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Original poster

13 plus Common Pre-test St Pauls and Westminster.

64 replies

timmytoes · 09/01/2014 21:06

The new Common Pre test for St Pauls and Westminster has thrown up some very puzzling results at our school. Does any one else have any comments on the new format.

OP posts:
espree · 16/01/2014 20:29

350 interviews for 80-90 places .. For St. Paul's I hear. Plus short math and English papers ..

Michaelahpurple · 15/01/2014 14:26

Workingitout - gosh, those numbers a astonishing. No wonder the school switched to computer marking

WorkingItOutAsIGo · 14/01/2014 23:07

Yakozee - since these are brand new arrangements the only people who are going to know are the school and the parents of the other boys your DS is competing with. suspect you won't get many answers, sorry, but you can call the schools and ask. I think you're right to assume writing as that makes logical sense.

Re nos Michael I had heard over 600 sat for SPS and 250 have been invited for interview for the 90-odd places.

Michaelahpurple · 13/01/2014 20:11

The view at our prep was that the English was very easy and would not be sufficiently differentiating for our prep school's 11+ entry. Maths and reasoning more interesting.

Does anyone know what the stats are ie how many at the inline yet and how many are going through to interview?

yakoozee · 12/01/2014 13:37

Hi, does anyone know what to expect from the second round English test at Westminster School 13+ entry? I know that St Paul's will test English writing only. I am just wondering is this will be the same at Westminster? My DS has been invited to interviews at both Westminster and St Paul's, so I am eager to find out more about the second round tests. I'd appreciate it very much if anyone could shed some lights. thanks.

OddSins · 11/01/2014 21:21

The offers are out; or at least at our prep. The expected boys got an offer.

summerends · 11/01/2014 15:05

timmytoes could not the simple reason be that both the schools want to change the balance of talents of their new entrants. I wonder if Westminster as a boarding school is better able to recruit exceptional mathematicians from overseas in their sixth form entry so now want more pupils with strengths in the humanities at this early stage. Computerised marking might make this easier to achieve

Original poster
timmytoes · 11/01/2014 12:55

Oddsins the Westminster results are not out , it is merely the invitation to the interview stage that is out.

In prior years as Michaelahpurple refers to above, there has been a belief that the Westminster entrance pre-test favoured the numerical over the literary strong boy although both needed to be of a high standard. It was also rare for a boy to do well in the Westminster exam and not do well in the St Pauls exam although it was not always true the other way round. The introduction of the common pre-test for both schools was in response to larger number of boys entering (some against their head's recommendations) and the schools unable to cope with interviewing every candidate. That said the prep schools and parents were assured that strong candidates that perhaps did less well in the online tests but had extremely high endorsement from their prep heads would still get through to interview stage. This year and given it is the first year it is perhaps not surprising that a number of puzzling results have been thrown up at least at our school. Yes you still have to be strong academically and those weak candidates who seriously had little or no chance were still rejected but the Westminster exam has favoured those with higher English comprehension strengths (and strong but not exceptional numerical strengths) while the St Pauls exam has favoured those with higher numerical (but sometimes only slightly above average English). Thus we have candidates getting through to interview at Westminster but not St Pauls and vice versa depending on their particular strength. In addition there seems to have been no or very little regard made to the prep school head's comments and a number of very strong candidates have not got through to the Interview stage. These are not candidates who have been tutored but boys who have been consistently top or near top for many years in a school that regularly sends boys to the top London Day schools. No doubt the process will in future years be refined and settle down but it would be interesting to hear if the experience at our school has been mirrored elsewhere or not.

OP posts:
OddSins · 10/01/2014 22:04

Im not sure the results are that odd this year. Boys who got Westminster offers have also got offers / scholarship offers elsewhere. The IQ scores from the headmasters report (CAT / Getintu) are every bit as important as the exam tests I suspect. But perhaps the OP experience is different?

Michaelahpurple · 10/01/2014 15:18

And the interview invitations went out at the end of last term for W, as expected, so not early. Also interested to know how the results at the op's school were odd!

Michaelahpurple · 10/01/2014 15:17

Edithweston - the iWeb paper is new to westminster, having been decided upon for this year's entry only right at the end of the summer term.

123flower · 10/01/2014 11:18

Puzzling in what way?

EdithWeston · 10/01/2014 06:55

The format isn't new as such, ISEB paper has been around for a few years (and sample papers can be bought).

Are you a teacher, or have both those schools really made their offers this early this year?

Michaelahpurple · 10/01/2014 06:49

V curious how it has gone. My son is at the under school so we don't have much visibility , but from what he told me about the papers I suspect it is now harder for a boy whose strength lies in literacy to excel