A thread for 8+ Westminster, St Paul's, Sussex House, Kings etc

[user8957365]

Merry Christmas!
Just the small matter of getting through the 8+ exams and wondered if there are other parents out there who might be interested in joining this thread.
Did any of your sons sit Kings in December? How did they find it? Apparently only 14 places going - gulp!
How are you preparing for St Paul's etc? If they are parents who have already been through the process and can offer any advice it will be very gratefully received.
Cheers

At this point in time, we are just revising all that should've been covered by now. Trying to fill in any gaps.
DS said Kings was easy (too confident of himself this one!); on further probing, realised he made pretty obvious mistakes😳
At this point, don't stress the child; it's not gonna help. We will put books/everything away by Friday. Lots of rest and a fresh mind before the exam will help your child. Good luck.

Hello, I am in the same boat. My son said the maths at Kings was very easy and “boring”. He was pleased with his story - something about a circus double bike ring any bells?. Sounded a bit odd to me. Comprehension also easy. Hum! I wondered if he missed the point of the papers along the way but hopefully not for all the papers.

Hello, thanks for posting. I have not been online for a few days had given up on other mums wanting to join the thread!
With Kings my son said the maths paper was easy but he didn't' manage the crack the last question about the random digits they had to use to make the number 25 or was it 26. Sounds like Countdown! Comprehension was Ok.
Cdstanding - mine wrote a story about a bike ride too but no circus
I think Kings must choose their boys from the Activity Day and interview because the exam doesn't seem to have challenged anyone much.
Trying to take things easy this weekend so he can recharge but we'll do 30 mins of maths every morning to keep his brain ticking over.
Are you both sitting Westminster and St Paul's next week?
Good luck!

Just SPJS.

Good luck to your boys for this week

Yes, good luck everyone sitting Westminster today!

If you sat Westminster and St Pauls's this week how did it go for your boys?

Hello,

I’m so happy to have found this tread, nerves nerves nerves....

Ok so, WUS it appears didn’t go well. He said maths and reasoning were fine but comprehension was very hard!

He came out of St Paul’s really pleased! On further questioning he has done Well in mental maths, spelling, maths and English but he said there were many verbal reasoning questions that he had no idea! Story was about wicked wolves?!

How did everyone else got on? Any news about interviews

Hi there

It’s the waiting I cannot bear.... WUS Letter said hear “by Thursday” there’s a rumour the callbacks have already been notified. Hum ho.
My son found maths very easy finished everything including the pyramid shapes extension thing whatever that was ... Reasoning also easy BUT comprehension very hard. Composition was a bit of a curve ball it seems but I’m fine with that as it will flash out boys heavily tutored to write stories.
I’m worried the maths was too easy therefore difficult to distinguish between so many strong candidates. Ah, I guess comprehension will be the decider - too bad not our strongest paper. Is it me or has WUS shifted their focus from maths to English?
We didn’t sit SPJ.

I keep glancing at my phone. Stressful morning haven't managed to get anything done.
cdstanding - my son found the maths at WUS OK too and did the extension but not everyone cruised through it. Quite a few boys in our class didn't get to the extension and found the paper tricky.

Reasoning he said was easy - does anyone know if WUS do any kind of adjusting for summer born babies?

I wouldn't listen to any rumours, WUS are known to be terrible at communication during this process. One year they didn't send emails out until a day after due date and it didn't occur to them to notify anxious parents!!

Now SPJ - went much better than I expected. Everything straightforward no strange composition section like WUS but my son said the story he wrote was about a boy stuck in a tower and looked out to strange goings on below; comprehension was something about skate boarding. No wicked wolves so I'm really hoping, sk118118, you are referring to the 7+ or we may have a problem..

Where's that e-mail????

From what I hear the SPJ composition was a picture prompt so the boys could have taken that story idea in any direction. Doesn’t matter as long as they write with good punctuation, lots of descriptive language, similes etc.

Ha! Wicked wolves were apparently around the boy in the tower!

Haven’t had much done either. To me WUS is gone as only 22 places and he looked as if he didn’t do well. Waiting to see if SPJ will call!

Really good luck everyone- so painful.

Do share if you get interviews

Any news from WUS anyone? Argggg why didn’t they just tell us not to expect anything until late in the day.

Does anyone know of anyone who has got an email yet? Are they going to send an email in both cases so at least the anxiety is over??

Everyone gets notified although historically the callbacks are contacted first. Rest of us an after thought??

There was talk of them putting on a re-sit this morning as several boys were sick on Tuesday. I don’t think that’s fair to be honest as they will know what to prep for but this may explain the hold up.

Sh15 what did your son say about the exams?

Is the rumour some Wetherby boys have their call back email true?
Someone please post if you know for sure. I bet there are so many lurkers on this thread...

Take it easy, I know it's a hard thing to do, as we went through the same process two years ago. There's nothing you can do except waiting. Best of lucks! Reading this thread brought all the memories back .... God bless...

I am surprised to hear on the re-sits as I called up the school on Monday as my son was down with an infection and they told me they'll call back if it was possible. I didn't receive any call hence we sent him regardless as he felt bit better with antibiotics. He said it was fine and Maths was easy and English was fine too.

He said WUS was easier then SPJ who knows all kids rate things differently though!!

Experience people shed some light is this the usual process that WUS do send results this late?

That’s what I would expect. Our Head always said if you’re sick it’s tough luck, no re-sits, but apparently there was such a significant number missing this year they felt compelled to allow re-sits. Who knows...

Sounds to me your son is well positioned for WUS sh15 - well done him. Mine found the comprehension hardgoing.

I think if we haven’t hear from WUS by now, it’s not going to be good news. The thought of 11+ makes me feel more sick

Still holding on to hope...someone further up the thread said WUS are known to be not great with communication and late some years. Big difference compared to Kings where the Head was very visible through the exam day to great parents and boys and Communication is swift.

Taking the dogs out for a nice long walk now WITHOUT my phone...

Good luck everyone!

WUS Parent here....historically the callback emails go out right at the end of the day, so don’t lose hope. The children were in the bath when we got ours! Good luck all.

Had an email from St Paul’s and it’s a no- he was in the second quartile so he’s not being invited back. Very disappointed

7plusdad thanks for posting. Still waiting...
We got a yes from St Paul's. Relieved. Phew! Still have the interview and have to compete with 79 other boys for a place though.

Sk118118, sorry to hear that. Curious they tell you information about your quartile. That's helpful for future planning and how much more you need to do. Our letter had not such information. Did they mean he is in the 2nd quartile of all candidates who sat or 2nd quartile of candidates who did not get a call back?

Does anyone know how many boys sat the exam in total?