ISEE practice, Grade 11

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Scholar Tests · Set 2

ISEE practice test, Grade 11

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Verbal Reasoning

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

  1. 1.

    FEASIBLE

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

    1. Afestive
    2. Bpossible
    3. Cgloomy
    4. Dimpractical
  2. 2.

    Although the first chapters are ______, the novel becomes ______ once the mystery begins.

    Which pair of words best completes the sentence?

    1. Aslow . . . tedious
    2. Bslow . . . gripping
    3. Cbrief . . . shorter
    4. Dthrilling . . . dull
  3. 3.

    DIFFIDENT

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

    1. Ahungry
    2. Bshy
    3. Cdifferent
    4. Dconfident
  4. 4.

    CAPRICIOUS

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

    1. Aunpredictable
    2. Bplayful
    3. Csteady
    4. Dwealthy
  5. 5.

    The witness's account was ______ with the security video in every detail, so the jury believed her.

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Aunrelated
    2. Binconsistent
    3. Ccontrasting
    4. Dconsistent
  6. 6.

    His tone was ______, but his words were ______, so listeners could not tell whether he was joking.

    Which pair of words best completes the sentence?

    1. Agrave . . . serious
    2. Bgrave . . . solemn
    3. Cplayful . . . serious
    4. Dloud . . . quiet
  7. 7.

    Critics called the plan ______, arguing that it would cost far more than it could ever save.

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Aimprudent
    2. Bthrifty
    3. Cwise
    4. Dcautious
  8. 8.

    BELLIGERENT

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

    1. Agraceful
    2. Bhostile
    3. Cnoisy
    4. Dpeaceable
  9. 9.

    OSTENTATIOUS

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

    1. Ahungry
    2. Bclumsy
    3. Cshowy
    4. Dmodest
  10. 10.

    Her argument was so ______ that even those who disagreed admitted it was well made.

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Atrivial
    2. Bcompelling
    3. Cconfused
    4. Dflimsy

Quantitative Reasoning

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

  1. 1.

    A runner wore every race number from 189 through 302 in a season, one number per race. How many races did the runner run?

    1. A112
    2. B113
    3. C114
    4. D115
  2. 2.

    A phone plan costs $29 a month and includes 3 gigabytes of data. Each gigabyte used over 3 costs $5 more. Which equation gives the monthly bill C, in dollars, when g gigabytes are used, where g is greater than 3?

    1. AC = 29 + 5(g + 3)
    2. BC = 29(g − 3) + 5
    3. CC = 29 + 5(g − 3)
    4. DC = 29 + 5g
  3. 3.

    A theater has 12 rows with 34 seats in each row. For one show, 16 groups of 21 people each came, and every person took one seat. How many seats were empty?

    1. A336
    2. B744
    3. C371
    4. D72
  4. 4.

    The numbers are 22, 2, 14, 26, 4.
    Column A: The mean of the numbers
    Column B: The median of the numbers

    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.

    Column A: 24
    Column B: 42

    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.
  6. 6.

    A line passes through the points (−5, −5) and (0, 2).
    Column A: The slope of the line
    Column B: 3/2

    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.
  7. 7.

    A right triangle has legs of length 7 and 24.
    Column A: The length of the hypotenuse
    Column B: 24

    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.

    Ava, Grace and Olive buy a present together and pay $336 in all. Grace pays three times as much as Ava. Olive pays $14 less than Grace. How much does Ava pay?

    1. A$50
    2. B$150
    3. C$136
    4. D$48
  9. 9.

    The graph shows a proportional relationship between hours biked, x, and miles biked, y. The line passes through point P. What is the unit rate, the value of y when x is 1?

    1. A0.2
    2. B5
    3. C10
    4. D6
  10. 10.

    Two whole numbers multiply together to make 1,734, and one of them is 6 times the other. What is the smaller number?

    1. A17
    2. B19
    3. C102
    4. D289

Reading Comprehension

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

  1. The Dome No One Knew How to Build

    For years, the great cathedral of Florence stood with a gaping opening where its dome was meant to be. Construction of Santa Maria del Fiore had begun in 1296, and the city had approved a design crowned by an immense dome rising from an eight-sided base. The trouble was that no one knew how to build it. The opening to be covered was roughly 140 feet across, a span no European builder had attempted since ancient Rome, and it sat high above the ground on walls raised before anyone had solved the problem.

    The usual way to build an arch or dome was to erect a temporary wooden framework, called centering, to hold the masonry in place until the mortar set and the structure could support itself. For a span this wide, the framework would have required an impractical amount of timber, and it might have sagged or collapsed under its own weight. In 1418, the officials in charge of the cathedral announced a competition for a solution.

