Preparation for 16+ entry into Westminster

[ramennoddles]

I was wondering how to prepare to for exams and interviews for Westminster as I have no experience and I want DD to start preparing early. Any tips apart from tution?

Your DD should read the very long thread on The Student Room.

I would not tutor. Questions, depending on subject, are more likely to be of the math challenge sort. Applicants will be following a variety of syllabi, so the school will be testing the ability to apply sound core knowledge, not the knowledge itself.

Also think about why she prefers Westminster over other good sixth forms, including the state sector, which will almost certainly deliver the same grades and UK universities at a much lower cost with a bright student. And what contribution she would make to wider school life. Ie why the school should select her over other bright girls equally capable of getting A* at A level.

Take on board thete is a lottery element. It is far from first past the post. 60 girls, but take out boarders and your daughter will be competing for 40 places. These will be given to a, possibly predetermined, mix of scientists, mathematicians, linguists, classists, arts, humanities, social scientists, and mixes. Then you will have some capable of making real contibutions to school sport, drama, music etc. You dont know if you are up against two brilliant classists, say, or the best of a quite ordinary bunch, or competing against the future lead in the, very good, school drama.

Dd enjoyed the exams, because oftheir maths challenge approach. She enjoyed the interview. All along it was a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained. I suspect she may have got her place over brighter girls because of her strong extra curricular and potential contribution to school life.

Westminster is not for everyone. Changing schools and boys can be distracting. It runs on boy boarding school lines, and there is a lot of non acamedic stuff like Latin prayers and two full afternoons of sport a week. Dd had a wonderful time, and was really stretched in a broader sense, but this was not true of all her friends. If your aim is simply better grades Westminster will deliver a great education, but so too will a number of other London sixth forms.

Just to reiterate the level of competition for Westminster, my DD tried but did not secure a place although very bright and top of her previous school. She has since been given an offer from Oxbridge.

She was trying for a boarding place to study science and particulalry for these subjects, was competing against some very strong international applicants. I would suggest tutoring just to cover the full range of the GCSE syllabus. My DD’s school just hadn’t covered some of the topics in the exam (especially maths) which put her at a disadvantage.

The school seemed to put a lot of emphasis on music and we got a strong sense that they liked girls who would become choristers. Certainly her friend who was offered a place was a strong singer and musician.

OP seems to have disappeared. However if anyone else is considering Westminster, it is worth a shot. We encouraged DD partly because we saw it as a way to revise her better subjects in the autumn, knowing she would have to focus on the weaker ones pre-GCSE.

We did not do any tutoring, nor indeed any preparation other than revising topics she had already covered in school. DD was asked at interview why she had not tackled an organic chemistry question. She explained that her school were just getting onto that topic. They seemed happy enough and offered her a place. At GCSE she was top set, but nowhere near top of the class, but I suspect the style of the Westminster exam suited her. Girls came in from a wide variety of schools and bar one or two exceptions, it was not obvious who had been to the more academic and prestigious schools.

Hi, I would request advise on 16 plus admission to King's College School.

Then you should probably start a new thread.