Our candidates typically apply to a range of schools, including St Paul’s Girls School, The North London Consortium Schools (Godolphin and Latymer, Francis Holland x2, More House, Queen’s Gate, Queen’s College, St James Senior, South Hampstead High School, and six others), Latymer Upper, JAGS, City of London, Putney High, Wimbledon High, boarding schools, and Grammar Schools.

Requirements vary across these schools. All candidates must undergo some form of electronic test, either as a pre-test or as the main exam (consortium). Other schools have a mix of written examinations following the electronic pre-test.

We feel that two hours of written English and Maths each week is a valuable activity to maintain throughout years 5 and 6, particularly for candidates who are not just applying for the consortium schools.

Our candidates typically apply to a range of schools including, St Paul’s (11 and 13+), Westminster (11 and 13+), Latymer Upper, Dulwich, Alleyns, King’s Wimbledon (11 and 13+), City of London, boarding schools (Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Sevenoaks (11 and 13+), Brighton College, Charterhouse, Marlborough, Bradfield) and Grammar Schools.

Requirements and timings vary across these schools. Candidates usually take an ISEB pre-test in November of year 6, followed by a variety of individual school’s exams.
We feel that two hours of written English and Maths each week is a valuable activity to maintain throughout years 5 and 6. Boys applying to the top academic schools in London will face traditional written exams.

The electronic reasoning tests have grown into a thriving industry, and most parents are familiar with the platforms providing practice. However, we have observed an obsession with electronic tests at the expense of written examination practice, leading to anxiety once the electronic tests are completed. We believe students do not necessarily need tutoring for electronic tests. Instead, we focus on traditional comprehension, various writing tasks, mathematics, and reasoning papers. We also cover persuasive writing and discussions on contemporary topics, valuable for interviews.

Realising in November of year 6 that your child has not written an essay or comprehension for months and seeking intensive tuition is too late. Many professionals recommend incorporating crossword puzzles, board games, and other forms of written problem-solving, rather than solely focusing on screen-based tests.

A good vocabulary seems to be significant in the verbal reasoning sections.

Most schools have prepared the candidates for the 11+ syllabus but what sometimes surprises candidates is the extent to which they have to put their knowledge into action by working out word problems and applied maths. They need to be aware that they will not necessarily get pages of formal arithmetic and must be ready to ‘have a go’ at questions to which there does not appear to be an obvious answer. Candidates must also show their workings as it is quite possible to get at least 50% by demonstrating how you approached the problem even if the actual answer is incorrect.

The requirements for the comprehension are generally well understood by the candidates although there is a tendency these days for an adherence to a ‘formula’ for answering questions which sometimes causes the answers to sound stilted and repetitive. We encourage students to remember that english is a creative subject and should be approached accordingly.

Candidates need to demonstrate a knowledge of different genres of writing, from the formal to informal, descriptive to persuasive. We work to encourage full knowledge of different genres but reading decent novels will really help students to absorb subconsciously what good writing sounds like, which they then start to replicate in their work. One of the best preparations really is wide reading. I have noticed that very few pupils seem to read grown up novels — they should. Most reasonable books are far less explicit about unsuitable material than anything they might watch on the television or internet. They should read a variety of adult fiction including traditional English novels. A knowledge of British historic culture is often useful when interpreting many of the texts presented at exams.