Private Tuition for 11+ ISEB Pre-Test Assessments

The ISEB Pre-Test saw multiple changes in 2022, with a new provider taking over from GL Assessments. Here’s what you need to know:

It is now necessary for parents to independently register their children for the ISEB Test, rather than the previous system in which registration automatically took place via their chosen senior school.

• The English section now provides two separate scores: one for comprehension and another for SPaG (spelling, punctuation, and grammar).
• Instead of a single long passage, the English comprehension section now features several shorter texts, each with fewer associated questions.
• The full text of the comprehension passages can now be viewed by scrolling, children no longer need to click through multiple pages.

• A new question type, “how many cubes,” has been added in the non-verbal reasoning section.
• The question bank has been expanded to include more individual questions. Apart from the new cube-related questions, the types of questions students need to prepare for remain the same.

• Students have the option to hide the timer to minimise distractions.
• There are options to adjust the font size and apply a colour overlay to make the questions easier to read.
• All students are permitted to use pencil and paper for notes and rough work throughout the entire test, a change from previous years when this was restricted to certain subjects.

The Mathematics questions in the ISEB Pre-Test cover topics including:

• Number and place value
• Calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division)
• Fractions, decimals and percentages
• Measure
• Geometry
• Statistics

Some questions may be straightforward calculations, some may cover more than one topic, while others might be problem-solving.

Number questions come up more often.

Questions are multiple-choice. 

Use a piece of paper to help with your working out. Working out is not marked.

The English Section of the ISEB Pre-Test contains two sections.

Questions are multiple choice and are based on the KS2 national curriculum. 

The test is up to 40 minutes long.

The test contains several passages. They may be fiction, non-fiction, or poetry. 

Each paragraph or verse is numbered.

Questions will either refer to a specific paragraph, sentence (specified in the question) or the whole text.

The tests aims to assess the following skills:

• Literal: Understanding details explicitly stated in the passage.
• Deduction: drawing logical conclusions on what must be true from what is given in the text, backed by prior experience and knowledge of the world.
• Inference: Drawing an implied meaning not directly stated in the passage.
• Vocabulary: Understanding of words in context.
• Summarising: Expressing concisely the relevant points.
• Literary Devices: Picking out and making sense of techniques such as personification, alliteration, similes, metaphors, and more.
• Comparative Analysis: Comparisons are made across the text, between characters, or in Levels of Formality.

The Grammar section of the ISEB Pre-Test assesses the following skills:

• Spelling: Understanding spelling rules and where they do not apply.
• Punctuation: Understanding how to use punctuation correctly.
• Grammar: Understanding different word types (adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and more), tenses, sentence structures, formal and informal language, and more.
• Vocabulary: Understanding word meaning, word families, prefixes, and suffixes.

There are three types of questions in this section:

• Cloze Sentences – your child will be expected to fill in the blank space in a sentence.
• Shuffled Sentences – your child will be expected to rearrange a sentence so it is in the correct order.
• SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) – spot the mistake type question.

The verbal reasoning section of ISEB Pre-Test is typically 25 minutes long. They aim to assess your child’s logic and comprehension skills.

Questions can ask the child to:

• Analogy – comparing two pairs of words that highlights their similarities.
• Compound Words – two words that can be joined together to make a new word.
• Embedded Words – hidden word at the end of one word and the beginning of the next word.
• Form a Word – combining words using rules to create a new word. 
• Insert a Letter – identify a letter that completes the end of one word and the beginning of another.
• Letter Codes – identify the pattern in a set of letters to crack the code to form a new word.
• Letter Sequences – work out the missing letters in a sequence.
• Move a Letter – move one letter from the first word and put it into the second word.
• Number Analogies – find the relationship between numbers and select similar pairs or numbers.
• Synonyms – find words which mean the same thing, or are closest in meaning. 
• Word Completion – find the missing word that completes a longer word.
• Word Opposites – find a word from a set that is opposite in meaning to the others
• Word Pairs – identify a pattern within the word pairs presented to find the missing word from the last pair.
• Word Relationships – find the relationship between a set of words and apply that relationship to find the answer

The non-verbal reasoning section of the ISEB pre-test usually lasts around 30 minutes.

Instructions on how to answer the question are given before each question.

This test assesses your logical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills through shapes, figures and diagrams.

The exam contains two types of questions:

• Analysing 2D figures: spotting the differences and similarities, finishing diagrams, spotting patterns, predicting and code matching.
• Manipulating 3D figures and diagrams to view them in a different way.

New type of questions: ‘how many blocks?’ and ‘silhouettes’.