Reading list for yr7 entrance exams - current cohort help please?

[Ginandtonictime]

Did your dc sit any entrance exams this Jan/Feb? I'm wondering if anyone has gathered from their dcs what books the English comp was extracted from? It would be great to get an up to date reading list for next year's examinees ...

From six years ago when my twin ds sat their entrance exams, I remember Latymer chose The boy in the striped pajamas, St Benedicts chose Beowulf and Emanuel used Treasure Island

Can anyone update the list for this year?

I've just bought Kidnapped, The Incredible Journey, Heidi, The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables ... all great reads and lots of time to get them into him!

The Railway Children.

Thanks ss7 - do you know which school it was for?

My dd sat exams in January for North London girls schools. We did lots of past papers in preparation. They choose really obscure books ( to make sure the text is unfamiliar to all the children). So it's impossible to predict what text will be used. In my experience what you need to do to prepare is:

• read lots of different books - classics, modern, historical, etc.

• practice doing papers - there is definitely a technique for answering the questions, which needs to be mastered to get full marks.

Don't forget - comprehension is partly about identifying the techniques used by authors.

sorry mine are all a year out of date - but still useful?

St Olaves chose A Monster Calls

Dulwich College - The Box of delights

Alleyns - The Call of the Wild

I do think it's useful to know - it gives a range of interesting books for kids of that age to read before or after the exams?

They can be really random.

One child had a Romeo and Juliet extract and another a piece of non-fiction about the Olympic Village!