Latymer Upper 11+ exams 2019

[Whyisitallsostressful]

I was wondering if anyone’s child took the Latymer upper exams today and if so how they found it?
My DD was in the morning session and thought it went reasonably well, but said maths was harder than the English, but we don’t really have anything to compare it to other than past papers.

[Toomuchpressure169]

Yes my child took the Latymer 11+ on Tuesday and came out shellshocked. Said the English was ok but the maths was off the scale tough. Attempted less than 2/3 of the paper. I have a child already at Latymer a few years above and although the maths, from memory seemed slightly more manageable it was a tough paper also. Try not to worry, the general feeling was the maths was very tough. In my experience with 3rd time doing 11+ you just have to relax, sit tight as you never know! Best of luck.

[Nomore11plus]

My DD said exams ok, only one mark question left but she always loves her maths. I wonder if any of your dd have done consortium exam today? Dd said it was very easy?

[Hothouseorflophouse]

My dd did the consortium exam today and found it mostly as expected apart from the non-verbal. Definitely not easy though!

I do wonder how they're going to distinguish between candidates. Will it just be the computer says no/yes? Dd's done very well in the two more traditional (maths paper, comprehension, creative writing etc) exams that she's done so I'm a bit sad about the consortium change of format.

[Nomore11plus]

Computer will mark consortium papers and no working papers will be reviewed. Her best day is Latymer upper so yes it is very sad.

[Hothouseorflophouse]

God is that it then? Aren't they even going to have a breakdown of which marks in what section? DD started filling out wrong and so had to rub stuff out and I just hope she erased well enough. It seems so liable for silly cock-ups (they are only 10/11 after all).

Our favourite is a consortium school and if it had been the old system I think we'd have only done one exam but this just feels so arbitrary.

[Janehoop]

I dont understand, is Latymer Upper part of the consortium(mixed school?!) and if they mark G&L then they wont mark LU? We sat both schools and found LU was ok, G&L has NVR and we didnt prepare NVR at all so it wasnt great.

[Whyisitallsostressful]

LU isn’t part of the consortium, no.
Consortium was today though and a different format to a lot of the others.
I always think that the computer marked ones are pretty harsh, when their workings aren’t taken into consideration!

[Hothouseorflophouse]

Yes it looked as though we were conflating two exams. My dd hasn't done LU (we're in North London) but are applying to two consortium schools and two others.

The change to the consortium exam was well intentioned but I'm not sure how much it reduced stress. Not for us it didn't, anyway.

[Whyisitallsostressful]

Well we got a no from latymer today. God it’s a brutal process!

[PatienceVirtue]

I'm sorry to hear that, it's brutal indeed. My ds got an interview but not an offer from a similar school to LU a few years ago and that was almost worse - he felt like it was his personality that failed him!

But sure that's of little comfort at this moment.

[HeadSpinning2019]

Does anyone have any idea what to expect in the Latymer Upper interviews?

[Quadrophinia]

They are famous for dropping in a deep thinking question - we had ‘why do wars start?’

[lanalon]

DC was not invited to LU interview either and she was quite high up in her school.

People who were not invited- were your DC in a strong position at their schools?

[HeadSpinning2019]

@Quadrophinia oh crumbs. I don't know will be DDs most likely answer to that one!

[HeadSpinning2019]

@lanalon DD is strong in Maths and VR, English ok. She seemed to enjoy the challenge of the LU exams as found them very hard but straight if you know what I mean.

[Whyisitallsostressful]

I think it was just madly competitive this year!
Ours is 2 class intake, high achieving state school, which often teaches the able children in “stretch” groups for maths and English.
Of those able kids, only 1 got through to interview stage.
I think coming from a state school you will find that your able child will be competing against highly prepped private school children who have been taking past paper after past paper in school since the summer. It’s difficult to close that gap!

[1ndig0]

landlon - I have 2 at LU. A 11 plus these two were both told to try for LU but it would be a “stretch,” however SPGS or KCS would be a step too far. They both got into LU. Much cleverer DC than them did not get through the interview stage as maybe they were a bit quieter personalities.

Now I have one who was told to have a go at SPGS, as well as LU. She has an interview at SPGS, but bombed out on the Maths at LU as she got stuck in a question and didn’t move on. I would say she’s more “able”, at this stage, than my other two and she always has been, especially in English. She’s naturally motivated to learn, where the others needed more of a push! The way I see the 11 plus it’s a lottery.

There were no deep and meaningful questions in either if my DC’s LU interviews. It was more like, “Why do you want to come here?” Hobbies, interesting books you’ve read. There was a maths question and a passage to read with some questions on it - I remember one was “What does foreboding mean?” They ask about you family, that kind of thing. They may have asked, “ If you could visit somewhere, where would it be and why?” Good luck!

[Quadrophinia]

@1dig0 lots of our friends were asked similar questions, but they are all in year 10 now so perhaps their interview style has changed?

I think they ask questions which they hope will best give them an unscripted/unrehearsed response. DS has an interview this year, so will be interested to see how different from DDs

[HeadSpinning2019]

Thanks for sharing information on prior years. The interviews sound quite different for some of the girls schools and it's good to hear they are looking beyond scripted answers.

[HeadSpinning2019]

Meant "different from" not "different for" !

[Toomuchpressure169]

‘Tis a lottery indeed. My DD came out of the LU exam convinced she had bombed the maths. We’d written it off and yet has been called to interview.

She too is in state education and never sat an 11+ past paper at school, (in fact her yr 6 teacher had never heard of LU!) just a bit of practice at home with her sister who is at LU doing gcse’s. They take over 40% from state which I think is great but how they decide I have no idea. Interestingly my DD who is at LU said her friend’s siblings who sat the exam this year and found it manageable, some “easy” did not get called back. You just never know..

Be himself/herself at the interview - they love honest, genuine children no matter what the answer is!

[HeadSpinning2019]

@Toomuchpressure169 that's good to hear! It is indeed a lottery and as DD is my 3rd (and thankfully last to go through this process), we're just waiting to see what follows. DD is fairly independent (aka stubborn!) so not much choice anyway!

[Toomuchpressure169]

3rd and (thank the lord) the last to go through 11+ - can’t do that a 4th time!

Any feedback on the Consortium paper? I’m not sure I understand by making the paper more manageable this year, how they are going to choose? Surely they need a spread of marks, and with no workings out submitted surely that makes it harder to decipher who they pick on borderline children?

[HeadSpinning2019]

@Toomuchpressure169 I'm curious on how the consortium schools will assess without looking at the workings too. The high marks and low marks will be obvious but the largest number will he in the middle I'd have thought. The interview seemed similar to early years too so not sure how they will work it.
Will be very glad when it's all over - as long as one offer is received.

Reread the LU letter as hadn't received an interview slot yet. Has anyone?
The letter says by Thursday 😳

[Needmoresleep]

LU often favour girls who are good at maths, as they like to have a reasonable balance of boys and girls in the top maths set.

A while ago, but dyslexic DD was told not to both by her prep school head, but she sailed through, with a short and gentle interview, despite being rejected by similar girls schools. We had wanted a mixed school as we thought, rightly, that there would be more company both in terms of good mathematicians, and those with weak English. Which is what happened. The prep school head was very cross. He prided himself on senior school advice.