At Clear Concepts, ISEE prep is one-on-one tutoring with me, Nico, at your home or online. We tailor a plan for your student around a diagnostic, a target stanine for each school on their list, weekly timed practice, and regular practice tests. I've prepared students for Harvard-Westlake, Campbell Hall, Buckley, and the Westside schools for over 13 years.
The ISEE is the entrance exam used by most LA independent schools. It comes in four levels; most of my students take the Middle Level (applying to grades 7–8) or Upper Level (applying to grades 9–12).
Scores are reported as stanines: a 1-to-9 scale where your child is compared against other independent-school applicants (not the general population). A stanine 5 doesn't mean your kid is "average"; it means they scored average among an already-competitive pool. That's why a 2–3 stanine gain strengthens an application so much.
Admissions offices read the four section stanines individually, so a 9 in math doesn't hide a 4 in reading. Thus, we prepare all four sections and the essay (unscored, but still sent to schools and considered).
These are the schools my ISEE families are usually applying to. Each links to where I work with that school's students.
No handoffs, no curriculum binder from head office. I build the plan, I teach every session, and you hear from me after each one.
most families book 12–20 weeks out ↓A full timed practice ISEE before anything else. You see the real starting stanines; nobody prepares blind.
We set a target stanine for each school on your list and work backward from your test date to build the weekly plan.
Each section rewards different habits — vocabulary systems for Verbal, estimation for Quantitative, pacing drills for Reading. We train them separately.
Real sections under real time, every 3-4 weeks, with the score sheet reviewed together so we can identify specific areas to improve in.
“He was extremely patient and really made me feel confident… helped me get an A in a class I previously had a C in.”
“All his fear vanished when he started getting tutored by Nicolas… from Beverly Hills High all the way through UC Irvine.”
Most students take the ISEE in the fall or early winter of their application year — for fall 2027 entry, that means testing between August and December 2026.
ERB divides the year into three testing seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring/Summer), and a student may test once per season. We usually plan a primary date with one season in reserve.
Harvard-Westlake doesn't publish a cutoff, but competitive applicant pools at the most selective LA schools generally sit in the 7–9 stanine range.
In the consultation I'll be straight with you about where your child's diagnostic lands relative to the schools on your list — and what a realistic target looks like for the time we have.
Twelve to twenty weeks of weekly sessions is the range that produces the two-to-three stanine gains my students typically see.
Short-term prep can still help, but cramming is the one thing I'll tell you honestly doesn't work well for this test.
Yes — once per testing season, up to three times in a twelve-month application cycle.
Schools see the scores you choose to send. A planned retake is a strategy, not a failure; we build the calendar around it from day one.