Description

  • SSAT/ISEE Intensive Prep Course for Private or Boarding School Admissions
  • TACHS/COOP/HSPT Prep Course for Catholic School Admissions
  • SHSAT Prep Course for New York Specialized School Admissions

 

SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test)

The Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT) is given nationally several times a year or students may make individual arrangements to take it on other dates.The test consists of two parts: a brief essay and a multiple-choice aptitude test which measures your ability to solve mathematics problems, to use language, and to comprehend what you read. Scores depend only on the answers to the multiple choice questions; the results of the essay are sent to prospective schools to evaluate on their own.The test is administered to students in grades 5-11 and consists of five sections. You will be given 25 minutes for the writing sample, 40 minutes for the reading section, and 30 minutes each for the quantitative and verbal sections. All questions on the SSAT are equal in value, and scores are based on the number of questions you answer correctly minus one-quarter point for each question you answer incorrectly.

The test is administered on three levels: Elementary (for students currently in grades 3-4), Lower (for students currently in grades 5-7) and Upper (for students currently in grades 8-11). Since more than one age group take the same tests, the test scores are compared to that of the national average. Typically higher national percentile would shine your applications.

Our courses focus on enhancing the vocabulary level, improving reading comprehension and being able to analyze mathematical questions. Join us today and become a top student among your age group!
 

The Elementary Level SSAT

The Elementary Level SSAT is given to students in third or fourth grade. The test consists of four sections.

Quantitative Section

This section consists of thirty quantitative items. The items require the basic concepts for the third and fourth grade mathematics and a few items with challenging concepts. These include questions on number sense, properties, and operations, algebra and functions, geometry and spatial sense, measurement and probability.

Verbal Section

The verbal section consists of two parts. The first part is a synonyms section and the second part is an analogies section. Synonyms are words with similar meanings in the same language. Analogies focus on making connections and seeing relationships between them based on knowledge already possess. These sections test understanding of language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings by relating them to words with similar but not identical meanings.

Reading Section

This section consists of seven short passages with multiple-choice questions associated with them. These passages are grade level appropriate. Students are asked to demonstrate comprehension of a variety of printed materials. The questions require the students to show understanding of main ideas and details to determine the main idea of the text.

Writing Sample

The writing sample measures the student’s ability to write written response. The student is asked to look at a picture and tell a story about what happened. This writing sample is not graded but a copy is provided to the school.
 

ISEE (Independent School Entrance Exam)

The ISEE is a three-hour admission test for entrance into grades 5-12. The ISEE consists of carefully constructed and standardized verbal and quantitative reasoning tests that measure a student’s capability for learning, and reading comprehension and mathematics achievement tests that provide specific information about an individual’s strengths and weaknesses in those areas. All levels include a timed essay written in response to an assigned topic. The essay is not scored, but a copy is forwarded to the recipient schools along with the Individual Student Report, which shows scaled scores, percentiles, and stanines.

The ISEE is given to students between grades 5-12 and includes Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, and Mathematics Achievement. All four sections are given to each of the age groups with slight differentiations in emphasis between the lower, middle and high school levels of the examination.

The Independent School Entrance Examination is an examination that many independent high schools require or suggest that students take as a part of the application process. ISEE is a three hour admission test that has three levels of difficulty based on the age group: Lower, Middle, and Upper.

ISEE consists of several parts: (1) Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning (2) Reading Comprehension and Mathematics (3) Essay Section.
 

HSPT/COOP/TACHS (Catholic High School Entrance Exams)

If you are preparing to attend a Catholic high school, an essential part of getting into the school of your choice is taking and passing one of three Catholic high school entrance exams: the HSPT, the COOP, or the TACHS. The two most commonly used Catholic high school entrance exams are the COOP and the HSPT. If you live within the Archdiocese of New York, or the Diocese of Brooklyn and Rockland County, you probably will have to take the Test for Admissions into Catholic High Schools, commonly known as the TACHS. All three Catholic high school entrance exams feature some type of math section, English language section and reading section. No matter which version of the Catholic High School Entrance Exams you’re taking, you will to be tested on your basic understanding of the English language. The English language section tests on language points such as grammar, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and usage. The HSPT, COOP, and TACHS all has vocabulary questions to measure how strong your vocabulary is. Reading comprehension might be a challenge for some students, but it is one of the main sections in Catholic high school entrance exam.
 

SHSAT (Specialized High School Admissions Test)

Students in grades 8 or 9 who wish to apply to New York City’s Specialized high schools must take the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) and submit an application listing their choices of schools in order of preference.

The SHSAT is a timed multiple-choice test with two sections, verbal and math, that must be completed in a total of 2 hours and 30 minutes. In the first section, students demonstrate their verbal reasoning and reading comprehension by ordering sentences to form a coherent paragraph, answering questions of logical reasoning, and analyzing and interpreting texts.

In the second section, students demonstrate their math skills by answering computational and word questions that require arithmetic, algebra, probability, statistics, geometry, and trigonometry (on the Grade 9 test only).

The Specialized High Schools base admission solely on your score on the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT):

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