ISEE Quantitative Reasoning

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ISEE Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning (QR) section of the ISEE Test is intended to test the mathematical reasoning abilities of students. However, there is still a fair amount of grade level knowledge that students must master to excel on the Quantitative Reasoning section and many students find this section very difficult. The majority of its questions are word problems. Students taking the Middle and Upper levels are additionally confronted with quantitative comparison questions; these come at the end of the section and comprise a little less than half of the QR questions. Quantitative comparisons are especially daunting at first, but with practice can even become fun.

ISEE Level# of questionsMinutes to complete sectionAverage Time per question (in seconds)
Lower Level ISEE383555
Middle Level ISEE373556
Upper Level ISEE373556


Question type(s): For Lower Level, all 38 of the QR questions are standard multiple-choice questions. For Middle and Upper levels, 20 questions are multiple-choice and 17 are quantitative comparison. Subtleties:

  • -This is the 1st of 2 math sections on the ISEE.
  • -The quantitative comparison questions are new to the majority of students. Rather than list 4 answer choices for each question, the same 4 answer choices apply to every question (Column A is greater, Column B is greater, the columns are equal, or there is not enough information provided to determine the answer). Practice breeds familiarity and builds confidence and competence!


Example Lower Level ISEE problem:

    Dan scored 8 points for his basketball team. The team won with a total of 28 points. Tyler scored 25% of the total points. (A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 9 (D) 11

This question tests students’ ability to reason through a probability problem.
Example Middle Level ISEE problem:

    Dan scored 8 points for his basketball team. The team won with a total of 28 points. Tyler scored 25% of the total points.

 

To solve this problem, a student must know how to solve the quantitative comparison questions as well as be able to reason through how many points each player scored.
Example Upper Level ISEE problem:

    If m is a positive integer and 〖(x+9)〗^2 = x^2+mx+81, what is the value of m? (A) 9 (B) 12 (C) 18 (D) 36

To solve this problem, students need to have had experience with more complex algebra questions and understand how to manipulate variables.

Find all of our ISEE practice tests and preparation materials at www.ISEEpracticetest.com

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