Hi All
In an attempt to be helpful to those going through the tortuous london independent school 11+ process in the future, I thought it would be useful to pass on the information I’ve gleaned from for the schools we applied to. I’ve found the process pretty opaque, difficult to navigate and stressful so wanted to help those who are in a similar position in years to come.
This information isn't exhaustive, it’s just based on our experience of going through the 11+ (13+ for Westminster) in the 2022/2023 academic year.
Please feel free to add to, or correct, the information below if you have different intel. Also feel free to add information of your own experiences, or information for other schools if you think it would be helpful for others.
UCS
The exam consisted of two papers: English – reading comprehension (45 mins) and creative writing (30 mins), and Maths – (1 hour 15 mins) split into 3 sections, multiple choice, core maths and maths problems.
The exam this year was held on the 5th January. Apparently ~550 applicants and approximately 250 get taken through to interview for 55 places. We heard just after 4pm on 13th January about interviews, which were then held on 18th January. The interview was a 40 minute group lesson of 8 kids followed by a 15 min one-on-one interview. Parents had a 40 min Q&A session at the same time as the group lesson. The head of admissions said that they don’t look at CAT scores, even if they’ve been provided in the reference. Results on the 10th February at 12.20.
City
There are ~60 places at 11+ and ~40 for 13+. The Maths and English exam was held on the 2nd December, and then we heard late morning on the 8th December via email that DS had gotten through to the second round of written exams for verbal and non-verbal reasoning, which were then held on the 14th December (40 mins VR and 40 mins NVR). According to the email, there were ‘a record number of candidates applying this year’. Interviews were then held virtually the week of the 16th January. It was a pleasant 20 min interview where he was asked a mixture of standard interview questions and also some reasoning style questions.
If you apply for the 13+ then you do the ISEB pre-test and then if you do well enough then there is a written Maths and English exam plus an interview. The offer is conditional on them passing the common entrance in Mathematics, English, French and, if chosen as a subject in Third Form, Latin. No other subjects will be required and they expect that candidates will be able to achieve a high score (usually above 70%) in each paper. The interviewer has information on their academic performance and also their school reports in front of them when they do the interview. Results on the 10th February and we heard around 9.30am.
Westminster
120 places (70 for non under school kids). For the 13+ they do the ISEB at the end of November (ours was 22nd) and then we heard at close to 5pm on the 9th December about being invited back for further tests on the 14th January in Maths and English (40 mins each), and also at the same time DS was invited to an interview on the 26th January. For the interview he had to bring in two of his school work books from a choice of English, History, Geography, Science or RS and he was asked to talk about a particular topic that he has enjoyed or found challenging. In reality in the interview it was more of a general interview rather than talking too much about his school books. We heard the results on the 24th February at 4.30pm.
Highgate
750 applicants for 80 places (split roughly evenly between boys and girls). Exam was on the 5th December and consisted of a written Maths, English and a non-verbal reasoning paper (based on the GL papers), and we found out mid-afternoon on the 4th January about the interview, which was during the week of the 16th January and consisted of a tour of the school, a group interview (including a task) and two mock lessons (DT and classics). My DS said it didn't feel like an interview at all and was really fun. Results on the 10th February at 11.30.
Forest
140 places at 11+(roughly half boys and girls). Interview was on the 3rd December and was held online and lasted ~20-25 mins. The exam was on the 6th January and consisted of an English paper – reading and writing (1 hour and 10 mins) and a Maths paper (1 hour). There were nearly 500 children in my son’s sitting (he counted 24 rows of 20 kids) and I believe there was another sitting so ~1000 applicants.
We heard about an academic scholarship interview on the 11th January (earlier than the 13th that they’d told us). The scholarship interview consisted of an interview with the head of Maths, an English interview and an interview with the head of lower school and various other group tasks. We got the final results on the 16th February.
Happy to answer any questions that people have in the future about any of the processes.