ISEE

Overview

The Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) is an admission test used by independent and private schools across the United States to evaluate candidates applying for entry at various grade levels. It is administered by ERB (Educational Records Bureau). In early 2026, ERB completed a merger with the Enrollment Management Association to form a single nonprofit, E3n, which continues to run the ISEE (alongside the SSAT) under the ISEE by ERB name. Schools combine ISEE scores with transcripts, recommendations, interviews and other application material when deciding on admission.

Who can apply

Any student seeking admission to a participating independent school can register for the ISEE. Which level a student takes depends on the grade they are applying to enter, not their current age or grade. ERB offers four levels: Primary (entry to grades 2-4), Lower Level (entry to grades 5-6), Middle Level (entry to grades 7-8) and Upper Level (entry to grades 9-12). A student can sit the ISEE only once in a given testing season, and for the 2026-27 cycle ERB caps attempts at three within a single 12-month admission cycle.

Levels or stages

Primary Level

The Primary Level has three versions — Primary 2, Primary 3 and Primary 4 — for students applying to enter grades 2, 3 and 4 respectively. All Primary questions are multiple choice, and there is no essay at this level.

Each Primary version includes one short break; total seated time runs from about 53 minutes (Primary 2) to about 60 minutes (Primary 4), plus the break.

Lower Level

For students applying to enter grades 5-6. Five separately timed sections, the last of which is an unscored essay.

With breaks, the Lower Level takes roughly 2 hours 30 minutes in total.

Middle Level

For students applying to enter grades 7-8. The section structure, question counts and timing match the Upper Level; question content is pitched to the Middle Level grade range and scores are normed separately.

With breaks, the Middle Level takes roughly 2 hours 50 minutes in total.

Upper Level

For students applying to enter grades 9-12. Same section structure, question counts and timing as the Middle Level.

With breaks, the Upper Level takes roughly 2 hours 50 minutes in total. Verbal Reasoning questions are synonyms and sentence completions; Quantitative Reasoning mixes word problems with quantitative-comparison questions. Both the online and paper formats carry the same number of questions and the same timing at every level.

Marking and results

Each multiple-choice section — Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension and Mathematics Achievement at Lower, Middle and Upper Level, and Auditory Comprehension/Reading/Mathematics at Primary Level — produces a scaled score between 760 and 940. Alongside the scaled score, the report gives a percentile rank, showing how a student compares with other test-takers who applied to the same grade over the past three admission cycles, and a stanine, a 1-to-9 band (5 is the midpoint) built from that percentile distribution. The essay at Lower, Middle and Upper Level is never scored by ERB; a copy is sent to every school that receives the student's score report, and admissions staff read it for writing voice, organisation and clarity rather than grading it.

Important dates

ERB runs three testing seasons each year: Fall (August to November), Winter (December to March), and Spring/Summer (April to July). A student may test only once per season. Exact test dates and locations are set by individual schools and test centers and vary by region; they are published on the ISEE online registration portal rather than on a single fixed nationwide calendar. For the 2026-27 cycle, Fall season registration opened on 3 August 2026; families are advised to register at least 21 days ahead of a paper test date to avoid late-registration fees.

Fees

For the 2026-27 cycle, fees for a single ISEE attempt are, in USD:

Paper-test families can pay an extra $40 for expedited online scoring. Online registration and phone registration carry no extra charge beyond the test fee. Fee waivers, which cover both the test fee and a free ISEE test-preparation package, are issued by the schools a student is applying to rather than by ERB directly, so families should request a waiver code from those schools.

How to apply

Registration happens online at the ERB's ISEE portal (iseeonline.erblearn.org). A parent creates an account with their contact details, sets a password from the confirmation email, then adds the student being registered. From the account, the parent picks a test format — at a school, an ERB-administered at-home session, an in-office session, or a Prometric test center where available — selects an available date within the current season, and pays the applicable fee online. After registering, the family can also choose which schools should receive the student's score report once it is ready.

After the exam

Score reports become available online roughly 3-5 business days after a computer-based test, or 5-10 business days after a paper test (2-3 business days with paid expedited scoring). Families log in to their ERB account to view and release reports to the schools they have chosen; there is no limit on how many schools can receive a report. A student who is not satisfied with a result can register again in a later season, subject to the once-per-season rule and the cap of three attempts within a 12-month admission cycle.

Preparation tips

ERB publishes a free "What to Expect on the ISEE" guide for each level (Lower, Middle and Upper), each containing one full official practice test with an answer key. Families using a fee waiver also receive a free ISEE test-preparation package from ERB alongside the waived test fee. Because Middle and Upper Level share the same section lengths and question counts, a student moving between those two levels can reuse most of the same timing practice; Primary-level families should focus timed practice on Reading and Mathematics only, since there is no reasoning section or essay at that level.