Tuition for Cambridge school entrance exams

[treecat1]

Dear All,

Does anyone know a good tutor for helping a very bright little boy get into a good Cambridge school at 11+? (Perse or Leys is as far as I have got so far). I didnt want to coach him through exams and always felt that he should get in on his own merit, but he is at such a tiny little rural primary school he will simply have no idea about exam technique and I am all too aware that the prep schools spend a lot of time preparing their pupils for entrance exams which means it simply isnt a level playing field.

Help or ideas - most welcome, Thanks

Sorry can't help, but I do know that several bright children at DS's prep who average around 80% in CE exams, have been told that even that sort of mark is no guarantee of a place at the Perse.

Good luck. That sort of uber-competitive environment isn't what I am looking for, but I suppose it's the reason why the Perse is in the top 30 in the GCSE tables.

Where are you and how old is your ds?

I know of an excellent tutor, but know she is already over subscribed for next September. Also may be the wrong side of Cambridge for you.

If he is very bright are you sure you need a tutor? My DD and two friend's children were offered places at the Perse this year, none of them had tutors. We all used Bond assessment papers. I also printed off the sample papers from the Perse website (and other Independent schools). The exam technique came from the Bond books and talking through the answers with her. Hope that helps.

I would talk to the schools first IIWY. From what I understand of both, they are pretty good at distinguishing bright children from coached ones.

Thanks all, Maybe I will see if we can just do this at home with bond papers. I am not really in favour of a tutor, just dont want him to be at such a huge disadvantage compared to the prep school children.

Thanks for all your help

I know someone with 2 DSs at The Purse as we call it. Whilst it appears to be an excellent school, it really isn't the academic hot house it once was considered to be. The mum says that herself (that it still tends to 'trade' on something it isn't so much, these days), it's not my 'sour grapes'! There is also a reason why it has become 'co-ed' over the past couple of years! With the economic situation, just about all such schools have had to become a little broader in their intake. As my friend says, her DSs are just the sort of boy the Perse wants, ie with parents who can go on paying the fees!

They dispensed with making the Prep DC sit the Upper entrance exam a couple of years ago; entry to the Upper is now more or less guaranteed, though my friend was taken aside by the Prep head and told that her DS2 probably wouldn't have passed the Entrance exam, which she sees as their way of making sure she doesn't 'kick off' if and when that DS doesn't leave with stellar IGCEs or whatever.

Obviously the school wants 'reasonably able' (after all, that's why such schools get good results- all the DCs singing from the same social and academic hymn sheet) but they don't appear to need preternaturally bright!

Oh, and the school expands rather a lot from prep to Upper, implying quite a few DCs enter from schools other than the Prep itself. I think the Prep had 2 classes per year, the Upper has 4?

Tansie, I think the Upper had 5 forms per year last year and the same again this September too. Then another 2 forms join at 13+ in year 9. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere. Apparently for Sept 2012 there were 150 external applicants for 60 spaces.

Jenny I think the Perse were rather more than 3:1 oversubscribed, TBH.

OP - have you visited / talked to one or both schools yet?

But I think it's important to remember that many DC will have their names down for several schools, not just the Perse, so don't be too disheartened by the 'over-subscription' stats! They don't necessarily translate into 'really stiff competition'!

I don't know whether things have changed a lot, but DS1 just did some of the standard 11+ papers for Perse entrance - mainly verbal reasoning which won't be covered in the normal school curriculum. There's usually a small selection of entrance papers on the school website to judge the general level to aim at.

AFAIK the Leys is not as academic as the Perse (though a lot more expensive) but your DS ought to be prepared for the type of exam that the school sets.

IME the Perse was not an academic hothouse - no great pushing or setting of vast amounts of homework. There were some astonishing clever boys there and pretty much most of the rest would be described as "very able" and went on to good courses at good universities. It suited my lazy but very able DS!

could some one recommend a good english tutor for year 7 student in cambridge please?

Could anyone tell me what sort of grades are necessary to pass the Perse Y7 entrance exam? I don't want my DD to feel she has failed miserably and knock her confidence. She is coming from state school and is a level 5 across subjects in the state SATS system.
We did some bond papers referenced on some related posts. There are some topics we will need to cover as they haven't done them in her school yet.

Any information very gratefully received.