ISEE practice, Grade 8

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Scholar Tests · Set 1

ISEE practice test, Grade 8

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Verbal Reasoning

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

  1. 1.

    INTREPID

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

    1. Afearless
    2. Bclumsy
    3. Ctired
    4. Dthirsty
  2. 2.

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

    Which pair of words best completes the sentence?

    1. Athrilling . . . dull
    2. Bslow . . . gripping
    3. Cthrilling . . . gripping
    4. Dbrief . . . shorter
  3. 3.

    PAUCITY

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

    1. Ascarcity
    2. Bhonesty
    3. Cabundance
    4. Dpatience
  4. 4.

    HACKNEYED

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

    1. Aoverused
    2. Bbroken
    3. Cnervous
    4. Doriginal
  5. 5.

    RELEGATE

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

    1. Apromote
    2. Bimitate
    3. Cdemote
    4. Ddelegate
  6. 6.

    Scientists remain ______ about the claim until other laboratories can reproduce the results.

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Aenthusiastic
    2. Bcareless
    3. Ccertain
    4. Dskeptical
  7. 7.

    Because the treaty's terms were vague, both nations could claim it ______ their position.

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Asupported
    2. Bweakened
    3. Creversed
    4. Dcontradicted
  8. 8.

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

    Which word best completes the sentence?

    1. Aconsistent
    2. Bcontrasting
    3. Cunrelated
    4. Dcompeting
  9. 9.

    VENERATE

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

    1. Aventilate
    2. Bimitate
    3. Crevere
    4. Dabandon
  10. 10.

    Initially ______ of the new teacher, the students soon grew ______ of her patient methods.

    Which pair of words best completes the sentence?

    1. Awary . . . suspicious
    2. Bproud . . . tired
    3. Cwary . . . fond
    4. Dtrusting . . . afraid

Quantitative Reasoning

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

  1. 1.

    The same whole number is added to the top and to the bottom of 14/19. The fraction this makes is exactly 3/4. What number was added?

    1. A5
    2. B1
    3. C3
    4. D15
  2. 2.

    If p + 7 = q − 2 = r − 7 = s + 9, which letter has the greatest value?

    1. As
    2. Bp
    3. Cq
    4. Dr
  3. 3.

    Column A: 35
    Column B: 53

    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.

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

    1. AAn elevator goes up 12 floors, then goes down 12 floors.
    2. BA shop owner puts $42 into a bank account, then puts $84 into the account.
    3. CA football team gains 18 yards, then loses 22 yards.
    4. DThe temperature outside drops 14 degrees, then drops 14 degrees.
  5. 5.

    A bag holds 7 red marbles and 7 blue marbles. One marble is taken at random.
    Column A: The probability that the marble is red
    Column B: 2/3

    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 coach has 7 runners: 2 sprinters and 5 distance runners. The coach will choose 3 of the runners for a relay team. How many different relay teams have exactly one sprinter?

    1. A35
    2. B12
    3. C20
    4. D10
  7. 7.

    How many multiples of 4 are there from 40 to 140, including 40 and 140?

    1. A25
    2. B35
    3. C27
    4. D26
  8. 8.

    A right triangle has legs of length 7 and 24.
    Column A: The length of the hypotenuse
    Column B: 25

    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 circle has radius 4. A square has sides of length 3.
    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.
  10. 10.

    A group of 109 people is made up of men, women and children. The number of women is 14 more than half the number of men. The number of children is 15 more than half the number of men. How many more men than women are there?

    1. A74
    2. B6
    3. C1
    4. D34

Reading Comprehension

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

  1. The Price Tag You Cannot See

    Suppose a friend gives you a free ticket to a concert on Saturday night. The ticket cost you nothing, so going seems to cost nothing as well. An economist would disagree. If attending means giving up a shift at a part-time job that would have paid sixty dollars, or an evening you had planned to spend finishing a project, then the concert has a real cost after all. It is simply a cost that does not appear on any receipt.

    Economists call this opportunity cost: the value of the best alternative you give up when you make a choice. The idea rests on a plain observation about scarcity. Time, money and attention are limited, so every decision to use them one way is also a decision not to use them another way. The old saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch makes the same point. Even when someone else pays for the meal, the hour you spend eating it is an hour you cannot spend on anything else.

    Opportunity cost is easy to state and surprisingly easy to forget. A price tag is visible and specific; the alternative a purchase rules out is usually vague and unspoken. As a result, people tend to weigh what they can see. A shopper choosing between two phones may spend an hour comparing features while never asking what else the extra two hundred dollars could have bought. Researchers who study decision making have found that simply reminding people of what else they could do with their money can make them noticeably more cautious about spending it.

    The concept also explains choices that look puzzling at first. Consider the full cost of attending college. Tuition and books are the obvious expenses, but economists add another: the wages a student could have earned by working full time during those years. For most students, the investment still pays off over a lifetime. For a rare few with an unusually valuable opportunity, such as a promising young athlete, the income given up may be large enough that delaying college makes sense.

    It is worth separating opportunity cost from a related idea that often causes confusion. A sunk cost is money or effort already spent that cannot be recovered. Because it is gone whichever way you decide, it should not influence what you do next. The person who sits through a dull movie only because the ticket was expensive is letting a sunk cost steer the decision, while ignoring the opportunity cost of the next two hours.

    None of this means every choice requires a spreadsheet. The value of the concept lies in a single habit of mind: asking, before committing, "Compared with what?" That question turns invisible costs into visible ones, and visible costs are far easier to weigh.

