ISEE Lower Level common mistakes
ISEE Lower Level · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating synonym questions as 'pick the word that sounds most advanced' and choosing a hard word whose meaning the candidate cannot define.
Lower Level vocabulary items often include one familiar correct answer and two or three impressive-sounding distractors. Candidates who equate difficulty with correctness talk themselves out of the right choice.
What to do instead
Before choosing, say a short definition or a sentence for every option. Eliminate any word you cannot define. If two remain, pick the one closest to the stem word's part of speech and tone.
Ignoring the relationship direction in analogy questions, e.g. choosing 'dog is to puppy' when the stem runs 'puppy is to dog'.
Candidates match topics rather than relationships. Both options involve the same subject matter, so topic overlap feels like a match.
What to do instead
Write the stem relationship as a sentence with a blank ('A puppy is a young ___'). Test each option in the same sentence slot and check the order of the pair, not just the words.
Choosing a synonym that fits one meaning of a multiple-meaning word but not the meaning used in the sentence completion context.
Common words like 'light', 'bank', or 'spring' carry several senses, and candidates retrieve the most frequent sense instead of reading the surrounding sentence.
What to do instead
Read the whole sentence first, predict a word for the blank, then check whether each option fits that predicted meaning. Substitute the option back into the sentence and reread it aloud mentally.
Estimating answers only to the nearest convenient number and then picking an answer choice without checking which side of the estimate the exact value falls on.
Quantitative comparison and estimation items place distractors just above and just below the true value. A rough estimate cannot separate them.
What to do instead
Estimate to set bounds, then compute exactly or test the two nearest answer choices by substitution. For comparisons, test one easy number and one boundary number such as zero, one, or a fraction.
Assuming a figure is drawn to scale and reading lengths or angles off the diagram instead of using the given numbers.
Lower Level geometry items include diagrams that are deliberately not to scale, and candidates trust visual appearance over stated values.
What to do instead
Circle every number and label given in the problem. Solve using only those values. If a figure looks different from the given data, redraw it roughly to match the numbers.
Stopping at the first step of a multi-step word problem and selecting that intermediate result from the answer choices.
Test writers place intermediate values as distractors. Candidates feel finished once they have computed something that appears in the options.
What to do instead
Before computing, write what the question asks for in a short phrase. After computing, check that the units and size of the answer match the question, not an intermediate quantity.
Answering detail questions from memory of the passage instead of returning to the lines that support the answer.
Lower Level passages are short enough that candidates believe they remember them, but answer choices paraphrase and distort details subtly.
What to do instead
For every detail question, locate and reread the sentence that answers it, then choose the option that matches that sentence without adding or changing anything.
Choosing an answer that is true in real life or true somewhere in the passage but does not answer the specific question asked.
Answer choices are often accurate statements about the topic, so they feel safe. The question may ask about the author's main point or a specific paragraph instead.
What to do instead
Underline the key word in the question (main idea, according to the passage, the author suggests). Reject any option that is true but does not address that key word.
Misreading the order of operations in expressions such as 12 − 3 × 2 and computing left to right.
Everyday reading runs left to right, and candidates apply that habit to arithmetic notation, especially when no parentheses appear.
What to do instead
Before computing, mark the operations in order: parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division, then addition and subtraction. Rewrite the expression with the first operation bracketed before evaluating.
Adding or subtracting fractions by operating on numerators and denominators separately, e.g. writing 1/2 + 1/3 = 2/5.
Whole-number arithmetic rules are overgeneralized to fractions, and the correct procedure (common denominators) requires an extra step that is easy to skip under time pressure.
What to do instead
Always rewrite fractions with a common denominator before adding or subtracting, and check the result against a rough estimate: 1/2 + 1/3 must be near 5/6, not near 1/2.