← ISEE® Middle Level

Verbal Reasoning: Synonyms and Sentence Completions

Forty items in twenty minutes: synonyms drawn as territory on a meaning map, and sentences drawn as arrows a single signal word can reverse.

22 topics · 88 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 Verbal Reasoning Section Is Built

  1. How it worksHow do 17 to 23 synonyms and 17 to 23 single-word completions add up to exactly 40 items on one section?
  2. How it worksWalk me through why 5 of the 40 verbal items are unscored trial questions you can never pick out while testing.
  3. Worked exampleShow me how a 20-minute budget splits across 40 items when a synonym takes 15 seconds and a completion takes 45.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a section that starts easy and gets harder a reason to save your time for the end of it?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The Verbal Reasoning section administers 40 items, but only 35 of them count toward your score; the other 5 are unscored trial questions. A student reaches the end with 5 minutes left and wants to know where to spend them. What is true of the 5 trial items?

Predicting Your Own Synonym Before You Look

  1. How it worksHow does your own definition act as a region on a meaning map that only one of four choices can land inside?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through ABHOR against conceal, detest, govern and mystify by defining abhor first and only then scanning.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a choice that sounds like something abhor would go with the same as one that lands inside its meaning?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when you draw a total blank on the stem word and have no prediction to test four choices against?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Item 11 of the section reads ABHOR. Before reading anything else you say to yourself that abhor means to hate something strongly. The four choices are printed alphabetically: conceal, detest, govern, mystify. Which one lands inside the meaning you predicted?

Why the Four Choices Sit in Alphabetical Order

  1. How it worksHow does alphabetical ordering strip position of every clue, so choice A is no likelier than choice D?
  2. Worked exampleShow me why conceal, detest, govern and mystify being alphabetical tells you nothing about which one wins.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the longest or strangest-looking choice the safer bet when a synonym forces you into a guess?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student notices that on 5 synonym items in a row the correct answer was choice C, and decides that C is the safest letter to guess on the rest of the section. What does the ISEE's answer-choice ordering say about that?

Reading the Choices for Part of Speech

  1. How it worksHow does a column of four adjectives pin a two-sided word to its adjective sense before you choose anything?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through DELIBERATE against arbitrary, extravagant, intentional and legitimate using the choices to fix its role.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the meaning of a word that you happen to know first always the meaning being tested?
  4. Going furtherWhat changes when all four choices are verbs and the stem word you pictured was a noun?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Item 17 reads DELIBERATE, and the choices are arbitrary, extravagant, intentional and legitimate. The student first pictures deliberate as the verb meaning to think something over. What do the choices tell her, and which one wins?

Connotation: the Charge a Word Carries

  1. How it worksHow does charging each word positive, negative or neutral split two choices that mean almost the same thing?
  2. How it worksWalk me through plotting confident, proud and arrogant on one line running from admiring to insulting.
  3. Worked exampleShow me connotation deciding between firm and stubborn as the closest synonym for RESOLUTE.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a dictionary definition enough to separate two choices the dictionary itself calls synonyms?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Item 22 reads RESOLUTE. The choices are firm, rigid, stubborn and timid. The student has narrowed it to firm and stubborn, since both describe someone who will not change course. Which wins, and why?

Intensity: How Strong the Word Is

  1. How it worksHow do you rank cool, chilly, cold and frigid along one intensity ruler before you pick anything?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through DRASTIC against extreme, logical, petty and rustic by asking how strong drastic really is.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens when two choices sit at the same strength but one of them is the wrong kind of strong?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't the most dramatic-sounding choice usually the right synonym on a Middle Level item?
Your turneasy1 of 3
On item 12 the stem word is SCALDING and the choices are boiling, cool, lukewarm and warm. A student reasons that scalding is about heat and warm is about heat, so warm should do. What is the flaw?

Register: Where a Word Belongs

  1. How it worksHow does a formality axis running from street talk to textbook sort four choices that all mean the same thing?
  2. Worked exampleShow me register choosing between mock, ridicule and tease as the closest synonym for DERIDE.
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't a big word automatically beat a plain one when both land inside the right meaning region?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Item 24 reads DERIDE and the choices are mock, praise, ridicule and tease. A student has ruled out praise and is left with three words for making fun of someone. Which one is closest?

