Are you concerned about having to take the Middle Level ISEE’s Reading Comprehension section? You’re not the only one worried about it; many students think that the Reading Comprehension section is the most difficult section on the ISEE for a variety of reasons. By taking a look at the Middle Level ISEE’s Reading Comprehension section in detail, this guide will teach you about the way in which it is formatted and the skills it tests. This guide will also introduce you to some great free online resources that you can use to prepare for the ISEE’s Reading Comprehension section. Armed with all of this information, you can stop worrying about how you will do on the Middle Level ISEE’s Reading Comprehension section and actively work to improve your skills before test day.

The Middle Level ISEE is a test given to students in the sixth through eighth grades in order to quantitatively measure their skills in a variety of academic subjects. ISEE scores are required to be submitted with certain applications to independent schools, as the name of the test suggests—“ISEE” stands for “Independent School Entrance Exam.” Every Middle Level ISEE’s third section is its Reading Comprehension section, which tests students’ abilities to understand what they read. The Middle Level ISEE Reading Comprehension section is made up of six reading passages drawn from texts with topics of history, science, literature, or contemporary life. Line numbers are included in the left margin of the page for all passages, since certain questions ask you to define specific words and give you line numbers to direct you to those specific words. Six questions are asked about each passage for a total of 36 Reading Comprehension questions on each test. These questions ask students to use the information presented in the passage in various ways; certain questions may ask about the main idea or supporting ideas, others may ask students to make inferences based on what they’ve read, others may ask them to define unfamiliar words based on the way in which they are used in the passage, and still others may test them on the organization and logic of the passage, the author’s tone and style, or figurative language used in the passage. Students are given half an hour during which they must both read the passages and answer the questions about them. As you can see, one of the major challenges of doing well on the Middle Level ISEE’s Reading Comprehension section is time management: while the section does not test you on any information it does not provide in the passages, you must read carefully and efficiently in order to have enough time to answer all the questions thoughtfully and without rushing.

If you are worried about not being able to read fast enough to finish the Middle Level ISEE’s Reading Comprehension section in time, or of stressing out and reading too quickly to catch all of the information you need, Varsity Tutors’ free ISEE Middle Level Reading Comprehension Practice Tests can help you out. Each Practice Test is made up of about a dozen multiple-choice questions each, and each of these questions is formatted in the same way as the questions you will encounter on the Middle Level ISEE. After answering each question that a Practice Test includes, you get to see detailed statistics about how you did, including how long it took you to answer each problem. By making the most of this data, you can figure out if you need to practice reading faster or slower and adjust your reading to an appropriate speed before test day. Also, if you find yourself struggling with one particular type of question—say, those questions that ask about an author’s tone or style—you can focus on just that topic and answer questions that only have to do with the author’s style and tone.

You can also try another great way to evaluate your knowledge level by completing a Full-Length Middle Level ISEE Reading Comprehension Practice Test. The extended format of the practice test can help you work on your test-taking pace and your understanding of relevant concepts. The results page following each of the comprehensive practice tests includes all of the helpful insights provided on the results pages for the concept-specific practice tests, like clear explanations and links to further review on important topics. Plus, each complete practice test assists you in assembling a personalized ISEE review by showing you the skills on which you should spend the most time studying. You can use this information to create a study plan that incorporates the other online Learning Tools. Then, you can track your progress by taking another Full-Length Middle Level ISEE Reading Comprehension Practice Test.

By making the most of what Varsity Tutors’ free ISEE resources have to offer, you can adequately and efficiently prepare yourself for the Middle Level ISEE Reading Comprehension section and be completely confident when you take the actual Middle Level ISEE!