Is English not your favorite subject? Do you not often read for fun in your free time? Are you nervous about how you might do on the Reading Comprehension section when taking the Lower Level ISEE because of this, or for other reasons? The Reading Comprehension section of the Lower Level ISEE is widely considered one of the test’s most difficult sections, so you’re not the only one who’s apprehensive about it. By familiarizing yourself with how the Reading Comprehension section of the Lower Level ISEE is presented, the types of questions it asks, and some great resources that can help you study, you can equip yourself with the information that you need to prepare yourself for the Reading Comprehension section of the Lower Level ISEE in no time.

The Lower Level ISEE, or Independent School Entrance Exam, is the version of the exam traditionally given to fifth- and sixth-grade students. All of its graded sections, including the Reading Comprehension section but excepting the Essay, are made up entirely of multiple-choice questions. The Reading Comprehension section in particular presents five reading passages about contemporary life, literature, history, and science. The test asks five questions about the information each passage presents, so you are asked to answer twenty-five questions in total. To answer these questions correctly, you might need to identify the main or a supporting idea in the passage, make an inference, identify a word based on how the author uses it in the passage, or analyze the passage’s logic and organization, the author’s style or tone, or figurative language like similes and metaphors. You are given twenty-five minutes during which to read each passage and answer questions associated with it. They may not seem like a lot of time—it’s not! To do well on the Reading Comprehension part of the Lower Level ISEE, you need to make sure you’re reading quickly enough to get to all the questions, but not so quickly that you misunderstand or miss important information in a passage.

If you’re worried that you might be reading too quickly or too slowly to achieve your personal best score on the ISEE Lower Level Reading Comprehension section, you can use Varsity Tutors’ free ISEE Lower Level Reading Comprehension Practice Tests to measure how fast you’re reading. Every Practice Test consists of about twelve problems and corresponding passages like the kind you’ll find on the Lower Level ISEE Reading Comprehension section. You can choose to take Practice Tests that draw their questions from a variety of topics tested on the Lower Level ISEE, or focus on just one if you are having trouble with that topic and need to study it specifically. After finishing a Practice Test, Varsity Tutors’ website shows you lots of information about your results, including how quickly you answered each problem and detailed answers for every problem. If you miss a question, be sure to figure out why by reading the included explanation. This will help you to not make that mistake again in the future, perhaps when you’re taking the actual Lower Level ISEE.

You can also take advantage of another great way to evaluate your knowledge by completing a Full-Length Lower Level ISEE Reading Comprehension Practice Test. The practice tests’ extended format can give you a clear assessment of your pacing over the course of the test and your comprehension of the relevant concepts. The results page that follows each of the full-length practice tests includes the same insights as the results pages for concept-specific practice tests, like extensive explanations and links to more information on important topics. The complete practice tests give you the bonus of helping you as you build a custom ISEE review by showing you the skills in which you most need review. When you use this information to create a study plan, you can move on to using the other Learning Tools to review. You can then track your improvement by taking another Full-Length Lower Level ISEE Reading Comprehension Practice Test.

By practicing the types of questions that the Lower Level ISEE’s Reading Comprehension section will ask you, you can prepare yourself to do your personal best when taking the real Lower Level ISEE!