ISEE Upper Level key terms

A word that means nearly the same thing as another word, such as "begin" and "start"; synonym questions ask you to pick the answer closest in meaning to the given word.

A word that means the opposite of another word, such as "scarce" and "abundant"; antonym questions ask you to choose the answer most nearly opposite the given word.

The emotional or implied shading a word carries beyond its literal meaning; "thrifty" and "stingy" describe similar behavior but carry very different connotations, one approving and one critical.

The literal, dictionary meaning of a word, apart from any emotional shading; the denotation of "snake" is a reptile, while its connotation may be treachery.

A comparison stating that two pairs of words relate in the same way; you must name the relationship in the first pair, then find the answer pair with that same relationship.

Information in the surrounding sentence or passage that hints at an unfamiliar word's meaning, such as a definition, example, contrast, or cause-and-effect signal.

A word part attached to the front of a root that changes its meaning, as "pre-" means before in "preview" and "mis-" means wrongly in "misjudge".

A word part attached to the end of a root that changes its meaning or part of speech, as "-less" means without in "fearless" and "-ify" makes verbs like "clarify".

The core part of a word that carries its basic meaning and to which prefixes and suffixes are added, as "struct" meaning build underlies "construct" and "instruct".

The grammatical category a word belongs to, such as noun, verb, adjective, or adverb; analogy answers must match the first pair's parts of speech to keep the relationship consistent.

The central point a passage communicates about its topic, broad enough to cover the whole text but specific enough to exclude details that support it.

A fact, example, or reason in a passage that explains, illustrates, or proves the main idea rather than stating it directly.

A conclusion a reader draws from evidence in the passage rather than from a statement made outright; the answer must be logically forced by the text, not merely plausible in real life.

The author's attitude toward the subject, revealed through word choice and detail, such as ironic, nostalgic, skeptical, or admiring.

The reason a writer produces a text, commonly to inform, persuade, entertain, or explain a process; purpose shapes which details are included and how they are arranged.

A word or phrase signaling how ideas connect, such as "however" for contrast, "therefore" for result, and "meanwhile" for simultaneity; these guide both reading and sentence completion.

A text structure that examines similarities and differences between two or more subjects, often signaled by words like "both", "unlike", "similarly", and "whereas".

A text structure explaining why something happened and what resulted, often signaled by words like "because", "thus", "consequently", and "leads to".

The distinction between statements that can be verified by evidence and statements expressing a judgment, belief, or feeling that cannot be proven true or false.

A whole number with no fractional or decimal part, including positive numbers, negative numbers, and zero, such as -7, 0, and 12.

A whole number greater than 1 whose only positive divisors are 1 and itself, such as 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11; 1 is not prime, and 2 is the only even prime.

A number that divides another number evenly with no remainder; the factors of 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12.

The result of multiplying a number by a whole number; the multiples of 4 are 4, 8, 12, 16, and so on, extending without end.

The smallest positive number that is a multiple of each of two or more given numbers; for 6 and 8 the least common multiple is 24.

The largest number that divides each of two or more given numbers evenly; for 18 and 24 the greatest common factor is 6.

A number's distance from zero on the number line, always zero or positive; the absolute value of both -5 and 5 is 5.

The agreed sequence for evaluating expressions: parentheses first, then exponents, then multiplication and division left to right, then addition and subtraction left to right.

A comparison of two quantities by division, often written as a fraction or with a colon; a ratio of 3 to 4 means the first quantity is three-fourths of the second.

An equation stating that two ratios are equal, such as 3/4 = 9/12; cross-multiplying solves a proportion when one value is unknown.

A ratio expressed out of 100, so 35 percent equals 35/100 or 0.35; percent problems typically ask for a part, a whole, or a rate of change.

A letter or symbol standing for an unknown or changing number in an expression or equation, such as x in 3x + 5 = 20.

A mathematical phrase combining numbers, variables, and operations without an equals sign, such as 4x - 7; it can be simplified or evaluated but not solved.

A mathematical statement that two expressions are equal, containing an equals sign; solving it means finding values of the variable that make the statement true.

An equation whose graph is a straight line and in which every variable appears to the first power, such as y = 2x + 3 or 5x - 4 = 16.

A measure of a line's steepness, calculated as the change in y divided by the change in x between two points; horizontal lines have slope 0 and vertical lines have undefined slope.

The grid formed by a horizontal x-axis and a vertical y-axis intersecting at the origin, used to locate points written as ordered pairs (x, y).

A rule pairing each input with exactly one output; in a set of ordered pairs, no two pairs may share the same x-value with different y-values.

The arithmetic average of a data set, found by adding all values and dividing by the number of values; unlike the median, it is strongly affected by extreme values.

The middle value of a data set arranged in order; if there is an even number of values, the median is the mean of the two middle values.

The value that appears most often in a data set; a set may have one mode, several modes, or no mode if every value appears equally often.