← ISEE® Upper Level

Reading Comprehension: Approach, Main Idea and Supporting Ideas

Six texts of 300 to 600 words in 35 minutes: what the whole thing is about, what it actually says, and the outline that builds as you read.

13 topics · 46 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 texts of 300 to 600 words with six questions each shape the way you should read?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't reading every word slowly the safest plan when 36 questions share 35 minutes?
  3. Going furtherWhat changes about your reading when numbered lines run down the left margin of a text?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The Upper Level Reading section gives six passages in 35 minutes. A student holds back 6 minutes at the end to check the answer sheet. How many minutes does each passage get?

The Four Genres: Narrative, Expository, Persuasive, Descriptive

  1. How it worksHow do you name a text's genre from its first two sentences and switch your reading to match?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through naming the genre of: The glacier groaned, then split. Ice thundered into the bay.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes in your reading when a persuasive text disguises itself as a plain description?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage opens: The glacier groaned, then split. Ice thundered into the bay, and for 22 seconds nobody on the boat spoke. What genre is this, and what does it ask of a reader?

The Four Subject Areas: Arts, Contemporary Life, History, Science

  1. How it worksHow does naming a text's subject area tell you which structures to expect inside it?
  2. Going furtherWhat happens when a text sits in two subject areas at once, like the history of a scientific idea?
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a science text harder than a history text just because it carries technical words?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Of the six passages on one form, 3 come from the arts and contemporary life and the rest from history and science. Why does the section draw on four areas?

Why Outside Knowledge Is Never Required

  1. How it worksHow do you separate a choice the text supports from a choice only your own knowledge supports?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't a true statement about the world automatically a correct answer?
  3. Worked exampleFind the flaw in answering that bats are mammals when a text only says bats hunt moths by echo.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when something you know for a fact contradicts what a writer claims?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage says that bats locate moths by echo and that 15 species have been recorded doing it. One choice reads: bats are mammals. Why is that choice wrong?

Reading for Structure on the First Pass

  1. How it worksHow does an outline build itself in your head as claim, evidence, counterclaim and conclusion arrive?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through outlining: Cities grew hotter. Trees were planted. Temperatures fell. Costs then rose.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't underlining everything the same thing as reading for structure?
  4. Going furtherWhat changes about your outline when a writer saves the main claim for the very last sentence?
  5. Ties togetherHow does an outline make main-idea and organization questions collapse into one single task?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Cities grew hotter. Trees were planted. Temperatures fell. Costs then rose by 30 percent. What is the structure of that sequence?

Working Six Texts in 35 Minutes

  1. How it worksHow do you split 35 minutes across six texts so the last one still gets a fair reading?
  2. Worked exampleFind the per-text budget when 36 questions spread over six texts must fit inside 35 minutes.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't abandoning a whole text ever cheaper than rushing all six of them?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage of 509 words is read at 221 words per minute, and its six questions take 4 minutes to answer. How many minutes does that passage cost altogether?

Main Idea: the Overall Message

  1. How it worksHow do you build a main idea by asking what every paragraph has in common?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through the main idea of: Bats hunt by echo. Moths grew ears. Some moths now jam the echo.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the opening sentence automatically the main idea?
  4. Going furtherWhat changes when a writer spends most of the length on one example rather than the claim?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Bats hunt by echo. Moths grew ears. Some moths now jam the echo, and in 8 recorded caves the bats have shifted frequency in reply. What is the main idea?

Main Idea of a Section, Not the Whole Text

  1. How it worksHow do you find a single paragraph's central idea while ignoring everything around it?
  2. Worked exampleFind the point of a paragraph listing three failed bridge designs inside a text praising steel.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't a paragraph's central idea just a shrunken copy of the whole text's central idea?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage praising steel contains one paragraph describing 5 bridge designs that failed before steel came into use. What is that paragraph's central idea?

Primary Purpose vs Main Idea

  1. How it worksHow do purpose verbs like describe, argue, compare and explain sort four choices in one move?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through why describe one route into a career beats provide a history of a movement.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes when a writer's purpose shifts partway through a text?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage follows one welder from an apprenticeship to a shipyard across 16 years, and neither praises nor criticises the trade. What is its primary purpose?

Too Narrow, Too Broad, or Exactly Right

  1. How it worksHow do nested circles show a choice as too small, too large or exactly the size of a text?
  2. Worked exampleFind the right-sized answer for a text on moths versus bats: moths, hearing, an arms race, or evolution.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the broadest choice the safest one when you are unsure?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when two choices are the right size but one adds a word nothing supports?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage describes bats hunting by echo, moths evolving ears, and moths jamming the echo across 8 caves. Which choice is the right size for a main-idea question?

Supporting Ideas: What Is Actually Stated

  1. How it worksHow do you match a choice word by word against what a writer actually put on the page?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't a choice that sounds like the wording of a text the same as a choice supported by it?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through why Latin America was close to home is stated but women spoke Spanish is not.
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a choice is stated somewhere but does not answer the question asked?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The passage says editors sent her to Latin America because it lay close to home and was cheap to reach, and that she filed 62 stories from there. Which choice is stated?

Details That Support Some Other Idea

  1. How it worksHow do you trace a detail upward to the exact claim it was placed there to support?
  2. Worked exampleFind which claim a sentence about rising tree-planting costs supports in a text about cooling cities.
  3. Going furtherWhat changes when one detail props up two different claims at the same time?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A passage argues that planting trees cools cities. One sentence reports that planting costs rose 45 percent in five years. Which claim does that sentence support?

EXCEPT and NOT Questions

  1. How it worksHow do you flip an EXCEPT question into a checklist and mark each choice true or false?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through an item asking which of four things a writer does NOT claim about desert plants.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the odd-sounding choice automatically the exception?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when an EXCEPT question asks what a writer implies rather than what is stated?
Your turneasy1 of 3
An item asks which of four things the writer does NOT claim about desert plants. Three of the choices restate claims made across the passage's 5 paragraphs. How is the item worked?

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