So, your student is interested in getting into NYC private school or switching from one NYC private school to another. Your job, as a parent, is to educate yourself about the process. In many respects, the process of getting into a NYC private school is more challenging than the process of getting into an Ivy League school, but it doesn’t have to be.

The trick to success on the ISEE exam is to find your child an experienced, knowledgeable tutor who specializes in tutoring for the ISEE exam. The best SAT tutor is not necessarily the best ISEE tutor. Does the smartest pediatrician make the best cardiologist? Does the best dog groomer make the best human hairstylist? The key is specialization.

In recent years, which have included many updates to the exam, the ISEE has become a test of tricks. Can your 8th grader FOIL? Figure out perpendicular and parallel slopes from an equation? Add and subtract matrices? Read a stem-and-leaf plot? Figure out trigonometric ratios?

These are examples of the numerous concepts that will appear on the exam that will not be covered in your child’s 7th and 8th grade curriculum. To be successful on the ISEE exam, it is imperative that your child be matched with a tutor who is intimately familiar with the ISEE exam (not the SAT, ACT, LSAT, 8th grade curriculum at a top school, Firefighter exam, Driver’s License Exam)  inside and out.