Orange County Private Schools That Accept the ISEE

What the table shows

This section answers what the directory covers and how many schools actually list the ISEE. The directory holds 116 private schools in Orange County, California, from elementary schools to high schools. The table of schools on this page includes only those whose entrance test field names the ISEE. Schools that list another test, or whose field is not yet verified, are not in the table.

Entrance test field in the directory	Schools
ISEE	7
ISEE or SSAT	1
School assessment	67
HSPT	5
No entrance test required	4
Not yet verified	32
Total	116

Source: ISEEPrep school directory, counted 2026-09-30 from the directory records. Each record links to the school’s own pages.

The eight schools that list the ISEE are located in seven cities and enroll very different grade spans: three list K–12, three list K–8, one lists grades 7–12 and one lists grades 9–12. A family should read the count as a starting point for research, not as a statement of what a school will require in a future year.

How to read the school table

This section explains each column so that a family can move from the table to a registration decision. The table is generated from the directory.

Column	Meaning	Notes for use
School	The school’s full name, linked to the school’s own website	The link leads to the school, not to an application
City	The city of the campus	Useful for judging travel to a test site or an interview
Grades	The grade span the school enrolls	Not the same as the grades for which the ISEE is required; the admissions page names those
Entrance exam	The value of the entrance test field in the directory	Taken from the school’s admissions page; the school’s page governs
Levels for these entry grades	The ISEE levels that match the entry grades inside the school’s span	A derived reference; a student takes one level only

The last column is the one that needs care. A school with a wide span, such as K–12, has several possible entry grades, so the column lists several levels. A student does not take all of them. The student registers for the single level that matches the grade being applied to, and that level is fixed by the entry grade rather than the current grade.

Matching entry grades to ISEE levels

This section sets out the correspondence between entry grades and levels, together with how many of the eight ISEE-listing schools enroll each entry point.

Entry grade	ISEE level	Schools listing the ISEE that enroll this grade
Grade 2	Primary 2	6
Grade 3	Primary 3	6
Grade 4	Primary 4	6
Grades 5–6	Lower Level	6
Grades 7–8	Middle Level	7
Grades 9–12	Upper Level	5

Source: E3n, ISEE overview (admission.org), checked 2026-08-24, for the level correspondence; counts from the school directory as of 2026-09-30, using each school’s grade span.

The counts show where the ISEE is concentrated: the elementary and middle grades have the most listings, and the high school grades have fewer. They do not show which grade a school prefers to fill. The levels page describes the six levels in detail, and the Lower Level, Middle Level and Upper Level pages explain what each level tests.

Where the data comes from and how it is checked

This section describes the origin of each field and the limits of what the directory records. The entrance test, grades and city fields come from each school’s own admissions and enrollment pages, and every record keeps the source links it was built from. Records are verified school by school, and a field is left blank when it has not been verified. A blank field is treated as not yet verified, which is why 32 records are outside the table.

The directory states which test a school lists. It does not record minimum scores, and ISEEPrep lists no score cutoffs for any school. How an admissions office reads a report is a matter for that office. Families who want to understand the numbers on a report can read the scores guide.

The check date of each field belongs to the directory record, and the school’s own page for the entry year always takes precedence over this page. When the two disagree, the school’s page is correct and the discrepancy can be reported through the contact page. The standards for sourcing and review are set out in the editorial policy.

Timeline notes for Orange County applicants

This section turns the school list into a testing plan. The ISEE has no single national date. The school year is divided into three testing seasons, commonly fall, winter and spring/summer, and a student may test once per season, up to three times in a school year. The month boundaries are commonly used rather than itemized by E3n (formerly ERB) on admission.org, so the dates shown in the registration account take precedence.

1. Confirm the entry grade and the level. Every later step depends on this.
2. Collect each school’s deadline and score rule. Some schools ask for the ISEE score report to be sent directly, and the deadline usually falls near the application deadline.
3. Schedule the first test in the fall season when the target is fall entry. The winter season then remains available for a retake. Details are on the test dates page.
4. Allow for results and sending. Online results are generally released in 3–5 days and paper results in 5–10 days. Schools are added to receive the report from the parent account, and adding schools carries no extra fee.
5. Plan the last test three to four weeks before the earliest deadline. This is an ISEEPrep teaching recommendation, not a rule from E3n.

When the schools on a list accept different tests, the decision between them is covered in ISEE vs SSAT, and the registration steps and formats are in the registration guide. The schools overview explains how to check any school that is not in this directory.

Preparation support for Orange County families

This section is for families who want classroom-style preparation near home. Families who prefer in-person teaching in Orange County can read about the in-person ISEE courses, which are described on a separate site. Families who prefer to prepare online can book a free consultation to discuss the entry grade, the target schools and a preparation schedule. Neither option changes what a school requires, and neither is connected to any school in the directory.