ISEE practice, Grade 10

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Scholar Tests · Set 2

ISEE practice test, Grade 10

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Verbal Reasoning

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 5 minutes.

  1. 1.

    BENIGN

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Aharmful
    2. Bancient
    3. Charmless
    4. Dnoisy
  2. 2.

    Critics found the film ______, but audiences, who ______ it, made it the year's biggest hit.

    Which pair of words best completes the sentence?

    1. Along . . . watched
    2. Bshallow . . . adored
    3. Cprofound . . . adored
    4. Dprofound . . . ignored
  3. 3.

    Rising sea levels pose an ______ threat to the island, which sits barely a yard above the tide.

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Aminor
    2. Bunlikely
    3. Cdistant
    4. Dimminent
  4. 4.

    LANGUID

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Ahungry
    2. Bancient
    3. Csluggish
    4. Dvigorous
  5. 5.

    PRAGMATIC

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Apractical
    2. Banxious
    3. Cgenerous
    4. Didealistic
  6. 6.

    Though she was the youngest on the team, her ______ judgment made her its natural leader.

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Afaulty
    2. Bhasty
    3. Csound
    4. Drash
  7. 7.

    The ancient manuscript was so ______ that scholars handled it only with gloves, fearing it might ______.

    Which pair of words best completes the sentence?

    1. Afragile . . . crumble
    2. Bsturdy . . . last
    3. Cfragile . . . endure
    4. Dsturdy . . . crumble
  8. 8.

    The mayor's proposal was ______ by the council, which voted against it nine to one.

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Arejected
    2. Bendorsed
    3. Cadopted
    4. Dapproved
  9. 9.

    OSTENTATIOUS

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Ahungry
    2. Bshowy
    3. Cmodest
    4. Dobvious
  10. 10.

    CAPRICIOUS

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Asteady
    2. Bgreedy
    3. Cwealthy
    4. Dunpredictable

Quantitative Reasoning

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 9 minutes.

  1. 1.

    n is an even integer. Which expression is always odd?

    1. An² + 1
    2. B3n
    3. Cn + 2
    4. D2n
  2. 2.

    A deli sells almonds for $12 per pound. How much do 28 ounces of almonds cost? (1 pound = 16 ounces)

    1. A$21.00
    2. B$28.00
    3. C$33.60
    4. D$336.00
  3. 3.

    7x − 10 = 25
    Column A: x
    Column B: 5

    Compare the quantity in Column A with the quantity in Column B.

    1. AColumn A is greater.
    2. BColumn B is greater.
    3. CThe two quantities are equal.
    4. DIt cannot be decided from the information given.
  4. 4.

    A circle has radius 6. A square has sides of length 10.
    Column A: The area of the circle
    Column B: The area of the square

    Compare the quantity in Column A with the quantity in Column B.

    1. AColumn A is greater.
    2. BColumn B is greater.
    3. CThe two quantities are equal.
    4. DIt cannot be decided from the information given.
  5. 5.

    In which situation do the two changes combine to make 0?

    1. AAn elevator goes up 15 floors, then goes down 16 floors.
    2. BThe temperature outside rises 12 degrees, then drops 24 degrees.
    3. CA shop owner puts $54 into a bank account, then puts $54 into the account.
    4. DA football team gains 19 yards, then loses 19 yards.
  6. 6.

    The same whole number is added to the top and to the bottom of 1/5. The fraction this makes is exactly 3/5. What number was added?

    1. A6
    2. B2
    3. C5
    4. D4
  7. 7.

    7x − 9 = 19
    Column A: x
    Column B: 2

    Compare the quantity in Column A with the quantity in Column B.

    1. AColumn A is greater.
    2. BColumn B is greater.
    3. CThe two quantities are equal.
    4. DIt cannot be decided from the information given.
  8. 8.

    a and b are positive whole numbers, and a + b = 10.
    Column A: a
    Column B: b

    Compare the quantity in Column A with the quantity in Column B.

    1. AColumn A is greater.
    2. BColumn B is greater.
    3. CThe two quantities are equal.
    4. DIt cannot be decided from the information given.
  9. 9.

    A jar holds an unknown number of white beads. Ruby adds 110 red beads and mixes them in well. Then she picks 56 beads at random, and 7 of them are red. Based on this, about how many white beads were in the jar before the red beads were added?

