7+ Entrance North London

[ScorpioMum]

Hi all, we're looking at 7+ entry for our DS for top North London independent schools. How would people rank in terms of difficulty of entry: Habs, UCS, Highgate, Belmont (Mill Hill), Merchant Taylors? Any recent first hand experience?
We don't want DS to sit too many exams so are trying to decide to which to apply...

Totally agree that boys maths paper from HABS tough. Not looked recently but if it is the same paper then final question is effectively working in base 6 & near impossible. The early part of the paper is more realistic. The English & Maths (especially) papers on Highgate website are easier than the actual papers unless they have been updated. Birds in a nest for the comprehension. But the style of the comprehension is a good indicator for that school. Ordering parts of the story etc often comes up. Good luck all

Omasa
for SP, don't worry too much about NVR, its basically IQ test, just familiarize the boys with the style of questions, I don't think it's necessary to practice too much on it. comprehension is MCQ, so much easier than many other schools. it was a non-fiction article last year.
Do prepare for maths paper, there are a lot of word problems which require deep thinking and understanding.

Really wwwmummy - that’s good to hear. I’ve heard conflicting reports about the importance SP place on NVR - we got the timetable last week and it’s down for 45 Mins and lumped with reading so just confused me a bit as I couldn’t do NVR for 45 mins as my eyes would go goggly. Anyone who has done NVR for 7+ are kids expected to know cube nets ? It’s come up in the SS 8-9 book and It throws me every time and I can’t do it myself let alone explain it - wondering if it’s needed or whether we should just skip those pages

SPJ timetable also mentions 45 mins of English Writing. Does anyone know if the 45 mins are for comprehension + composition or composition only?

45min for composition only. comprehension and NVR are together.

wwwmummy, is your DS currently in SPJ? Did he write the WUS exam as well?

we sat the exam last year, including WUS and some other schools, we are not in SJP though :)

*SPJ I mean

Thanks wwwmummy

Thanks wwwmummy. Was just checking to see if you have some current insight on life on these schools post 7+.

Jifey, for us, settling in the new school since September, DS is learning his daily routine in a “bigger” school, as he was from a small London preprep. School days are packed with a LOT of non-academic activities, sports fixtures, music lessons, play rehearsals, trips, external talks, etc, etc. homework is very light if any at all, but daily reading is a must. So for DS, it’s more relaxed than a year ago, when we were preparing for the exams. He picked up a second instrument, and fell in love with football. LOL

Thanks wwwmummy. Good to know that things relax a bit post- 7+, before they pick up again!

Mummy, does it mean they covered some of the Y3 curriculum while preparing for 7+ exam?

Yes, for us, Y3 materials are all covered during exam preparation. I think the school started year 3 with NC year 4 topics as they assumed everyone should have already learned by themselves.

I forgot to check back the post until today. Thanks Omasa and CB2009** for your answers. We have done the habs boys one ages ago and I remember it was more difficult than the highgate ones as well.

I actually went ahead and got the epp English and math papers. Did a math one and found several areas of weaknesses, and now working through the relevant sections in the Bond 8-9 book.

I had thought doing 6-7 and 7-8 is enough but now looking at the epp papers it certainly looks like half of 8-9 is also tested on. Seems really crazy given some of the kids would only be 6 at the time of testing.

Yes, epp material includes things that are firmly late y3 early y4 material. My understanding is that they make the papers at a level that is just beyond what the most competitive preps would require. It seems crazy and unhelpful since this will loop into a circle of higher expectations from school, hence more tutoring requirements. All this is totally unhelpful for a child and their educational development.

Just thinking @princesna isn't that a clever way to identify tutored kids. So you may pass the exam very well but then you get a tougher, more inquisitive interview.... that is what I would do in any case!

yes, I agree. EPP papers are much more difficult than necessary, especially in maths. Parents should not panic if the kids are not doing great on EPP papers. Even the very top selective boy schools does not have papers at that level. And girl schools' maths papers are much much easier. A headmaster feedback last year was the academic level from 7/8+ was unprecedentedly high, I think that partically contributed to the anxious pushy parents and tutors.

We used the epp papers a couple of years ago and found them extremely useful. I think the problem arises due to mismanaged expectations. You don't need to be scoring 100% on these papers. If your child can score 70%+ then they will likely do well. That aligns with the passmarks in many of the top schools, which is in the low 70s I believe. Having that benchmark was useful when preparing for the exam.

I think Latymer is the only school that does a good job of explaining this on their site. They key to doing well on these exams is to try to pick up as many marks as possible rather than feel that you need to answer every single question correctly.

My DS gets very nervous when he counts his scores and sees that he did not score high on the EPP papers. I think pushing too hard can undermine the child's confidence which is crucial for sitting the exams. I am not sure in the end weather EPP papers are more help or harm.

PS I might be wrong but it seems that to sell its product, EPP deliberately made the tests unnecessarily hard making the Bond books look too easy hence inadequate. I totally agree with wwwmummy, they contributed to the overall anxiety, and unfortunately there is no turning back.

As per KCS website, their 7+ result letters were expected today. Did anyone receive it?

Anyone got the SPJ email or call yet?

Jifey

The SPJ emails today are expected only for international students. Do you fall in that category?

@Jifey

The SPJ emails today are expected only for international students. Do you fall in that category?