ISEE Essay Prompts and Topics: What Schools Read in 30 Minutes

Where the essay fits in the test

This section answers the basic question of what the essay is and what rules apply to it. The ISEE essay is a single timed writing task that follows the scored sections. It is administered by E3n (formerly ERB, website admission.org), and it works differently from every other part of the test because it produces no score.

Item	Rule
Levels with an essay	Lower (applying to grades 5–6), Middle (grades 7–8), Upper (grades 9–12)
Levels without an essay	Primary 2, 3 and 4
Prompts and time	1 prompt, 30 minutes
Position in the test	After the four scored sections
Scored	No
Who sees it	The schools a family selects to receive scores; families do not receive the text

Source: E3n, ISEE overview and score reports (admission.org), checked 2026-08-24.

Two consequences follow from these rules. First, students write the essay when concentration is lowest, so a method that works only on a fresh mind is not enough. Second, parents cannot read the essay afterward, which means the only evidence of a student’s timed writing is what the student produces in practice. The full section structure shows how the essay sits beside the four scored sections, and the test day checklist covers what to expect in the room.

What prompts commonly look like

This section describes the kinds of prompts students commonly meet, so that the format is familiar before test day. Specific prompts are assigned at the test and are not shared in advance, and this page does not claim to reproduce any real prompt. In teaching practice, prompts commonly fall into two groups.

• Personal experience. The prompt asks the student to describe a real moment and say what it meant, for example a time something was difficult or a time of working with someone else.
• Opinion. The prompt asks for a position on a school or everyday question, with reasons, for example a rule, a habit or a choice a student might face.

Both groups ask for the same three things: an answer to the prompt itself, concrete detail, and some sign of how the student thinks. A student who can recognize the group in the first minute can choose material quickly. The examples later on this page use one prompt from each group.

How schools read the essay

This section explains why an unscored essay still deserves preparation. E3n materials describe the essay as a way for schools to learn about a student and about the student’s ability to organize and express ideas. In practice, admission offices tend to look for the following.

• Whether the student answers the question that was asked.
• Whether the ideas are organized into a beginning, a development and an ending.
• Whether grammar and spelling are under control.
• What the choice of example shows about the student’s interests and values.

Because the essay is written under supervision, some schools may also compare it with the writing in the rest of the application. No common weighting is stated, and the effect differs by school, so the sensible planning assumption is that the essay is read but not used as a cutoff. Schools may differ in how much attention it receives, and families can ask an admissions office how it is used.

A structure that fits 30 minutes

This section gives a simple structure and a time plan. The structure below is a teaching recommendation, not a test rule: a position, two specific examples and a closing. The same shape works for both prompt groups. For a personal experience prompt, the position becomes the central lesson of the experience.

Part	Content	Suggested time
Plan	Read the prompt, underline the verbs, write one sentence that answers it	3 minutes
Opening	State the position or central idea in one or two sentences	3 minutes
Example 1	One specific event, with detail and a sentence explaining what it shows	8 minutes
Example 2	A second, different example, with the same pattern	8 minutes
Closing	Return to the position and add one thought that goes beyond restating it	3 minutes
Check	Read through; fix spelling, tense and missing words	5 minutes

The time plan is flexible. Students who write slowly may use one longer example and one shorter one, and students who type may need less checking time.

The central sentence matters more than any other part of the plan. A sentence such as “My partner and I built a model together” reports an event, while “Two different methods can be more useful together than either one alone” states an idea that both examples can support. Once that sentence is written, each paragraph has a job.

Small, specific material works better than large achievements. A single practice session, a classroom disagreement or a family chore gives the student more to describe than a broad claim such as “I do many activities.”

Two original prompts with commentary

This section shows how to approach two original prompts, one from each group. The prompts were written by the ISEEPrep teaching team and are not prompts from the actual ISEE. Full model essays are intentionally not provided, because a memorized model tends to drift away from the prompt actually assigned. Each example gives a plan and the points a reader would likely comment on.

Example 1 (Personal experience)

Describe a time when you had to work with someone whose approach was different from yours. What happened, and what did you learn?

Commentary points

A workable plan. The central idea names what the difference taught, for example that a different method can solve the same problem faster. The first example describes the disagreement with a concrete scene. The second example shows how the two approaches were combined and what resulted. The closing says how the student now behaves in group work.

What a reader would likely credit.

• The opening answers both parts of the prompt, the event and the lesson, rather than only telling a story.
• Details are specific enough to picture, such as what was done, how often and for how long.
• Each example ends with a sentence that explains what it shows.

What a reader would likely question.

• A story told in order, from “first” to “finally,” with no statement of what changed in the student’s thinking.
• A lesson that is too general, such as “I learned to cooperate,” with no link to the events.
• No reason given for why the student was willing to adjust, which makes the outcome feel unexplained.

Example 2 (Opinion)

Some people think that students should be given a choice about what to read for class, while others think that every student should read the same books. Which view do you support, and why?

Commentary points

A workable plan. The opening takes a side in one sentence and names the main reason. The first example comes from the student’s own reading experience, showing what choice or a shared text made possible. The second example addresses the strongest point on the other side and responds to it. The closing connects both examples back to the position.

What a reader would likely credit.

• A clear side chosen early, with reasons that can be told apart from one another.
• At least one example drawn from real school life rather than a general statement.
• An acknowledgment of the other view, which shows the student can weigh more than one idea.

What a reader would likely question.

• A position that changes partway through or is hedged until it has no direction.
• Two reasons that are really the same reason said twice.
• An example about a different topic, such as sports teams, that does not support the claim about reading.

Original practice prompts written by the ISEEPrep teaching team; not questions from the actual ISEE.

Common mistakes

This section lists the problems that most often weaken a timed essay, with a fix for each.

Mistake	What it looks like	Fix
Drifting from the prompt	A familiar topic is recognized and prepared content is written regardless of what was asked	Write the central sentence first; reread the prompt after each paragraph
Narration without ideas	Events are listed in order, with no explanation of what they show	End each paragraph with one sentence about what the example means
Generic examples	Broad statements such as “sports teach teamwork”	Replace with one scene: who, where, what happened
Unfinished essay	Two long paragraphs and no closing	Use the time plan; write a short closing even when time is short
Repeated sentence errors	Missing subjects or verbs, tense changes, long sentences that lose their structure	Write short, complete sentences first and add complexity only where it is secure

Errors that make a sentence hard to understand deserve attention before occasional minor slips. Students whose first language is not English do not need elaborate sentence patterns to write a strong essay. Accurate, plain sentences with specific content read better than ambitious sentences that fail.

How to practice

This section gives a routine that fits into the weeks before the test. The schedule below is a teaching recommendation.

1. Write one timed 30-minute essay every one to two weeks, placed after a practice section so that the fatigue of the real test is represented.
2. Match the format. Students who will test on a computer should type practice essays, and students who will test on paper should handwrite them.
3. Review each essay against the mistakes table above before anyone else reads it.
4. Prepare a short bank of real experiences, such as a mistake, a change of mind, a time of helping someone and a disagreement, and write a one-sentence central idea for each.
5. On test day, choose the experience that best fits the prompt and reshape it, instead of reciting a prepared essay.

Families who keep the student’s timed essays have the only record of writing quality that is available, because the essay itself is not returned. The scores page explains how the scored sections are reported, and the overview of what the ISEE is places the essay in the whole test. Families who want feedback on timed essays can book a free consultation.