    The winner was Filippo Brunelleschi, a goldsmith by training who had spent years studying the ruins of ancient Rome. His proposal was audacious: he would raise the dome without traditional centering at all. Many observers considered the plan reckless, and the commissioners, unwilling to trust him entirely, at first appointed his old rival Lorenzo Ghiberti to share the post.

    Brunelleschi's solution depended on several ideas working together. The dome was built as two shells, a heavy inner one and a lighter outer one, joined by ribs, which reduced the total weight while keeping the structure stiff. In many sections the bricks were laid in a herringbone pattern, with some set on end among the horizontal courses, so that each new ring of masonry locked into the one below and could hold itself up as it curved inward. Rings of stone and wood, joined with iron, were built into the structure to resist the outward spreading force that threatens every dome.

    Just as inventive were his machines. To lift millions of pounds of brick and stone to workers high above the cathedral floor, Brunelleschi designed a hoist powered by oxen walking in a circle, with gearing that could raise or lower a load without the animals having to turn around. Engineers studied and sketched his devices for generations.

    The dome was completed in 1436, and the marble lantern on its summit was finished after Brunelleschi's death in 1446. Nearly six centuries later it is still the largest brick dome ever built, and its red tiles still dominate the skyline of Florence. Beyond its engineering, it announced a new kind of confidence: the conviction that a problem the ancients had left no instructions for could be solved through careful study and bold invention.

    1.

    Which best states the main idea of the passage?

    1. ABrunelleschi learned the craft of goldsmithing by studying the ancient ruins of Rome for many years.
    2. BBrunelleschi defeated Ghiberti by proposing a cheaper copy of a dome he had seen among the ruins of Rome.
    3. CFlorence's leaders delayed the dome for decades because the city could not afford to buy enough timber.
    4. DBrunelleschi solved the problem of Florence Cathedral's dome through a combination of structural and mechanical inventions.
  2. 2.

    According to the passage, what was the purpose of the herringbone pattern?

    1. AIt allowed oxen to raise and lower loads without turning around.
    2. BIt decorated the dome so that it could be seen across the city.
    3. CIt let each new ring of brick lock into the one below so it could support itself.
    4. DIt bound the rings of stone and wood together with strips of iron.
  3. 3.

    The passage suggests that the commissioners appointed Ghiberti to share the post because they

    1. Aexpected Brunelleschi to leave Florence before work began
    2. Bhad decided to use traditional wooden centering after all
    3. Cbelieved that Ghiberti had actually submitted the better design
    4. Dwere not yet confident that Brunelleschi's daring plan would succeed
  4. 4.

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

    1. Alayers of bricks
    2. Bparts of a formal meal
    3. Ctracks used for racing
    4. Dclasses taken at a school
  5. 5.

    Why does the author explain the usual method of building with centering?

    1. ATo describe the method that Brunelleschi finally chose to use
    2. BTo suggest that Ghiberti had invented that building technique
    3. CTo argue that wooden frameworks are stronger than brick or stone
    4. DTo show why the standard approach could not work for a dome of this size
  6. 6.

    What role does the final paragraph play in the passage?

    1. AIt gives the dome's completion and lasting fame, then links it to a broader change in outlook.
    2. BIt compares the Florence dome point by point with domes in ancient Rome.
    3. CIt introduces a criticism of Brunelleschi's methods made by later engineers.
    4. DIt explains why oxen were preferred to human workers for lifting stone.

  7. Snowfall in the Dark

    Far below the reach of sunlight, in water only a few degrees above freezing, it is always snowing. The flakes are not ice. They are clumps of dead and dying matter: the remains of microscopic algae, the shed shells of tiny animals, waste pellets and grains of dust blown off distant deserts, all bound together by a sticky film of mucus that many sea creatures produce. Ocean scientists call this steady drift "marine snow," and although a single flake is hardly worth noticing, the snowfall as a whole is one of the planet's most important means of moving carbon.

    The process begins at the sunlit surface. Phytoplankton, single-celled organisms that float near the top of the sea, absorb carbon dioxide and use sunlight to turn it into living tissue, much as land plants do. Phytoplankton multiply quickly and die quickly, and they are eaten by small grazing animals that in turn release compact waste pellets. Each of these fragments contains carbon that was, not long before, dissolved in the water and in contact with the air above it.

