School Guide · San Jose
Harker School IQ testing requirements, grade by grade
Harker asks for different testing at different grade levels — an individually administered cognitive assessment for its youngest applicants, and standardized entrance exams from Grade 3 up. Here is how the pieces fit.
School information guide · Confirm current policy with Harker admissions
How Harker uses testing
Founded in 1893 and celebrating over 125 years of history, Harker educates students 'for success at college and beyond' while fostering kindness, respect, and integrity. Testing is one input among many.
For Transitional Kindergarten through Grade 2, Harker asks for a cognitive assessment administered by one of its preferred psychologists. The assessment looks at reasoning, working memory, and processing — and results in a written report families submit with the application.
Harker emphasizes holistic evaluation: test scores are reviewed after initial application screening and are only one component. High scores do not guarantee admission, and the school explicitly discourages extensive test prep, advising adequate rest and light familiarity with sample questions to reduce anxiety.
- Who tests
- TK–Grade 2 applicants; older grades take the ISEE or SSAT instead
- Examiner
- A psychologist from Harker's preferred list
- How scores are read
- Holistic review — one component, weighed after screening
- School character
- College-preparatory since 1893; mission centered on kindness, respect, and integrity
Requirements by grade band
The single most important fact about Harker testing: what is required depends entirely on the grade your child is applying to.
TK – Grade 2
- Required: an individually administered cognitive assessment
- Test: WPPSI-IV or WISC-V, matched to the child's age
- Examiner: one of Harker's preferred psychologists
- Focus: early academic readiness and reasoning
Grades 3 – 4
- Required: ISEE (Independent School Entrance Exam)
- Areas: verbal, quantitative, reading, and math
- No individual cognitive assessment needed
- Focus: academic skills against grade expectations
Grades 5 – 11
- Options: ISEE or SSAT
- Grade 5 applicants also join an activity session
- Focus: readiness for advanced coursework
- Expectations rise with grade level
Harker's testing philosophy, in its own terms
Holistic review. Scores are one component, considered after the initial application screening. A strong report supports an application; it does not decide one.
On preparation. Harker discourages extensive test prep. Rest, routine, and low-pressure familiarity with what a testing session feels like are what the school itself recommends.
What a TK–Grade 2 assessment involves
The cognitive test
An individually administered WPPSI-IV or WISC-V session examining reasoning, working memory, and processing — experienced by most young children as an hour or two of puzzles and questions.
Academic skills, where relevant
Some reports also describe reading, writing, and math skills alongside cognitive results, giving admissions a fuller sense of readiness.
The written report
Families receive a written report to submit to Harker. The recommendations section explains what the child's profile means in plain language.
Context: what Harker looks for beyond the report
Knowing the school's values helps you read the process without anxiety — the testing supports a picture, it doesn't paint it.
- Intellectual curiosity and love of learning
- Personal accountability and academic readiness
- Kindness, respect, and integrity in interactions
- Individuality alongside an embrace of diversity
- Leadership potential and a service mindset
- Readiness for a rigorous college-prep curriculum
Harker began in 1893 as Manzanita Hall, joined by Miss Harker's School for Girls in 1902, and merged and evolved over a century before relocating to San Jose. It marked its 125th anniversary in 2018–19. For applying families, the practical takeaway is that a long-established holistic process rewards preparation of the calendar, not the child.