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The ISEE Upper Level Reading section assesses your child’s abilities in the skills required for reading comprehension. It is an important test for those seeking to enter a private high school. They are tested on their ability to interpret linguistics, which are skills that should have developed throughout the lower and middle educational levels. The ISEE Upper Level Reading section uses passages drawn from sciences, humanities, essays, contemporary life, and other literature. With such a variety, your child will need to have the general skill for reading comprehension, rather than knowledge of the specific topic at hand. This allows this section of the test to truly assess their reading comprehension skills. With the increased difficulty in Upper Level Reading, it is important to devote some time to preparation ahead of the test by using Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools like the Question of the Day.
The Learning Tools serve as viable study aids to help your child practice the concepts they have learned at school. Your child can use the variety of tools together or individually to create a study plan, and go from there. The Question of the Day is a valuable option that offers your child access to free daily test practice online. The Question of the Day is a timed question that is different each day, allowing you to determine how well your child understands the information that will be tested in the ISEE Upper Level Reading section.
With ISEE Upper Level Reading, your child will need to be able to focus on the key aspects of each passage. There are thematic elements, local organization, and other details that can make the difference in your child’s chosen answer. They will need to pay attention to each supporting idea, interaction between ideas, textual relationships, and other ideas that are less straightforward than in lower levels. You can help your child to prepare for these by encouraging them to study regularly and determinedly. Through ongoing practice, these skills can become second nature, readily accessed as they are needed. Your child can use the Learning Tools for precisely this level of practice.
The Learning Tools offer free ISEE Upper Level Reading section practice tests that your child can use to review information, practice concepts, and evaluate their preparation level. Through this, your child can further customize their study plan by addressing the areas that they need to work on most. In addition, they can use the flashcards to work on quick refresh, study in their free time, and identify any weak points. There are also full-length practice tests that are built to be similar to the real exam, and Learn by Concept, which offers a thorough review on each concept.
The Question of the Day uses passages pulled from contemporary life, history, science, and humanities essays. Your child may be asked to identify the supporting ideas, the main theme, the general idea behind the passage, any figurative language, infer the meanings behind conclusions, or draw a conclusion, as well as compare and contrast, make predictions, and discuss textual relationships. Further, they may need to compare the different themes for contradictions, or rewrite the summary in their own words. No matter what, your child can take their time, and answer the question when they are confident.
When it comes to studying for ISEE Upper Level Reading section, your child can use Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools to strengthen their grasp on the concepts they will be tested on.
Question of the Day: ISEE Upper Level Reading
"American Students and Foreign Languages" by Matthew Minerd (2013)
American students often find it difficult to understand the need for learning a foreign language. In part, this lack of understanding seems to occur because of the insulated nature of American geography. Unlike Europe, America is a massive country, comprised of states that all speak the same language. When an American travels from state to state, he or she is not confronted with a completely different language group as is the case when, for example, a Frenchman travels from his native land to the neighboring country of Italy or to England. Although America does have Canada to its north and Mexico to its south, it still does not have the great internal variety of languages as one finds in the small European continent. Therefore, students often do not experience the practical importance of knowing other languages.
Of course, America has always been called the “melting pot,” for many peoples have arrived on its shores, bringing their own distinctive cultures and languages with them. Still, this very expression—“melting pot”—shows that these immigrant cultures do not forever retain their own particular manners and languages. With time, these varied cultures become part of the American culture as a whole. While they do influence and change the culture, they likewise become assimilated into it. Their spoken language often becomes English. Even if they retain their mother tongue, they generally speak it privately. This is done as a matter of personal heritage, not as part of the day-to-day life in the culture.
Additionally, America’s global dominance likewise allows Americans to avoid learning other languages. Since America has such influence over the rest of the world, it is generally in the interests of other peoples to learn English in order to be part of the economic, political, and military world in which America operates. Therefore, even at international meetings that are filled with people from many nationalities and language groups, English-speakers are at an advantage because they can talk with the many individuals who speak English. The work and learning of other peoples thus allows the Americans to convince themselves that there is no need to learn another language.
Lastly, American education has come to emphasize mathematics and science to such a great degree that things such as language can often seem unimportant. The main goals of education are said to be the training of students for the technology workforce. If this is presented as the main goal of school, few children will understand why any of the non-scientific subjects are included in the curriculum. If a subject does not help in learning math and science, it will appear to be irrelevant. In particular, foreign languages do not seem to add to the teaching of math and science, which can be done very easily and effectively in English alone.
Of course, many other reasons could be considered, and a more detailed discussion would undertake such a lengthy investigation. Still, the factors discussed above do provide some sense as to why American students find it difficult to understand the importance of learning a foreign language.
In the first paragraph, what does the underlined word “insulated” mean in its context?
Non-conductive
Non-flammable
Preventing the hearing of something
Padded
Isolated or removed from direct contact with
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