How Does the ISEE Measure Verbal Ability?

Home > ISEE Test > ISEE Verbal >

How Does the ISEE Measure Verbal Ability?

The ISEE measures your verbal ability with two question types:

1. Synonyms

2. Sentence completions

The verbal ability test consists of 40 questions. A total of 19 of these questions are synonyms and 21 are sentence completions. Five of the questions are unscored.

Synonym Questions

A synonym is a word with the same meaning or nearly the same meaning as another word. ISEE synonym questions ask you to choose the best synonym for a capitalized word.

The directions for ISEE synonym questions look like something this:

Directions: Choose the word that is most nearly the same in meaning as the word in CAPITAL letters.

Here are two sample ISEE synonym questions. Try each one on your own; then read the explanation that accompanies it.

1. TENANT

(A) occupant

(B) landlord

(C) owner

(D) farmer

The correct answer is (A). The most common sense of the word TENANT is renter. As such, the tenant is never the landlord. The owner may well be an occupant, but unless he or she occupies on a very temporary basis, he or she is not considered a tenant. A tenant farmer lives on and cultivates the land of another.

2. CALCULATED

(A) multiplied

(B) added

(C) answered

(D) figured out

The correct answer is (D). CALCULATING may well include multiplying or adding in order to arrive at the answer, but not all calculations need be mathematical. It is the figuring out that is the calculating.

ALERT!

Note that the directions ask you to choose the best answer. There may be several answer choices that are almost right, but only one that is completely correct. That's why you should always read all the answer choices before you make your final selection.

Sentence Completion Questions

Just as the name implies, sentence completions are "fill-in-the-blank" questions. ISEE sentence completion questions may have one or two blanks. Your job is to choose from among the answer choices the word or words that best fit each blank.

The directions for ISEE sentence completion questions look like this:

Directions: The blanks in the following sentences indicate that words are missing. If there is one blank, only a single word is missing. If there are two blanks, a pair of words is missing. Choose the one word or pair of words that will best complete the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

Here are two sample ISEE sentence completion questions: a one-blank question and a two-blank question. Try each one on your own before reading the explanation that accompanies it.

3. Utility is not __________, for the usefulness of an object changes with time and place.

(A) planned

(B) practical

(C) permanent

(D) understandable

The correct answer is (C). If the usefulness of an object changes, then that usefulness is by definition not permanent.

4. A string of lies had landed her in such a hopeless __________ that she didn't know how to __________ herself.

(A) status ... clear

(B) pinnacle ... explain

(C) confusion ... help

(D) predicament ... extricate

The correct answer is (D). "Hopeless predicament" is an idiomatic expression meaning "impossible situation." This is a reasonable position for one to be in after a string of lies. The second blank is correctly filled with a term that implies that she couldn't get out of the mess she had created.

More Information