakeries closed last year.
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage states only this: three of the town's five bakeries closed last year, and the two that remain both raised their prices by 15 percent. Which conclusion over-reaches?

Inference by Comparing and Contrasting

  1. How it worksHow do you build a two-column chart from text that never lines its two subjects up for you?
  2. Worked exampleShow me comparing two explorers when the writer gives three facts about one and only two about the other.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens when two things get compared on a feature that is only ever mentioned for one of them?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 Nansen planned for 29 months of ice and took dogs, a reinforced 2 hull and food for three years. He came home with his whole crew. 3 Franklin's expedition carried a library and a supply of tinned 4 meat, and sailed into the same waters with no plan for a winter 5 spent frozen in. None of his party returned. What do the two explorers have in common, on the evidence given?

Inference: Predicting What Happens Next

  1. How it worksHow does a pattern a writer has already repeated twice become the ground for a prediction?
  2. Worked exampleShow me predicting the next step when a character has ignored two warnings and just received a third.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes when the last sentence reverses the pattern the previous four paragraphs spent their time building?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't the most dramatic outcome the one a prediction question is looking for?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 The ranger had warned him twice about the ridge in wind: once 2 at the gate and once at the 9 kilometre marker, where Ben had 3 laughed and walked on. Now a third warning came over the radio, 4 and the pines below the ridge were bending flat. What most likely happens next?

Inference: Interpreting What a Line Means

  1. How it worksHow does interpreting a line mean restating it in plain words while adding absolutely nothing to it?
  2. Worked exampleShow me interpreting: The town's welcome was as warm as its January, without deciding it means friendly.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't your personal reaction to a line ever the interpretation a reading question rewards?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 We arrived in the first week of 2, and the town's welcome was 2 as warm as its January. Nobody asked our names at the inn, and 3 the shopkeeper counted our change twice without looking up. What does line 2 mean?

Vocabulary: What a Word Most Nearly Means Here

  1. How it worksHow do the sentences around a word rotate a dial through its meanings until only one survives?
  2. Worked exampleShow me what grave most nearly means in: Her expression was grave as she folded the letter away.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the most common dictionary meaning the answer to a most-nearly-means question?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when the tested word is a common verb used in a way you have never once seen?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 Her expression was grave as she folded the letter away and put 2 it in the drawer with the other 9 she had not answered. In line 1, grave most nearly means

Covering the Word and Filling the Gap

  1. How it worksHow does a most-nearly-means item turn into a sentence completion the moment you cover the word?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through covering check in: The dam was built to check the river during spring floods.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes when the sentence around the word is short and gives you almost no constraint at all?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a choice that is a true synonym of the word in general the right answer here?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 The dam was built in 1939 to check the river during the spring 2 floods, and the low fields behind it have stayed dry since. Cover the word check and fill the gap yourself. What belongs there?

Organization: Sequence and Pattern

  1. How it worksHow does an outline build itself paragraph by paragraph as a piece of text scrolls past you?
  2. How it worksWalk me through spotting a problem-then-solution pattern before you have reached the second paragraph.
  3. Worked exampleShow me the outline for a text that opens with a claim, raises an objection, then answers that objection.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a writer abandons a pattern halfway through and starts an entirely new one?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 For 62 years the harbour silted up faster than the town could 2 dredge it, and by the end the largest boats could not come in on 3 a low tide. The council's answer was a pair of stone training 4 walls, built out from each side of the mouth to narrow the flow. What pattern is this, and when could you have spotted it?

Organization: How Paragraphs Relate

  1. How it worksHow do you label a paragraph by its job, example or objection or evidence, instead of by its content?
  2. Worked exampleShow me labelling four paragraphs by job when the third one opens with the words Others disagree.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't summarizing a paragraph the same as saying what that paragraph does for the argument?
Your turneasy1 of 3
In a text of 5 paragraphs, the third opens with the words Others disagree. What job is that paragraph doing?

Organization: Picking the Best Summary

  1. How it worksHow do you build a summary that keeps the trunk and every branch but none of the leaves?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't an opening sentence usually a safe summary of the whole thing that follows it?
  3. Worked exampleShow me three candidate summaries of a paragraph on bee dances, and why the middle one wins.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when the most memorable detail sits in a paragraph a good summary has to drop?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 A returning forager dances on the comb. The angle of her run 2 carries the direction and the length of her waggle the distance. 3 Bees that watch fly out, check the site, and dance on return only 4 if they agree. A hive of 48 thousand settles on a site this way. Which is the best summary?

