What was the worst 11+ interview answer your DC has given?

[fairyhopeful]

Today, my reasonably intelligent DS was asked if there was any movie he could take to a desert island, what would it be? His answer... Dumb and Dumber. Me: "You said what?!"

What is the worst interview answer your child has given, and did they get an offer in spite of it? Can there be any humour, or forgiveness, for "Dumb & Dumber"?

Big sigh!

I don't think it matter what he chose, just can he give his reasons.. and it least it shows he wasn't over-prepped!!! :)

My DD came down with norovirus in the middle of an interview. Sandblasted the carpet. She got in.

My son, aged 10, was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. An archaeologist in Mongolia. He liked history, he liked digging and he liked being Ghengis Khan when playing “Age of Empires”.

Fair enough. He got the place.

DS - from a school which did not prepare for selective school entrance- was given a series of mental arithmetic questions to answer.
He told the interviewer he would use a calculator for that kind of problem because he found it hard to concentrate when doing boring stuff and usually got the answers wrong.

He did not get a place! But he is now studying maths at a very sought after university so it was not the end of the world....

My DS's friend was interviewing for a posh selective boarding school. Their prep school had lots of experience sending boys here and knew a lot of types of questions that might come up.

One of them was "how would your friends describe you ?"

The Mum asked my DS how he would describe her son-
his helpful answer "pyromaniac" did not get used

My ds had an interview for 7+. He was asked what his parents did “Daddy works for ...., Mummy likes to sit on the sofa and drink coffee”. At least he didn’t say gin I suppose.....

Lol at Dumb and Dumber! That would really make me laugh so im sur eit went down well.

My ds was asked what his worse subject was and he said "I really dont like French" to the teacher, as he kooked atvher name badge which said Miss such and such, French teacher.

Brilliant answers! Kids are so funny. School Admissions sounding quite fun!

Mine was asked what they weould do if they were prime minister - answered, 'shoot Donald Trump' - apparently it caused a laugh and he got in!

I really don't think schools judge the actual answer to those kind of Qs too much - it's about having something to say and even better if there's a reason given. Slightly odd or what you'd expect from a 10 year old is.....expected. Pompous and worthy answers are just a bit tedious and look over-prepared for and don't actually show anything about the candidate except they've been over-prepared. Far better to give a quirky and slightly odd answer if my view.

Probably rather outing but my DS, who is a keen cricketer and spin bowler, when asked if he had a sporting hero, chirped up merrily with “Oh yes! Shane Warne! Definitely!”

For those who only know of him via Liz Hurley, here’s some footage of Shane, erm, chatting with a batsman:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa5jj1yYoZs

I was told today about a child who was asked at an 11 plus interview what their super power would be if they were a super hero - and they said it would be to crush heads!

Dd “ I like watching Bondi Vet with Mum but I think we watch it for very different reasons. Mind you I’ve told her she’s wasting her time, he’s totally in the closet”
Offered a 25% scholarship off the back of it

When asked what do you watch on TV, an answer given was "forced to watch the news because of this interview".

We were kept waiting for a school interview last term and as DS was taken in by the interviewer I heard the following conversation.
" I hope we didn't keep you waiting.."
DS:" Yes you did, we were waiting for about 45 minutes. We came a bit early as my Mum said it was very rude to be late!"
We did get an offer though so presumably his answers to the other questions were better.

Not my DS but I heard this story about an interview at my DS's school where rugby is a 'big thing' and they are known as a rugby school....
Teacher : 'Do you like rugby?'
10 year old : ' I'd rather eat shit'

Apparently he got a place as he was honest......

I interview loads of 11+ kids at a top London school and can categorically state that if kids say what their parents have told them to say they are at a massive disadvantage. Basically it means that I can’t judge that kid’s suitability for the school as I haven’t really heard from them. I had one kid who said she’d like to train tortoises to obey simple commands. Brilliant! Kid who said she didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up but knew she DIDN’T want to be a builder. Brilliant! If I feel the kid is prepped to the eyeballs they will go on the don’t know list for me.