    1. A990
    2. B880
    3. C770
    4. D166
  10. 10.

    If 9t = 2u = 10v = 12w, and t, u, v, and w are all positive numbers, which letter has the least value?

    1. Au
    2. Bv
    3. Cw
    4. Dt

Reading Comprehension

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 10 minutes.

  1. Third Row, Aisle Seat

    Let me be clear about one thing: I was only at the recital because my mother had confiscated my car keys until I agreed to go. I had quit piano two years earlier, at fifteen, and I had never regretted it for a single afternoon. Lessons had been a weekly sentence, Mrs. Abernathy's metronome ticking like the clock in a dentist's waiting room. When I stopped, I felt nothing but relief, and I said so to anyone who asked, and to several people who did not.

    So I sat in the third row of the community hall with my arms folded, prepared to be bored. The program listed eleven students. My sister, Lena, was ninth, playing a Chopin nocturne, the one in E-flat. I knew it was the one in E-flat only because it was printed in the program.

    The first eight performers were what you would expect. A boy in a clip-on tie rushed through a minuet as though it were chasing him. A girl stopped twice in the same measure and started over both times, her face burning. I happened to notice that she had been fine until her left hand crossed over, which is where everyone gets lost, but I mention it only because it was obvious.

    Then Lena walked out. She sat, adjusted the bench a quarter of an inch, and waited, which is something Mrs. Abernathy used to tell us to do and which I never once managed. The opening was steady. By the second page she had sped up slightly, and I caught myself leaning forward, because the trill near the bottom of that page is a trap if you take it too fast, and she was taking it too fast.

    She didn't fall into it. She came out of the trill clean and let the last chord ring until it dissolved into the hum of the heating vents. People applauded. I applauded too, because it would have been rude not to.

    Afterward, in the lobby, Lena found me by the table of lemon bars.

    "You were doing it again," she said.

    "Doing what?"

    "Your fingers. On your knee. The whole time." She grinned. "You played the entire left hand. Mom saw."

    I told her that was ridiculous, that it was a nervous habit, that it could have been any song at all. She just took a lemon bar and went off to find her teacher.

    On the drive home, with my keys returned, I did not turn on the radio. When we got back, I went upstairs and rearranged a few things in my closet, nothing important, just a box of old sheet music I had been meaning to throw out for two years and had somehow kept forgetting to. I set it on my desk, where it would be easier to remember.

    1.

    Which best describes what happens in the passage?

    1. AA young pianist overcomes her stage fright and wins first prize in a community competition.
    2. BA brother and sister argue about which of them is the more talented pianist in the family.
    3. CA piano teacher persuades a former student to return to lessons after a two-year break.
    4. DA narrator who insists he no longer cares about piano reveals his attachment to it at his sister's recital.
  2. 2.

    According to the narrator, what did Lena do before she began to play?

    1. AShe adjusted the bench slightly and waited.
    2. BShe set a metronome on top of the piano.
    3. CShe looked for her brother in the third row.
    4. DShe bowed to the audience and smiled.
  3. 3.

    The narrator's claim that he knew which nocturne Lena would play "only because it was printed in the program" most likely suggests that he

    1. Aknows the music far better than he is willing to admit
    2. Bhas never heard any of Chopin's music before tonight
    3. Cwas not told in advance which piece Lena had chosen
    4. Darrived too late to hear the opening of Lena's piece
  4. 4.

    As it is used in the passage, the word "sentence" most nearly means

    1. Aa punishment to be endured
    2. Ban official announcement
    3. Ca short phrase of music
    4. Da written statement of opinion
  5. 5.

    What is the most likely purpose of the final paragraph?

    1. ATo hint that the narrator may be reconsidering his decision to quit piano
    2. BTo show that the narrator has finally thrown his old music away
    3. CTo suggest that the narrator plans to begin teaching Lena
    4. DTo confirm that the narrator found the whole recital boring
  6. 6.

    How does the narrator's account develop over the course of the passage?

    1. AHis claims of indifference are steadily undercut by details showing how closely he follows the music.
    2. BHe begins by praising his old lessons and ends by rejecting piano completely.
    3. CHe moves from describing his sister to recalling his own past performances.
    4. DHe shifts from the present to a long memory of his very first piano lesson.

