Just got ISEE test scores!! :( help?

<p>Hi!
So I just got my ISEE results and theyre horrible! I wasn't expecting much because I was sick that day, but do you know how badly they'll affect me?
I have stellar grades normally (avg 97) and I took the upper level test, applying for 10th grade
Please help! Thank you! :D</p>

<p>where are you applying? What where your isee scores?</p>

<p>I’m applying to Andover, exeter, Groton, sps, hotchkiss, and Deerfield
My scores are 88,81,84,75 :/</p>

<p>Hi Ambi,</p>

<p>See the thread I started just a little before yours and you’ll find some important info about how ISEE changed this exam drastically just over three years ago. For those entering 9th grade, I know the scores you earned are actually fantastic, considering the formatting changes made and the level of difficulty the new test now reflects. In fact, this test is now considered to be one of the most rigorous and intense of any prep school test students can take. Not sure the exact data on your scores for those going into 10th but probably still considered quite good, really!
Do some Googling around and make sure you specify “ISEE 2009 and beyond” as that’s when they changed the exam. You’ll be amazed to learn what’s been going on with this test. When I took DC to get the prep book, the bookstore and a few tutors had no idea the books from pre-2009 were out of date.</p>

<p>Consider yourself in the upper level for most categories as the 9’s are a rather odd bird now, given the sweeping changes made across the board. At least from what I’ve learned recently, but I am certainly not the authority on this test. Sure wish I was! Anyone out there who is…PLEASE weigh in. :)</p>

<p>Anyway congrats to you and good luck with your apps!</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your input!!!
I am so so relieved, I didn’t know about the changes made!
Thanks again!</p>

<p>I’m curious. Why do people take the ISEE instead of the SSAT?</p>

<p>Although NYC day schools will typically accept SSAT scores, the general consensus is that they expect students to take the ISEE.</p>

<p>Ya exactly, and I live in NYC so it’s the more common option.
Additionally, I’m not very good with analogies and the ISEE just felt easier :)</p>

<p>For us, the the idea of applying to BS was something that didn’t come up until right before Thksgvg. B/c so many of the SSAT test dates were already filled up & so many locations were at capacity, we had no choice if we wanted to get some test score in to the schools by application deadline. BS that have day students will accept both, thankfully. However, there were a couple schools that we had to cross off the list b/c they only took SSAT. </p>

<p>The one thing that really makes the ISEE harder to “practice/ study for” for is that you cannot take the test more than once every 6 mos. Unlike the SSAT. Also, there is little practice material out there to study and you can only take it if you have a school application already submitted to which they can send the scores. Not allowed to just take it for the sake of getting familiar with the format, etc…</p>

<p>Had we known the ins and outs of this little nightmare, we may have just opted to wait for a later SSAT test & tried to see if the later submission would work as long as it was taken before the App deadlines…</p>

<p>Yeah Ive noticed SSATs have limited December/January test dates</p>

<p>What were your stanines? Stanines are the important aspect that the schools look at.</p>

<p>I will have my results later this week. By the way, I took the ISEE exactly 2 years ago, and I did receive a letter from ISEE “after” March 10 stating that there was an error in scoring a minimal number of the January tests, but they certified that the error was minimal and only affected a minimal number of test takers. They went on to say that the error “should not” have affected acceptances as very few people would have a different stanine change. The letter did not state “who” was affected, how many people were affected, and what the effects of the error were. It was all a moot point anyhow, as the letter was sent out in April or May, a few months after acceptance letters. What was one to do? Contact a school and say, “Hey, maybe I was affected. Can I have a few months to hear back from ISEE to see if my test grading was affected. If it was, will you send me an acceptance in June?” I think not.</p>

<p>I got a 7 on qr, 7 vr, 7 on ma, and 6 on rc
Wow I can’t believe they did that! Admissions mustve been really unfair that year :/</p>

<p>Stanine stands for “standard nine” and was first used for Air Force testing during WWII (from wikipedia). The point was to stop people from focusing on small differences in scores. In NYC, a standard conversation between students might be “How did you do on your ISEE’s? I got 2 eights, a seven and a six.” So, they’re used commonly. I suspect admission officers at NYC schools look at the exact percentiles in addition to the stanines, but I don’t know that for sure.</p>

<p>Stanine are easy to calculate from the percentiles using the following table:</p>

<p>Stanine Low High
1 1 3
2 4 10
3 11 22
4 23 39
5 40 59
6 60 76
7 77 88
8 89 95
9 96 99</p>

<p>Sorry about the formatting. You can read the table as the stanine followed by the lowest percentile which gets you that stanine then followed by the highest percentile which gets that same stanine.</p>

<p>Thank you Lvillegrad. That is very helpful.</p>

<p>Hi GOFORPREP, if someone received stanines of 9,7,8,7 for verbal, reading, quant, math, respectively on the Jan 5 ISEE test, do you consider they are good enough to apply to HADES?</p>

<p>I recieved my isee score and got two 9’s one 7 and one 5. I’m worried the low 5 would effect my chances of get in to a top notch middle school.
I took the lower level isee. help!</p>