    1.

    Which choice best states the main idea of the passage?

    1. AEvery choice carries the hidden cost of the best alternative given up, and noticing that cost leads to better decisions.
    2. BCollege is a poor investment for most students because of the wages they give up while studying.
    3. CFree gifts such as concert tickets usually end up costing more than items people buy for themselves.
    4. DShoppers make better choices when they compare the features of many different products.
  2. 2.

    According to the passage, what expense do economists add to the obvious costs of college?

    1. AThe money spent on application fees
    2. BThe cost of books and supplies
    3. CThe wages a student could have earned by working full time
    4. DThe interest charged on student loans
  3. 3.

    Based on the passage, a diner who keeps eating an unappetizing restaurant meal only because it was expensive is

    1. Afollowing the habit of asking "Compared with what?"
    2. Breducing the meal's opportunity cost to zero
    3. Callowing a sunk cost to influence a decision
    4. Dcorrectly weighing the meal's opportunity cost
  4. 4.

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

    1. Aremains
    2. Blies down
    3. Cdepends
    4. Drelaxes
  5. 5.

    The author would most likely agree with which statement?

    1. AMost people already think carefully about opportunity costs.
    2. BA decision is easier to judge well when its alternatives are made explicit.
    3. CMoney already spent should guide what a person does next.
    4. DGood decisions require detailed calculations every time.
  6. 6.

    The example of the free concert ticket in the first paragraph mainly serves to

    1. Ashow how a sunk cost differs from an opportunity cost
    2. Bexplain why concert tickets have become more expensive
    3. Cintroduce a hidden cost before the passage names the concept that describes it
    4. Dargue that people should refuse tickets that are given to them for free

  7. Ice-Out

    All winter the lake kept its one opinion, a white sentence stretched from shore to shore that no one bothered to argue with. We walked on it. We drilled small doubts in it and fished them for perch, and it held. My brother and I had a winter like that: a single hard surface over everything, words we stepped around, a door we closed so gently it was almost polite. Then March, and the lake began to talk. At night it groaned like a ship's old timber; by day long seams of pewter opened and the wind leaned on them until they gave. Nobody announced it. One morning the open water was simply there, dark and moving, full of the sky, and a pair of ducks floated where we had stood. He called that afternoon about nothing, the weather, a game, a borrowed jacket. I listened to the thaw in his voice and said nothing important back, which was, I think, the important thing.

    7.

    Which choice best describes the central idea of the poem?

    1. ATwo brothers plan a fishing trip for the day the lake finally thaws.
    2. BThe speaker warns readers about the dangers of thin ice in early spring.
    3. CThe speaker regrets spending a winter fishing instead of talking with a brother.
    4. DThe breakup of the lake's ice mirrors a quiet easing of tension between the speaker and a brother.
  8. 8.

    According to the poem, what appears on the open water once the ice is gone?

    1. AA fishing boat
    2. BA ship's old timber
    3. CA school of perch
    4. DA pair of ducks
  9. 9.

    The line "I listened to the thaw in his voice" suggests that the brother

    1. Awas speaking quietly because of a poor connection
    2. Bwas angry that the speaker had not called first
    3. Chad caught a cold while standing out on the lake
    4. Dsounded warmer and less guarded than he had during the winter
  10. 10.

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

    1. Aoffered freely
    2. Bbroke apart
    3. Cproduced a result
    4. Dhanded over

Mathematics Achievement

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

  1. 1.

    If x = −3, what is the value of x² + 2|x|?

    1. A3
    2. B15
    3. C0
    4. D−3
  2. 2.

    Which expression is equivalent to 4x/4 − x/6?

    1. A5x/6
    2. Bx/8
    3. C5x/10
    4. D7x/6
  3. 3.

    The two lines with arrowheads on them are parallel. What is the measure of the angle marked with a question mark?

    1. A110°
    2. B120°
    3. C60°
    4. D130°
  4. 4.

    On a made-up planet, 2 tavs equal 1 rux, and 8 ruxs equal 1 plom. How many ploms equal 32 tavs?

    1. A2
    2. B4
    3. C512
    4. D16
  5. 5.

    In a survey, 9 students scored 0 goals this season, 9 students scored 1 goal this season, 9 students scored 2 goals this season, and 5 students scored 3 goals this season. What is the median number of goals for these students?

    1. A0
    2. B16.5
    3. C1.5
    4. D1
  6. 6.

    Kayla puts $800 in an account that earns 6% simple interest each year. How many years will it take for the account to earn $96 in interest?

    1. A12
    2. B2
    3. C16
    4. D8 1/3
  7. 7.

    A rectangular garden is 14 meters long and 7 meters wide. A triangle is cut off one corner for a path: the triangle's two short sides run 10 meters and 5 meters along the edges of the garden. What is the area of the garden that is left?

    1. A25 square meters
    2. B48 square meters
    3. C98 square meters
    4. D73 square meters
  8. 8.

    A pentagon has vertices at (−2, −4), (9, −4), (9, 1), (6, 5), and (−2, 5). What is the area of the pentagon, in square units?

    1. A6
    2. B87
    3. C99
    4. D93
  9. 9.

    A bag holds 6 red and 7 blue marbles. Two marbles are picked without looking, one after the other, and the first is not put back. What is the probability that both are red?

    1. A6/13
    2. B5/12
    3. C36/169
    4. D5/26
  10. 10.

    Find the value of x.
    4x + 13 = 2x + 41

    1. A15
    2. B14
    3. C28
    4. D27

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.