Identifying the Features of a Genre

  1. How it worksHow do narrative, informational and instructional writing each rely on a different default sentence shape?
  2. How it worksWalk me through the markers of instructional writing: numbered steps, commands, and materials named up front.
  3. Worked exampleShow me three openings about planting a garden written as narrative, informational and instructional text.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't writing in the past tense enough to make a piece of text a narrative?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage begins: You will need 6 seed trays, a bag of compost and a dibber. 1. Fill each tray to within a centimetre of the rim. What genre is this, and what marks it?

Tone and Mood: the Dial Word Choice Turns

  1. How it worksHow does swapping crowded for bustling rotate the tone without changing a single fact?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the tone dial turning as the old house becomes the crumbling house becomes the weathered house.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't writing about a sad subject automatically writing in a sad tone?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a writer's tone shifts between the first paragraph and the last one?
Your turneasy1 of 3
One writer calls it the old house, a second the crumbling house, a third the weathered house. All three describe the same building of 164 years. What has changed?

Point of View: Where the Camera Stands

  1. How it worksHow do the words I, he and you move the camera to three different positions in one scene?
  2. Worked exampleShow me one moment at a bus stop redrawn from inside a passenger's head and then from above the street.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes about what a reader can know when a narrator sees only one character's thoughts?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a narrator's opinion the same thing as the author's opinion in a piece of fiction?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 I counted the cars again. The 28 bus was late, and the woman 2 beside me kept checking a watch she never seemed to read. Rewritten from above the street, what would a reader lose and gain?

Simile and Metaphor

  1. How it worksHow does a simile set two images side by side and light up only the one quality they share?
  2. How it worksWalk me through a metaphor as those same two images laid on top of each other with no like between them.
  3. Worked exampleShow me what quality is shared in the argument was a bonfire, and which choice actually names it.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't every sentence containing the word like a simile, as she looked like her mother shows?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens when one metaphor gets stretched across four paragraphs instead of one sentence?
Your turneasy1 of 3
After 66 minutes of it, the writer says, the argument was a bonfire. Which quality is the metaphor lighting up?

Images and Personification

  1. How it worksHow does imagery pull all five of a reader's senses into a scene that exists only as words?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the personification in: The wind shouldered the door open and dropped the mail on the floor.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't every vivid verb personification, and what makes the door groaned different from the door creaked?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a writer personifies a city and then keeps treating it as a person for four paragraphs?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 The wind shouldered the door open and dropped the 7 letters 2 on the hall floor before going back out the way it had come. What is the writer doing here?

Irony: the Gap Between Said and Shown

  1. How it worksHow does irony open a gap between the track of what is said and the track of what is happening?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the irony in a character who lectures everyone on punctuality and then arrives forty minutes late.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't every unlucky coincidence irony, and what does a writer have to set up for irony to exist?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A character spends two pages lecturing the staff on punctuality and then arrives 69 minutes late to his own meeting. Where is the irony?

Working Six Passages in 35 Minutes

  1. How it worksHow does a budget of about five and a half minutes split between reading once and answering six questions?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the clock across six texts when the second one runs two minutes long and nobody notices.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't rereading the whole text before each question ever affordable at this pace?
  4. Ties togetherHow does the no-penalty rule change what you do with the last six questions when four minutes remain?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student spends 9 minutes on the first of six passages because she finds it interesting. What has that cost her by the end of the section?

When What You Already Know Is the Wrong Answer

  1. How it worksHow do test writers plant a true outside fact that the text in front of you never actually claims?
  2. How it worksHow does the rule that every answer must be pointed at with a line number protect you from your own knowledge?
  3. Worked exampleShow me a choice that is factually correct about the moon but unsupported by a paragraph about tides.
  4. Ties togetherHow does that point-at-a-line rule tie supporting-idea questions to inference questions?
Your turneasy1 of 3
1 Tides follow the moon around the earth, and the 13 hours between 2 one high tide and the next track its passage overhead rather than 3 the sun's. Coastal towns keep tables of them a year ahead. Which choice is true about the moon and unsupported by this paragraph?

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