What are 11 + kids interviewed for?

I thought if they got a place and got through that would be it?

They assess on exam results, interview and report from school. T and W also interview the parents. Obviously the exams are the main thing, but the others count as well, particularly on the margins between place/no place and scholarship/bursary offers. This is for 11+ private schools. 11+ grammar schools is the exam only.

My brother, going for a 13+ place, so theoretically old enough to know better, was asked whether he had any pets.
"A dog and a dead cat."

(He got a scholarship.)

Yes, state schools need to apply the admissions criteria and rigidly stick to them. There will be no place for an interview, but places will be given purely on the exam score or achieving a certain pass mark plus some kind of geographical criteria or mixtures of the two, possibly including a certain number of places related to music etc.

Independent schools have the flexibility to offer more broadly. So for most, the exam will be the biggest factor, but where there are lots that are of a good standard, the school reference and interview can through up anomalies in the exam performance, or positives the school likes such as extra curriculars, great attitude, or ability not seen on paper, or the reverse such as lack of interest and enthusiasm in the school, lack in wider interests or poor behaviour. Certainly around the margins, those references and interviews might swing the school to give or not give a place to a candidate, so in the end, it isn't the top X number which get an offer, but some within that top X number don't get an offer and some below it don't. However, the majority of places will go to those within the top X number as interview and reference will confirm that these are good candidates and exam performance is key. Of course some schools have fewer applicants and not many more than places and so basically offer to all unless something glaring crops up. They have an exam but aren't really selective. Lots of independents fall into this category. The other thing that happens is some schools have many applicants but are not most people's top choice and so they need to massively over-offer to fill - again most who apply will get an immediate offer unless something really glaring comes up, and some will run waiting lists which they expect to have to go well down in order to fill.

Sorry, meant to say some below the top X performers in the exam DO get an offer, not don't.

And I agree about the dull over-prepped for answers - what can you really tell when you hear them - nothing, and so the 'don't know' pile is the most likely place, and if a kid was marginal in the exam, they haven't advanced their position.

Giving an answer of some sort, especially with some kind of reasoning is good, regardless of it is seems the kid of answer the model academic, mature adult would give - after all they are only 10 and their thoughts are not ours!

The kind of answers which might result in the 'definitely not/think carefully about this one' pile are those where the kid expresses a clear unwillingness to come to the school (surprising how often this happens) or shows they are unwilling to be part of a community. Any special needs would be taken into account when listening to answers and it's recognised that some special needs make interviews very hard or unusual answers more likely. Being totally insipid and having nothing to say isn't going to help either, although interviewers know this might be a first interview ever, it can be nerve racking and people shy, and so will be adept in helping to draw shy children out and helping them to give an answer......but then if a child clearly still doesn't have a thought at all about anything, it's difficult to be positive.

I'm sure there are loads of hilarious answers given. They might make us parents cringe when they're given by our child, but interviewers expect 10 year olds to answer as 10 year olds and if everything sounds like an adult answering, it probably is a bit fake.

And I liked the example of the boy saying he'd rather eat shit than play rugby. Unusual to say the word 'shit' in an interview and possibly raised an eyebrow at that moment. But perhaps in the rest of the interview the boy showed he was enthusiastic about other aspects of the school, had other interests himself and came across well. Perhaps he also was a top performer in the exam. These single line comments from the kids we read here are all out of context of everything else they said, their exam performance, references and how competitive a school is to get in.

ds was asked what clubs he did at school.

despite the fact he was a happy member of the choir, the football team and the karate squad, he didn't mention them as they weren't called 'clubs'.... instead he said that he was in the Airfix club and when asked for more detail said he didn't really like it as his model kept falling apart....

He only got a waiting list spot!

Slightly different as this was an assessment for a place at a special needs school for a friend's DD. Some of the staff there are nuns and one of the nuns was asking friend's DD lots of questions - after a few questions the DD (who has extremely complex needs) had had enough and told the nun to fuck off! And the school offered her a place!