  7. Four in the Morning, the Bakery

    The street is still a held breath, every window dark, when the baker turns her key and lets the light out first. Flour rises from the sacks like weather in a jar, a small snow falling only in this room. She sinks her wrists into the dough the way a swimmer tests the lake before the plunge, then folds it, turns it, folds it, patient as a tide that knows exactly where the shore will be. The ovens breathe their orange through the glass. The loaves come up like hills after a rain, their crusts cracked open into small brown maps of countries no one living has explored. I used to think the city woke itself, that morning simply happened, like the sun, a gift that no one had to wrap or carry. But here is morning, wrapped in paper bags, still warm, and carried out the door by hand, and here is someone who began it in the dark so that the rest of us could wake to bread.

    7.

    What is the poem mainly about?

    1. AA baker's struggle to keep her shop open in a city that ignores her and her bread
    2. BA swimmer's memories of a cold lake she visited as a child before a storm
    3. CA baker's early work, which leads the speaker to see the hidden labor behind ordinary mornings
    4. DA speaker's longing to leave the city and explore faraway, unknown countries
  8. 8.

    In the poem, the flour rising from the sacks is compared to

    1. Aa tide that knows the shore
    2. Ba small snow falling inside the room
    3. Ca swimmer testing a lake
    4. Da held breath on the street
  9. 9.

    The line "a gift that no one had to wrap or carry" suggests that the speaker once believed

    1. Athe city's residents were ungrateful for each sunrise
    2. Bgifts mean more when they are wrapped with great care
    3. Cbread ought to be delivered rather than carried home
    4. Dmornings arrived on their own, without anyone's effort
  10. 10.

    As it is used in the poem, the word "tests" most nearly means

    1. Atries out cautiously
    2. Bchemically analyzes
    3. Cstrains the patience of
    4. Dgives an exam to

Mathematics Achievement

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 9 minutes.

  1. 1.

    Which inequality describes every number x that is at least −7 and at most 1?

    1. A−7 < x ≤ 1
    2. B−7 ≤ x < 1
    3. C−7 < x < 1
    4. D−7 ≤ x ≤ 1
  2. 2.

    A table gives the probability distribution of the number of hits a softball player gets in one game. Number of hits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. Probability: 0.10, 0.30, 0.15, 0.25, 0.20. About how many of 200 games would you expect to have at least 3 hits?

    1. A50
    2. B90
    3. C110
    4. D40
  3. 3.

    What is the solution of the system y = −x + 2 and y = 3x − 22?

    1. A(−4, 6)
    2. B(6, −4)
    3. C(6, 2)
    4. D(−6, −4)
  4. 4.

    A circle with a diameter of 56 cm fits exactly inside a square, touching all four sides. Taking π as 22/7, how much of the square is NOT covered by the circle?

    1. A674 cm²
    2. B669 cm²
    3. C672 cm²
    4. D2,464 cm²
  5. 5.

    What is the length of the side marked with a question mark, to the nearest tenth of a yard?

    1. A6.5 yards
    2. B2.2 yards
    3. C3.6 yards
    4. D5.0 yards
  6. 6.

    A group of students answered a survey, and the circle graph shows the results. 175 of the students chose Fall. How many students answered the survey?

    1. A210
    2. B269
    3. C500
    4. D700
  7. 7.

    In a fantasy story, 6 tavs equal 1 rux, and 2 ruxs equal 1 plom. How many ploms equal 24 tavs?

    1. A4
    2. B288
    3. C3
    4. D2
  8. 8.

    Points A, B, C, D, and E are equally spaced on a number line, in that order. Point A is at −4 and point E is at 16. What is the coordinate of point B?

    1. A5
    2. B6
    3. C1
    4. D0
  9. 9.

    Which equation has infinitely many solutions?

    1. A−6(x − 3) + 6 = −7x − 1
    2. B−3(x + 6) + 5 = −3x − 8
    3. C5(x + 3) − 5 = 5x + 10
    4. D3(x + 1) + 7 = −3x
  10. 10.

    Triangle ABC is rotated 90° counterclockwise about the origin. What are the coordinates of the image of point B?

    1. A(−2, 1)
    2. B(2, 1)
    3. C(−1, −2)
    4. D(2, −1)

Written by Scholar Tests in the style of the published ISEE question types. Not a real ISEE test, and a practice score is not a real score.