Common entrance for 11+ and scholarships

[FluffyAnimalsRule]

Am looking at options for DD for when she's a bit older, and one of my options is a school that requires sitting the 11+ CE exam. They use this exam to assess for academic scholarships as well - there is no separate scholarship exam it's just based on CE scores.

As DD is at a small independent school that goes from 3 - 18 they have an internal exam rather than using CE so i'll need to find somewhere for DD to sit CE if we go down the route of applying to the other school.

In general, and i know there is no specific answer to this and it will vary from school to school and year to year, what kind of score on CE would need to put you up there with being a scholarship candidate for a school that is middle of league tables for results rather than top and will i need to get specific CE resources or will Bond books do?

Try www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/index.php

CE is done at 13, not 11. Are you sure you have your facts right? It's also largely a thing for boys.

There are two CE exams and yes, the one most people have heard of is the 13+ That a lot of public schools use for selection, but there is an 11+ CE that a lot of, primarily girls, schools use for 11+ selection. The ISEB site has all the information about the papers and I can get copies of past papers from there, but I don't know what score I should be looking at to see whether DD might get a scholarship.

I've learnt something new! thank you.

No problem . A lot of independent girls schools, including boarding, start at 11 and may or may not have a 13+ entrance point.

Not sure why the disparity between the historic girls and boys regimes but it’s really annoying that there’s only one school I’m looking at for DD that requires CE so I need to find somewhere that will let her sit the exam there. I’m sure ISEB will have some suggestions about where to sit it as she can’t be the only girl not at a prep that offers it, but it does make the process rather more annoying! 😃.

I’m just not sure whether it’s worth going through all the hassle if she’s unlikely to get a scholarship. Currently at a selective 3-18 school and was doing well in maths and ok in English but has now swapped and is great in English but less solid in maths.

Very creative but tendency to daydream, but will then be able to talk nonstop for an hour about a whole world she’s just invented in her head, which has fully formed jurisprudence rules and training routes to become doctors or teachers and funding for a space programme and it is all fully internally consistent. I think on a non daydreaming day she’d be great but it’s equally possible she would get lost in the world of the story she’d been asked to write and get very little down on paper.

I just don’t know what score is likely to be scholarship material and I don’t want to put her in for too many exams if she’s going to end up staying where she is anyway.

The options are probably staying where she is, trying for superselective grammar and CE for the slightly less academic school with higher fees (hence the scholarship pondering) that would probably be a good fit for her personality if she maintains the creative daydreamer rather than solidly becoming academic in all areas and gaining focus.

Pretty much everyone will sit the exam for the superselective even if they are unlikely to achieve a high enough score, so she will definitely be sitting that exam.

The ISEB 11+ exam is sometimes (confusingly) called CE even when it isn't used in a conditional offer system.

Does your target school use it as a CE (qualifying) exam, with highest scorers getting scholarships? Has your DD already got her conditional offer? Are exams in June, like normal age CE?

The 11+ CE has two sittings - November and January. I think the one that the target school requires is the January sitting. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of performance in the CE exam. No conditional offers. All girls attend assessment day then sit the exam. Following exam they are called for interviews.

Pigs

Girls sit CE as well as boys firstly.

I think you need to get a good tutor with a proven track record to help you. In my experience there will be many facets your school may not be covering. Verbal - non verbal reasoning etc. I am not sure you will achieve the best results simply with books.
An assessment and then a plan is needed so you can work on weaknesses and areas not covered.

The ISEB 11+ has been known as the “Girls’ Common Entrance”. It has never really been a big exam as girls’ schools typically set their own exams. There are a few that use ISEB papers though, including some prestigious schools.

Pass marks and scholarships are determined by the senior school.

A pass mark of 50% will get the student into most all through or 11+ schools, even if they declare themselves to be selective.

If there are no conditional offers, then it's an 11+ (set by ISEB) not a CE at age 11.

This is an important difference, because in a CE system, you only have to achieve the mark and you are in (it's a confirmatory/qualifying test - a bit like getting your grades for a conditional offer at a university). Whereas if it's a competitive entrance exam you need to do better than many, to be in the top cohort, and you do not know what the required marks are likely to be.

If your schools does not prepare for 11+ transfer, then one thing to consider is finding a tutor with experience of preparing girls for competitive 11+ (whether ISEB or not) and who therefore knows what level of performance fits with the standard of various schools. Not necessarily to hire to teach, but for a couple of assessment sessions.