This ISEE cheat sheet distills the Educational Records Bureau's four scored sections into a printable rundown of the facts and scoring rules that decide your stanines. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free ISEE toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
ISEE exam at a glance
- Administered by: Educational Records Bureau (ERB)
- Scored questions: 160 across four separately timed sections (Upper / Middle Level)
- Scored testing time: 130 minutes, plus an unscored 30-minute essay sent to schools
- Score scale: Scaled 760–940, a percentile rank, and a stanine (1–9) per section — no pass/fail
What’s on the ISEE cheat sheet
- Verbal Reasoning (40 Q / 20 min) — synonyms and sentence completion — the fastest-paced section, driven by advanced vocabulary and word parts.
- Quantitative Reasoning (37 Q / 35 min) — math reasoning and quantitative comparisons that reward estimation over heavy computation.
- Reading Comprehension (36 Q / 35 min) — main idea, inference, vocabulary in context, and tone — every answer supported by the passage.
- Mathematics Achievement (47 Q / 40 min) — the largest section: grade-level numbers, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data, with real computation.
How to use it in your final week
- Beat the Verbal Reasoning clock first — 40 questions in 20 minutes means about 30 seconds each, so drill fast synonym and sentence-completion decisions from the sheet's word-parts hooks.
- Lock in the two math sections separately: Quantitative Reasoning rewards estimating and comparing columns, while Mathematics Achievement (47 questions, the largest section) rewards clean computation.
- Re-read the scoring block so the stanine scale is second nature — 1-3 below average, 4-6 average, 7-9 above average — and remember there is no guessing penalty, so answer every question.
- Pair each review pass with a short timed set from the practice test to keep your section-by-section pacing sharp before test day.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your ISEE practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
ISEE cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the ISEE cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no sign-up and no account. It rides alongside Career Employer's free ISEE toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards, all at no cost.
It condenses the highest-yield facts for all four scored sections — Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, and Mathematics Achievement — plus the per-section clocks, the stanine scoring scale, and the memory hooks students blank on under time pressure.
No. There is no pass or fail — each scored section returns a scaled score from 760 to 940, a percentile rank against same-grade applicants, and a stanine from 1 to 9. Every school sets its own bar, so the sheet frames your goal around lifting each section's stanine, not clearing one cutoff.
Yes. The section counts, clocks, and scoring on the sheet reflect the ERB's current Upper and Middle Level structure — 160 scored questions across four timed sections plus the unscored 30-minute essay. Always confirm test-day details on the ERB site before you register.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page to open the PDF instantly. Bookmark the page so you can pull it back up for a fast review the week of your test.
References
- 1.Educational Records Bureau. “ISEE by ERB — Test Structure & Levels.” erblearn.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.Educational Records Bureau. “Understanding ISEE Scores and the Stanine Scale.” erblearn.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.Educational Records Bureau. “Register for the ISEE.” erblearn.org, 2026. ↑
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