Word Roots: the Core That Carries the Meaning

  1. How it worksHow does knowing that spect means look let you attack spectator, inspect, prospect and circumspect all at once?
  2. How it worksWalk me through assembling benevolent out of one root meaning good and another root meaning wish.
  3. Worked exampleShow me the root cred cracking INCREDULOUS when the four choices are doubting, famous, rude and wealthy.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a root sits inside a word whose modern meaning has drifted far away from it?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Item 21 reads INCREDULOUS with the choices doubting, famous, rude and wealthy. The student spots the root cred inside the word. What does that root give her, and which choice follows?

Prefixes That Flip or Place a Meaning

  1. How it worksHow do un, in, im, ir and dis all do the same flipping job while attaching to different words?
  2. How it worksWalk me through how pre, post, sub, super, inter and trans place a word in time or space instead of flipping it.
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't every word beginning with in mean the opposite of what follows, as invaluable shows?
  4. Worked exampleShow me a prefix cracking BENEFICIAL against harmful, helpful, hidden and hurried.
  5. Going furtherWhat happens when a prefix and a root pull in opposite directions inside one word?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Item 10 reads BENEFICIAL and the choices are harmful, helpful, hidden and hurried. Reading the front of the word, which choice does the prefix point at?

Suffixes: What the Ending Tells You

  1. How it worksHow do endings like tion, ment, ness and ity turn actions and qualities into nouns you can point at?
  2. Worked exampleShow me ous, ify, able and ist reshaping one root into four words with four different jobs.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes about a synonym item when the stem word ends in ly and every choice has to be an adverb too?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student meets the pair obstinate and obstinacy on item 14 and knows neither word. What can the endings alone tell her?

The Trap That Looks Like the Word

  1. How it worksHow do you catch a lookalike by checking meaning before spelling, the way DRASTIC and rustic come apart?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through why rustic gets planted beside DRASTIC and what rustic actually means.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't sharing a root proof that two words share a meaning, as childish and childlike show?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when the lookalike trap and the correct answer both come out of the same root family?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Item 16 reads DRASTIC and among the choices sits rustic, which shares 5 letters with the stem word. Why is rustic printed there, and what does it mean?

The Opposite Trap and the Same-Field Trap

  1. How it worksHow does drawing one meaning axis put the opposite trap at the far end and the answer at your end?
  2. How it worksWalk me through why desert gets planted under ARID: right subject area, wrong relationship entirely.
  3. Worked exampleShow me the opposite trap and the too-weak trap among admire, dislike, ignore and loathe for DETEST.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a word from the same topic as the stem word ever close enough to count as its synonym?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens when a choice is a synonym of the stem word's opposite rather than of the stem word?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Item 17 reads DETEST with the choices admire, dislike, ignore and loathe. Name the correct choice and the trap sitting at the far end of the same axis.

Guessing When the Word Is New

  1. How it worksHow does striking out one choice lift a blind guess from one in four up to one in three?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the odds after eliminating two of four choices, and why that guess is worth fifteen seconds.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't leaving a hard synonym blank the safe, honest move on a test with no wrong-answer penalty?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens across 40 items if you guess on every word you cannot crack instead of skipping it?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student leaves 7 verbal items blank because she does not know the words, reasoning that a wrong answer would cost her something. On the ISEE, what did those 7 blanks buy her?

Single-Word Completions: the Middle Level Format

  1. How it worksHow do the three ISEE levels differ, with phrase answers at Lower and two-blank pairs only at Upper?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't practising paired-word two-blank items useful preparation for a test that never asks them?
  3. Worked exampleShow me one sentence written three ways: a phrase blank, a single-word blank, and two linked blanks.
  4. Going furtherWhat changes about your method when a single blank has to satisfy an entire sentence by itself?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student preparing for the Middle Level has been working through 24 practice sentence completions whose answers are phrases such as 'a sign of real courage'. What should she know about that practice?

