ISEE & SSAT Prep

Applying to an independent school in San Diego usually means the ISEE or SSAT. Our UC San Diego tutors prepare students one-on-one for both, at your home or online, and for the placement tests the Catholic high schools give in winter.

Which San Diego schools ask for what

For fall 2027 entry:

• The Bishop’s School accepts the ISEE or the SSAT at the level that fits the entry grade, from 6th through 12th, and lets applicants for 10th grade and up send PSAT, SAT or ACT scores instead.
• La Jolla Country Day asks middle and upper school applicants to finish the ISEE or SSAT by February 1.
• Francis Parker requires the ISEE, and Santa Fe Christian asks applicants for grades 9 through 11 for the ISEE.
• Pacific Ridge accepts the ISEE or SSAT, or current school-based test results instead.
• Bishop’s, Parker and Pacific Ridge all list February 1, 2027 as the application deadline.

Catholic high school placement tests

San Diego’s Catholic high schools don’t share one test date. Cathedral Catholic gives its own two-hour placement test in math and English, on Saturday, January 23, 2027 for this cycle, with math from pre-algebra through second-semester algebra. Other Catholic high schools in the county set their own tests, such as the HSPT at St. Augustine. We help San Diego 8th graders prepare for whichever test their schools use.

How ISEE and SSAT prep works

The ISEE’s verbal reasoning and quantitative comparison questions look nothing like a normal class assignment, and the math can reach topics a 7th or 8th grader hasn’t covered yet. For the ISEE or SSAT, tutors begin with a diagnostic, teach the question types, fill content gaps with help from our math tutors, and build up to full timed practice tests. A tutor only a few years older is also good at taking the edge off a San Diego 7th or 8th grader’s first high-stakes test.

Tell us where your student is applying, and we’ll plan backward from the ISEE or placement test date.