1-on-1 ISEE Tutoring · Grades 4–11 · Taipei
ISEE, from preparation to placement.
ISEE preparation for Grades 4–11 students applying to international schools in Taiwan and across Asia, US private day-schools, and boarding schools. The program is calibrated to each student's diagnostic gaps and target test date, with all five ISEE sections, Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics Achievement, and Essay, blended into each lesson and weighted toward the sections where the student needs the most work. Lessons are 1 to 2 hours, calibrated to how much support each student needs and the time before their test.
What Students Learn
ISEE preparation at the level the ISEE rewards.
Parents come to ISEE preparation at Harland looking for a program that calibrates to their child's diagnostic gaps and target stanines and percentiles. They want the analytical reasoning and content breadth the ISEE rewards taken seriously, and the work done in a structured 1-on-1 setting where each lesson sits where the student is. The work covers what the ISEE requires. Reading and analyzing passages across literature, history, science, and humanities under timed conditions. Working through synonym and sentence-completion questions where vocabulary depth determines accuracy. Reasoning through logic, patterns, and word problems without formal computation. Building curriculum-aligned math knowledge across number concepts, algebra, geometry, and data interpretation. Writing a complete essay response to a creative or argumentative prompt that admissions readers will see. Pacing across all five sections without losing depth. These are the skills behind every ISEE score that lands well.
ISEE preparation comes in two common shapes in the Taipei market. Group classes at test-preparation centers, where instruction is standardized regardless of a student's specific gaps. Individual tutoring without a structured curriculum behind the sessions, where quality depends on whichever tutor a family draws and where the work doesn't accumulate from lesson to lesson. Harland's program occupies a third position. The curriculum is structured: typically 4 units of 11 lessons calibrated to the student's timeline, with all five ISEE sections blended into each lesson and assessments built into the program. The format is 1-on-1: lessons calibrated to the student's diagnostic gaps and target, not to a class average.
Lessons follow Harland's ISEE curriculum, calibrated by diagnostic to where each student is starting and which ISEE level they will sit. The program typically runs 4 units of 11 lessons. Each lesson blends all five ISEE sections, with weighting toward the sections where the student needs the most work. Earlier units build foundation across the content. Later units shift the weighting toward test-condition practice and timed simulation. The eleventh lesson of each unit runs as an in-house formative assessment, followed by an at-home summative mock measured against the diagnostic. Section weighting recalibrates after each unit based on what the assessments show. Harland's curriculum decides what gets taught. The ISEE is where the work gets tested.
Progress shows up in places parents can see. Section scores climbing from the diagnostic baseline. Reasoning fluency improving across both math sections. Vocabulary the student keeps after the test, not just words memorized for one sitting. The full ISEE taken on test day with the work behind it.
How We Teach It
ISEE preparation through the actual content of the test.
Harland's Test Preparation pedagogy is content-based learning. The skills the ISEE rewards develop through the actual content of the test, not through isolated test-taking tips or vocabulary lists memorized in isolation from real reading. Lessons work directly with the ISEE's section content. Verbal Reasoning addresses synonym and sentence-completion questions where vocabulary depth comes from contextual encounter rather than rote lists. Quantitative Reasoning covers logic, patterns, and word problems where the test deliberately strips out formal computation to examine reasoning ability. Reading Comprehension focuses on literal and inferential understanding, tone, and main idea across passage types. Mathematics Achievement spans curriculum-aligned content covering number concepts, algebra, geometry, and data interpretation. Essay work develops complete responses to creative or argumentative prompts under timed conditions. Mixed practice and full timed sections sit alongside the content lessons, so students experience the test's pacing pressure as they build the skills.
Across the program, the weighting calibrates to where each student is starting. A student whose diagnostic shows strong verbal performance but weak scores across both math sections gets heavier Quantitative Reasoning and Mathematics Achievement weighting, with reasoning practice and curriculum content built into early lessons. A student whose diagnostic shows strong Mathematics Achievement curriculum knowledge but weak Quantitative Reasoning gets heavier reasoning weighting, with logic and pattern work that the section tests. A student whose diagnostic shows balanced section performance but consistent timed-condition pressure gets balanced section coverage with progressively heavier test-condition weighting across units.
