Winchester College/CAT scores

[WinchesterColl22]

Does anyone know what CAT scores Winchester College require ? I know it's super selective and wondered what range they would except for interview and the pretest? TIA

Only general knowledge guessing, but (a) I doubt they have a hard and fast rule (b) CAT has a mean of 100 and standard deviation 15, and I would think someone who wasn't at least 1 standard deviation above the mean would have little chance, while even very selective places probably don't fill with people more than 2 standard deviations above. So I'd say below 115 don't be hopeful; above 130, do be; in between, might as well have a go.

And, um... it may be nothing more than a typo followed by an auto-correct issue, but did you realise you have a spelling error in your post? If not, and if your DS has similar spelling issues, do think about whether dyslexia may be an issue.

Thank you @someone99 for pointing out my error, it was very kind of you. DS is not dyslexic but again thank you for your concern. I really appreciate it. Although I looking for first hand advise from parents who have been through the Winchester entrance procedure , thank you for taking the time to post such a kind and helpful reply.

A poster called Happygardening is a font of all knowledge on Winchester. Maybe PM him or her.

Years ago when DS2 was still at prep school (he’s at uni now) I read somewhere in ?an ISI report on Winchester which stated over 2/3s were in the top 3%. I suspect that it’s higher than this now as the school has become increasingly even more popular and can afford to be even more choosy.
I’m struggling to remember his CAT score because it was done over 10 years ago but I think it was 136 this was done by the school pre Win Coll interview, (TBH I don’t know much about CAT scores but he does have fairly classic dyslexia and struggles terribly with verbal reason if would make any difference to his score) and his ed psych report for dyslexia screening put his standard IQ in excess of 140 but 157 for math.
Hope this helps.

Thank you for your reply @Happygardening. Your DS's scores are very high indeed.Our headmaster does not tell us our CAT scores , he has just recommended Winchester as he said it would suit DS. He told us his scores indicate that this is the level of school we would be looking at, I am not sure which end he will be at. We will be going to the open day but to be honest I love the school already from everything that I have read and heard. I hope it doesn't change too much under the new headmaster. I think as you said Winchester is able to be extremely selective due to the high demand internationally. I know of very able boys in our prep school who are still on the waiting list in Year 7. Also a couple of geniuses who were offered a place in year 6!

Do you have any tips for the open day or choosing a housemaster ? TIA

We asked them. I didn’t want him in the same house as his cousins, he wouldn’t be in DH’s , so we said “ this is what he’s like, where do you suggest?” Nice housemaster.

Obviously everything I write might be out of date DS2 is coming to the end of his first year at uni and took a gap year so the open day was quite a long time ago I dont think I was dying my hair then!!
I was totally underwhelmed at the open day, the school definitely had a "this is us take it leave it" approach in contrast to all the other open days I'd attended at other schools. What IMO makes it different and special is not really quantifiable, the ethos that pervades the place really only becomes apparent once you've visited a few times talked to staff and the boys.
If you expecting perfectly tuned out. buffed and polished children waxing lyrical about the school then your going to be disappointed. Or en suite bathroom and a state of the art science blocks then your also going to be disappointed.
A friend who also went to the same open day came away saying "I cant see what I'm buying into" but as a very senior member of staff once said to me later we don't want parents who are buying into us!!"
It was only when we visited some houses and met both HM's, other teaching staff and the boys themselves that we started to see what makes it unique. You need to have at least 3-4 visits if possible.
Like you DS the headmaster at his prep school recommended Winchester, SPS and Westminster for him we only looked at the first two Tonbridge was suggested as a fall back.
With regard to houses talk to the admission dept they suggested three Has to meet we loathed one, and liked the other tow and spent weeks agonising over who to register with it was a difficult choice having made it the his HM proved to be everything we thought he would be when we first met him.
Good luck let me know how you get on.

My DS left last year. I am not sure what his CAT scores were assuming the prep school tested him then but the prep suggested that Winchester would be a good fit and they were very right

His housemaster was so good and caring including after he left but it was more luck than wise selection by us that he had him. There will be a lot of new housemasters in the nxt couple of years. The school is usually very good at selecting the right people for the job (with occasional exceptions). They are n't necessarily the best conversationalists with patents and can be regarded as strict by the younger boys but they provide what is needed at each stage of the boys growing up including in their final years and very sound advice after they leave.
Ask the school for possibilities and then go for the one that both you and your DS prefer at the initial visits.

I’m afraid I have no idea about CAT scores, but my son’s Ed Psych evaluation put him at 150+ IQ. I think it can be quite tricky to evaluate the higher scores as there isn’t enough data. He scored full marks in a couple of sections so his full potential was unknown. He was offered a place at 10 with no wait list and he’ll hopefully be starting in September! I agree with Happy that the open day can be underwhelming and we also found it tricky to facilitate more than a couple of visits. All the dons we spoke to though were charismatic, inspiring, knowledgeable and engaging and I think this is what we really like. The new headmaster seems quite personable and well rooted and I have had good reports about him from friends who had him as a housemaster some time ago!