    Most of that material never travels far. Bacteria break much of it down long before it leaves the upper ocean, releasing the carbon back into the water, where it can return to the atmosphere. But some particles collide, stick together and grow heavy enough to sink faster than they can be consumed. A clump may spend weeks falling, and along the way it serves as a moving meal. Animals of the deep, from small crustaceans to the vampire squid, which gathers drifting particles with long, sticky filaments, depend on this rain from above in a place where almost nothing grows.

    Only a small fraction of the original carbon reaches the deep ocean or the seafloor. That fraction matters enormously, however. Carbon carried into the deep can remain isolated from the atmosphere for centuries, and some of it is buried in sediment for far longer. Scientists refer to this whole chain, from surface growth to deep storage, as the "biological pump." Without it, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air would be considerably higher than it is.

    Researchers study marine snow with sediment traps, which are containers anchored at various depths to catch what falls, and increasingly with cameras and robotic floats that can count particles as they pass. Their measurements remain uncertain, partly because the ocean is vast and the snowfall varies with season and place. A spring bloom of phytoplankton can send down a heavy burst; a nutrient-poor stretch of open ocean may produce only a thin drizzle.

    What the research makes clear is that the deep sea, often imagined as remote and unchanging, is closely tied to the surface world. The carbon in a flake drifting past a vampire squid may have been in the air above the waves only a season earlier.

    7.

    Which choice best states the central idea of the passage?

    1. AThe vampire squid is the most important link in the ocean's carbon cycle.
    2. BScientists have now measured exactly how much carbon the ocean removes from the air each year.
    3. CPhytoplankton are the only organisms able to survive in the deep, dark parts of the ocean.
    4. DSinking particles called marine snow carry carbon from the ocean's surface into the deep, where some of it is stored for a long time.
  8. 8.

    According to the passage, what happens to most of the material that forms near the surface?

    1. AIt forms flakes that fall to the bottom within hours.
    2. BIt is eaten by vampire squid in the deep ocean.
    3. CIt is caught in sediment traps anchored at various depths.
    4. DIt is broken down by bacteria before it can sink very far.
  9. 9.

    Based on the passage, a sediment trap placed beneath a spring phytoplankton bloom would most likely

    1. Acollect nothing, since all of the material is eaten near the surface
    2. Bcollect mainly ice crystals rather than organic matter
    3. Cshow that the biological pump stops working in spring
    4. Dcollect more falling material than a trap beneath a nutrient-poor area
  10. 10.

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

    1. Aheld
    2. Bleaped
    3. Ccertain
    4. Dlimited

Mathematics Achievement

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

  1. 1.

    A parallelogram has an area of 322 square inches. One base is 23 inches long, and the slanted side next to it is 16 inches long. What is the height of the parallelogram to that base, in inches?

    1. A16
    2. B14
    3. C20 1/8
    4. D28
  2. 2.

    What is the value of 6⁻²?

    1. A36
    2. B−36
    3. C1/36
    4. D−12
  3. 3.

    A circle has a radius of 28 cm. Taking π as 22/7, what is its area?

    1. A9,856 cm²
    2. B176 cm²
    3. C88 cm²
    4. D2,464 cm²
  4. 4.

    How many different 3-digit numbers can be made from the digits 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 9 if no digit is used more than once?

    1. A120
    2. B18
    3. C216
    4. D30
  5. 5.

    The table shows the total cost c, in dollars, after m months. It is a linear function. What is the initial value, the value of c when m = 0?

    1. A17
    2. B62
    3. C96
    4. D28
  6. 6.

    A triangle has vertices at (−6, 0), (−2, 0), and (4, −9). What is the area of the triangle, in square units?

    1. A18
    2. B8
    3. C36
    4. D13
  7. 7.

    A bike costs $250. It is marked down 10%. Then the sale price is marked down another 20%. What is the final price?

    1. A$175
    2. B$180
    3. C$225
    4. D$200
  8. 8.

    In a fantasy story, 6 zebs equal 1 kip, and 7 kips equal 1 morv. How many morvs equal 168 zebs?

    1. A24
    2. B28
    3. C7,056
    4. D4
  9. 9.

    The formula P = 2l + 2w gives the perimeter of a rectangle. Which equation is the formula solved for l?

    1. Al = (P − 2w) ÷ 2
    2. Bl = (P − w) ÷ 2
    3. Cl = P − 2w
    4. Dl = P ÷ 2 − 2w
  10. 10.

    600 students were asked to name their favorite season. The circle graph shows the results. How many more students chose Summer than Spring?

    1. A30
    2. B90
    3. C5
    4. D150

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.