UCS 7+

[worriedmum2016]

This morning was UCS 7+ exam. Wondering how it went for everyone? Our DS gave mixed feedback about the morning. He seems very overconfident about maths but I'm not sure if it went that well. Couple of questions he recalled were reasonably tricky.

We are in the 7+ mix but our son did not sit for UCS yesterday. We are at the state primary down the road and the main impact was morning traffic chaos on Holly Bush! However, I will share some general feedback from other (state) school children from son's class who sat. General sense was that the maths was ok/reasonable/doable. I understand that comprehension was a little harder. About Buzz Aldrin (sp?) landing on the moon. So I guess topical. Children had to then write a story/continuation about how they would have felt landing on the moon. Around a page of lined paper for them to complete. No feedback on the Reasoning to share. Sure this is of little help but it is a stressful time and so felt that I should post the little which I heard.

Hi worriedmum2016,
My son sat for UCS 7+ yesterday. Agree with CB2009, maths was not too difficult, same for reasoning. My son can never tell me any details, but he mentioned about Neil Armstrong, which I think makes sense given they had comprehension related to moon as mentioned by CB2009. They also had some games after the exams. How did it go for your son?

Did your DS appear for Habs Dash? Mine wasn't happy about it. Came back with a gloomy face. He couldn't finish the English paper and is disappointed with himself. We're trying our best to keep calm. Maths and Reasoning were ok. They also said that only 18 seats will be available well below what we expected. So not hopeful at all.

@CB2009: Thanks for the info on UCS...very helpful...

Worriedmum2016 Yes, he sat for HABS. He couldn't finish maths, there were 12 pages of maths. He didn't seem confident today. 48 kids will be called for interview, sounds difficult for my boy.

CB2009 did your son sit for HABS?

SpuriousM - no my son did not sit Habs. Biting my nails ahead of Highgate tomorrow. Will post if/when I hear feedback about Habs but have kept myself and my little lad away from it all today. Have heard now from others re UCS. Maths generally considered easy. Reasoning ok. Story/comprehension ok/little tougher. But most boys found UCS ok. Habs always going to be harder ask than UCS. Meant to test the boys so stay calm. Sense that they will all have found Habs harder than UCS

CB2009, I wanted to wish you best of luck for today. Hope it went well?
Worriedmum2016, did your DS sit for Highgate as well?

My DS didn't sit but some of his friends did. I heard it went well. There were aprox 80-100 candidates which sounded a bit low to me. According to them it was slightly difficult than UCS but similar level.
CB2009: Hope it went well for your son?

Thank you for the well wishes. My son said that the Maths, of which he claims there were 21 pages, was fine and he finished quickly. Reasoning sounded like mix of picture puzzles ( odd one out), alphabetical order, number codes etc Again he sounded fine and had bags of time. Sounds like he found the English harder which is what I would have expected. His bug bear sadly. Comprehension about chicken finding a golden coin. The area where I know the least is the story where it sounds like he may have gone off the rails. Three pictures - a teddy, a key and a ring??? There were probably around/just less than 80 children in our time slot. However, my understanding is that there were at least 3 time slots based on start times for our friends etc. May be even more. I heard the Head tell one parent that it was around 300 children attending on the day

@CB2009: I guess if he aced in Maths and Reasoning he should get an interview call. Generally boys struggle with English particularly fiction type. So I'm sure it must have been tricky for other boys as well. What was the general opinion among other boys? Good luck!

Hope everything goes well for all of us. CB2009: When are you expecting to hear back from them? I guess out of 300, there will be approximately 150 boys?
Btw, today was KCJS, I heard the papers were not too easy, not a surprise I guess!

On the contrary, if you go to the 7+ KCS thread, everyone said it was 'v easy', esp maths.

Yes, I just saw the posts in that thread.

SpuriousM - Highgate mail out on Friday of this week 1st class post. Interviews are a week Wednesday - Thursday and Friday. Son offered little snippets over the weekend mainly about Maths where he would be the strongest. Certainly some of the word problems don't sound super easy so hoping that it was a little harder than first thought. Not heard from many. Certainly most seem to have felt it was ok. May be a touch harder than UCS but not by miles. Some other boys not finished story. Trying to keep calm and carry on. May be a few more boys sitting than girls?? But may be I just notice them more :-)

Received HABS interview email this morning!
CB2009,worriedmun2016/TennisMom... do you know what do they ask/ look for in the 4hour interview?

Well done SpuriousM for you all. Afraid that anything that I put here re Habs interview would be speculation rather than fact. If I hear anything substantial then will post for you. When is his interview? Fingers crossed for you all

Thanks CB2009, any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated; it's Monday

Letter from Highgate came. Son been invited for interview Wednesday at 9:50am. Very very relieved. Will enjoy the weekend and then start worrying after the weekend. Goodness me this is tough on us and the little ones. Best friend from nursery, with siblings there, told results not good enough but he can come to experience the second stage on Friday should he so choose. My son's good friend from (state) school failed to get an interview too. Tough. Highgate interview only 50 mins - looks like collaborative tasks??? Wishing others lots of luck

any idea how many Highgate interviews at 7+ vs places?

CB2009 big well done to you and your little one, yes this is hard. 50 mins is still good, are they having one to one interviews there? All the best for coming Wednesday.

Thank you SpuriousM. Letter not very specific. Sanam2010 - my info is about 200 for interviews. 120 boys and 80 girls. Will make close to 100 offers for around 50 places. Hope that helps

Curious, what happens if all 100 offers accepted and they only have 50 places? That seems like
a high risk strategy.

TennisMom - Junior Head told us that he has his ranked lists of all pupils. There is a meeting with other North London Heads last week of January. He stated that this does not drive who they offer to but does drive numbers of offers. Say a boy where Habs are to offer and the boy has a brother at Habs. Highgate will still offer but mark as Offer Decline as opposed to Offer Accept. May not be quite as high as 100 but he said experience indicates that they need to offer 90+ to get 60. That ratio could alter if they feel the schools popularity has increased or declined. They will always have some children where there is a fall back to Westminster or StPauls. They will have girls who will take NLCS instead. Not too different to airlines over selling seats. He said the reason is that he wants pupils from say 50 downwards on their list to get an offer straight away due to the intense competition with other schools. Sounded plausible to me. I have always found him relatively honest on the thorny topics of tutoring etc so had no reason to dispute what he said. I heard him say all of this 1st hand at a open day so based on Head talking not playground chat. Others can say if they hear different

CB2009 - thanks for the fantastic info