ISEE preparation in this format also responds to how each student handles test pressure. Some students freeze on Quantitative Reasoning logic problems where formal computation isn't the way through. Some lose pacing on Reading passages and run out of time before the last passage. Some misjudge time on Mathematics Achievement and leave easy curriculum points behind. The 1-on-1 format lets teachers respond to these patterns concretely. A student who freezes on Quantitative Reasoning logic problems doesn't get the same scheduled drill the curriculum had planned. The next lessons get redesigned around the reasoning patterns the section tests. A student running out of time on Reading Comprehension gets pacing-targeted modules before content-targeted ones. Group classes can't make these moves. Private tutors without curriculum can make them but lose track of the broader program arc. Skill and composure develop together. Neither moves far in isolation.
The format also lets teachers calibrate to each student's section-by-section gap pattern. A student strong in Reading and Mathematics Achievement but weak in Verbal Reasoning works on the vocabulary depth that synonym and sentence-completion questions assume. A student strong in Verbal Reasoning but uncomfortable with Quantitative Reasoning works on the logic and pattern moves the section tests through word problems. Each lesson plan sits where the student's specific gap pattern is.
Curriculum and Test Format
A structured curriculum across all five ISEE sections.
ISEE preparation at Harland follows a structured curriculum keyed to the ISEE's section content and the student's diagnostic-determined gaps. A student who completes the program has demonstrated meaningful progress against their target stanines and percentiles on ISEE-format unit assessments and on a full ISEE practiced under exam conditions. The program is 4 units of 11 lessons.
The curriculum follows the current ISEE format published by ERB. When ERB updates the test, the curriculum tracks the update. Within each unit, lessons progress from content work and guided practice through mixed practice under real-test conditions toward a closing block of strategy work, a full timed module under exam conditions, and a comprehensive assessment across all five sections. Across the four units, the work shifts from foundation-building toward test-condition practice, with each unit's assessment recalibrating the section weighting for the unit ahead. Students whose schools are running their own ISEE preparation alongside Harland use the program for targeted reinforcement, with the Student Coordinator translating school priorities into specific lesson goals so the work doesn't duplicate.
Prerequisites and What Comes Next
Where ISEE preparation fits in your child's learning.
Before starting
Most students arrive ready for ISEE preparation with their school-curriculum English and math at the level the program assumes. Some students benefit from foundational support running alongside or before ISEE work. Students whose English fluency limits their performance on the Verbal Reasoning and Reading Comprehension sections often benefit from Academic English (Grades 3–12) alongside ISEE preparation. Students whose passage-analysis depth needs reinforcement sometimes benefit from Analytical Reading (Grades 6–12) as a parallel program.
Students with foundational math gaps sometimes benefit from targeted Mathematics (Grades K–8) reinforcement alongside the ISEE program. ISEE has two math sections, so foundational math support has broader application than for tests with a single math section. Students preparing the Essay sometimes benefit from Analytical Writing (Grades 6–12) as a parallel program where structural and rhetorical work has more time to develop than the timed sample allows.
What comes after
The program typically takes 5 to 6 months at standard cadence. Students complete the program when their assessments meet their target stanines and percentiles, and take the ISEE with the program behind them.
After ISEE, students entering Grade 9 or higher typically continue into the curriculum their new school requires, which often means AP Program or IB Program work alongside ongoing academic English. Students continuing toward later college admissions tests often return to Harland for SAT or ACT preparation when the relevant grade arrives. Analytical Writing and Academic English continue as their academic English needs evolve.
The longer-term aim of ISEE preparation is to make itself unnecessary. The program brings students to the point where they have taken the ISEE with the preparation behind them, with stanines and percentiles that reflect the work they have put in. After that, the work is done. What they have learned about reading carefully, reasoning under time, building real vocabulary, and writing under pressure stays with them through every test that follows. A parent who is no longer worried about how their child will perform on the ISEE is the point of all of it.
Common Questions
Common questions about ISEE preparation at Harland.
Who is ISEE preparation at Harland for? +
My child has taken a practice ISEE and the score isn't where they need it to be. How does Harland approach this? +
Can my child begin ISEE preparation over the summer? +
What does the ISEE program cover? +
How long is each lesson and how often does my child attend? +
How are lessons scheduled, and what if we need to reschedule? +
How do you measure progress? +
How do we begin? +
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