Reading the Whole Sentence Before the Blank

  1. How it worksHow does each extra clause you read shrink the set of words the blank is still allowed to hold?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through: The hikers were ___ at first, but the storm two hours later left them grateful for the extra gear.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the part of a sentence nearest the blank the part that controls what fills it?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when the clue that fixes the blank is sitting at the very end of a long sentence?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Consider: 'The hikers were ___ at first, but the storm that arrived 5 hours later left them grateful for the extra gear.' A student stops at the blank and picks a word meaning worried. Which word belongs, and why?

Signal Words That Reverse: although, however, despite

  1. How it worksHow do although, however, despite, but, yet and while all turn the arrow through a sentence around?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through: Although the museum looked ___, its rooms held one of the finest collections in the state.
  3. Worked exampleShow me: Despite the ___ reviews, the play sold out every night of its run, choosing from glowing, harsh, brief and late.
  4. Common mistakeWhy doesn't despite always mean the blank is the plain opposite of the adjective sitting beside it?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens when a sentence puts one contrast word in the middle and a second one at the start?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Consider: 'Although the museum looked ___ from the street, its 16 rooms held one of the finest collections in the state.' Which word fills the blank?

Signal Words That Carry Forward: because, since, therefore

  1. How it worksHow do because, since, therefore, thus and so lock both halves of a sentence into the same direction?
  2. How it worksWalk me through drawing a sentence as an arrow where because points back to a cause and therefore points forward to a result.
  3. Worked exampleShow me: The road was closed for weeks, so the shopkeepers grew increasingly ___, choosing from anxious, wealthy, curious and polite.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a cause word a guarantee that the blank repeats a word already printed in the sentence?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Consider: 'The road was closed for 9 weeks, so the shopkeepers grew increasingly ___.' The choices are anxious, curious, polite and wealthy. Which belongs?

Signal Words That Add or Illustrate: moreover, for instance

  1. How it worksHow do moreover, furthermore, in addition and also stack a second idea on the first without turning it?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through: She was ___: she wrote to her grandmother weekly, remembered every birthday, and never missed a recital.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes when the example arrives before the blank rather than after it?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't a list of examples just decoration you can skip past on a timed verbal section?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Consider: 'She was ___: she wrote to her grandmother every week, remembered all 9 cousins' birthdays, and never missed a recital.' What do the three examples after the colon hand you?

When the Sentence Defines the Missing Word

  1. How it worksHow does a phrase set off by commas right after a blank act as the definition of that blank?
  2. Worked exampleShow me: The guide was ___, able to name every bird in the marsh by its call alone.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a restatement clue the same thing as a contrast clue when both sit between two commas?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a sentence defines its blank and then a contrast word reverses the whole thing anyway?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Consider: 'The guide was ___, able to name all 31 birds in the marsh by their calls alone.' What is the phrase after the comma doing?

Double Negatives and Flipped Meanings

  1. How it worksHow do you count the flips in hardly ever failed to arrive and land on what it truly says?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through: It was not unusual for the quiet student to be ___ in small groups.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens when a negative prefix inside one of the four choices adds a third flip to the sentence?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't not impossible the same as possible and likely when you are filling a blank beside it?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage says that flooding on that river is 'not uncommon', having happened in 12 of the last twenty years. What does the phrase tell you?

Predicting Your Own Word for the Blank

  1. How it worksHow does an everyday guess like stubborn survive contact with choices no seventh grader would say out loud?
  2. Worked exampleShow me predicting for: Because the evidence was ___, the jury reached a verdict in under an hour.
  3. Going furtherWhat happens when the word you predicted is not among the four and two choices both sit near it?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't trying each of the four choices in the gap a faster method than predicting one yourself?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Consider: 'Because the evidence was ___, the jury reached a verdict in under 69 minutes.' A student predicts the plain word 'obvious' before reading the choices conclusive, disputed, lengthy and technical. What does her prediction do for her?

Pacing 40 Items in 20 Minutes

  1. How it worksHow does an easy-to-hard ordering inside each subsection change where your thirty seconds are worth spending?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the clock across 40 items and 20 minutes when item 7 alone eats ninety seconds of it.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't reading every sentence completion twice affordable at thirty seconds an item?
  4. Ties togetherHow does the difficulty ramp on a verbal section differ from a reading section, where questions follow the text instead?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student spends 98 seconds on item 7 of the Verbal Reasoning section and then finds the clock short at the end. What does the section's easy-to-hard ordering say about those seconds?

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