Today's 7+ at Westminster Under -how did it go?

[Michaelahpurple]

Anyone else have a DS sitting today? I fear most of the field probably knew pandas came from China, which my lad sadly forgot !

Hi, my son sat the 7+ at WUS yesterday. Do you know how many applicants there are this year?

He thought the exams weren't too difficult. It took us over a period of several hours to extract as much info on the exam as we could. He said there was a maths exam; a reading comprehension; and a creative story. He also said they did an arts activity. I'd assume there were more activities given they were there for 3 hours. Anything else you've heard??

What did your son think about the maths section? Did he get the question about finding the midpoint between 2 numbers correct? I think mine got it wrong based on his description of the problem. There was another problem about finding the perimeter of a triangle based on 2 known sides. We are not sure whether he got it right based on his description. Does your son remember these questions?

You have had more luck thank I in extracting detail, I fear. Maths I have only been told that he had to circle lots to get back to but then didn't get to them all. Some other boys said there were quite a few "puzzle" type questions, so seems to have been a bit more creative than it might have been.

The comprehension was chapter 5 of Stig of Dump, first two pages. If the vocab questions are an indication ("what is weather-boarding" in the context of a house) I think it was quite challenging - none of the 4 sitters I have heard reports from finished it.

Having a letter format for the composition was a little unusual - my boy did not find that very inspiring, but I am sure a stronger and more sensible writer would have been fine.

There was also verbal reasoning, which I think also had a vocab component, some of which seemed unusally knowledge-based and generally seems to have been viewed as fairly tough. There was non-verbal too, but I don't know if it was in a seperate paper or rolled up with the verbal (shape sequences etc).

If your DS found it not too difficult, I think he is pretty much a cert, as I don't think it is a universal view, even from strong candidates. Good luck - I won't be seeing you next week!

Hi, how did you know the book and passage of the comprehension section? Has your son read the book before? I have never heard of it.

Good luck to you all; I've been through this more than once and very happy not to be doing it again - it's quite stressful. I haven't heard the numbers for this year, last year it was about 175 who took the 7+. One lovely thing about WUS is that at least the whole process is very fast with not too much waiting around for results.

True, the process for 7+ is much quicker with turnaround time usually within a week. I heard that they already finished marking the papers by Saturday afternoon when the last exams ended at 1pm.

175-200 applicants for WUS 7+ seem right.

The 11+ process for girls' independent school is much much more painful with offers not posted until at least a month later.

Any other DSs taking the 7+ exam at WUS last Saturday? Surely there are a lot of lurkers out there! What did your son say?

I have to admit I didn't ask too many questions after the exam (in previous years) as I thought it would just worry him (and me). One thing I did learn was that on the maths paper there are some tough questions at the end and of course these are the ones they tend to remember. Gave me kittens at the time but I do now know that it isn't necessary to get 100% in maths to win a place!

187 candidates I believe. There were around 200 for both exams. I think the passage must have had a title reference as son told me straight away and I found it from what he told me about content. It is something of a classic although he hasn't read it yet!

That's great that your DS remembered the title reference; mine didn't. He kept saying it is a story with "chalk-pit" in it and as we have never heard of this term before, we kept asking, "The what??" many times. We thought perhaps he had mispronounced it.

Well, he has never read that story either and today out of curiosity I went to the library to check the book out. Now, he and his siblings are reading it and almost finished it by bedtime tonight. LoL.

The vocab seems challenging for a 6-7 y.o. boy; I think it is more for 8-9 y.o. given the writing style and vocabulary.

middlesqueezed, that's comforting to know that they don't need to get 100% on maths test to win a place as I'm sure mine didn't get 100%. I'm slowly getting more questions out of him as the day goes by.

It is generally set as a year 5 book, so I would agree re vocab, although the storyline and plot content are fine for littler ones. Good, classic boy story!

Anyone received a letter yet? It was supposed to be posted yesterday.

We got a letter inviting us to an interveiw next week. We have NO idea what to do by way of preparation as we have just moved here from overseas and don't know anyone who has been through this competitive process. Any interview tips would be most gratefully received. Thanks.

MilansMum. Congrat! I haven't got a letter yet...Do you think the school still send a letter even if my DS didn't make it?

Thanks. We are v pleasantly surprised.
They told us at the assessment that they would send everyone a letter - either way - so I am sure yours is just delayed in the post.

Has anyone received 'No' letter?

I still haven't reveived any letter so far....very annoying...

Tried twice this afternoon...but was divered to their answering machine.
I assume Turniphead1 hasn't received anything yet??!!

Thanks so much Turniphead1 for your thoughts. We are just chilling and trying to read and have a quiet weekend. It's quite a relief after the assessments...Hope you get to know soon jinnyps - good luck.