7+ exams for Westminster, King's and St. Pauls

[Heist]

Hello Everyone, my son is writing 7+ exams for Westminster, St.Pauls and KCS this year.
My son is preparing for a while now and struggling in English a lot as of now.
Could someone please provide me more insights on the interview and activity tasks that the kids are asked to participate in and how to ace those bits? How could I prepare my son for these bits?
Thanks a lot.

@Nataly21 thank you so much. This is indeed very helpful. Just one last question - if a child has problem in submitting answers or dragging an answer, do they then let the child speak up and seek help? I wouldn’t want to be seen anywhere near my child but if there is any issue, what would the right protocol be?

@Aba1. There's ample time to finish the questions. It's not easy doing an exam staring at a screen for nearly 4hours but they give you enough time. It gets tiring for the eyes so definitely make maximum use of the break. I wish I had done that because mine was just exhausted by the time they got to English and didn't want to go back to check his answers, even though it was fairly easy.

Within each section you are able to go back to check your answers or complete unanswered ones. Once you are out of the section of course, there's no going back.
I would suggest you (or partner) to please be close by to your child. There were many times during the exam where ds needed help. You could see lots of other parents assist as well. No judgement- there were genuine issues. Unclicking an incorrect answer, selecting multiple answers, not being able to sign in and I am sure the school understands.

@Nataly21 Thank you so much for your help! Really appreciate it.

@Aba1 there will be some sample questions for boys to practice. But have to say you do need to be familiar with mouse and keyboard. I hear someone using touchscreen (iPad or other touchscreen device) which can be helpful and save time for moving mouse (which my son is not good at and I think he spends same amount of time to move mouse as the time to work out the answer)

I’m still worried how about how to ensure the fairness during such exam as you can’t tell if a parent is only helping with technical issues or helping correct the answers.

@MsMeanwhile you are absolutely right. But there's no way to know and I stood there glaring at the screen slightly miffed to see the parents intervening till we had our own issues and I sat there for 15 minutes trying to log into Maths. So unfortunately that issue is there. But I suppose this is why they are having a second round of assessments.

@Nataly21. Yes, guess have to rely on the second round if the little one manages to work through. Given it seems quite a few people think the questions are reasonably easy, assume a lot of people will move to next round compared with previous years

WIsh you and him all the best. I do understand- it is frustrating especially because there are very few seats and the school just won't be able to accommodate re-assessing 100 or so children if so many of them have done a 'good job'.

@Nataly21. Same to your little one and hope they could progress to next stage, but I don’t pin much hope as I heard my little one spent too much time moving mouse to select / unselect some answers and there were some questions he didn’t finish. If they all perform well, do we know if the school will give more preference to the feeders or those with siblings?

Can’t believe how easy the math questions are! Feel like something my reception ds2 doing at the moment. The comprehension was read out loudly and questions are so easy. Reasoning again nothing tricky. The only problem my son had was typing and clicking not the test itself. Feel like a IT test instead of 7+ test. Don’t know how they could even pick the good ones if exams are so easy.

@Eitherway your DS in reception must be in a very special school. My 2nd DS in Reception couldn't have done the Math test. However I agree that Math and English was easy and way below my expectations (based on EPP, mock exams, and Bond papers 8-9). Reasoning was more difficult. Typing and clicking was a problem for all of them but there was enough time.... who knows what comes out it.... I guess the second round will be the more difficult one.

@Eitherway: so agree. typing, clicking, unclicking, going back- that in fact was the real test.

Happy new year everyone! What was the sort of questions for maths? What was the text in English and type of questions please ?

@Lolakath19 Math: covered most topics like money, shapes, basic calculations, time, simple fractions. The questions were significantly easier than expected. English was spelling in form of a dictation where only single words needed to be filled. Some grammar questions (conjunctions and time). Comprehension was a simple text. My son’s comprehension homework for the coming weekend is more difficult by a factor of 5. No surprises other than the online format. I hope that for next year all the kids can go back to the normal exam format and that this year’s experience remains a one-off.

Thanks so much. Could you see what your son had then? What sort of words where they asked to write?

@Lolakath19 I could hear DS reading out loud as he was doing the test. Dictation was mostly simple words like family, using, block, children (what I remember). Mine got confused by minor things- for instance the voice recording working through the assessent was different from the voice reading out the dictation passage, even thought assessment voice said "I will be reading this passage twice".
Maths was very basic additon, subtraction, fractions. Drag and drop, clicking next or clicking to type in was more challenging.
Yes, you can see the questions depending on where your computer is positioned.

Thanks. Did they make sure no parents were helping ?

@Lolakath19

Thanks. Did they make sure no parents were helping ?

I don’t think so and I don’t think they care.

@Lolakath19 I think it was impossible. I would guess most children needed help with the computers at one point or another. Either me or my husband sat in the same room throughout. My son struggled with the mouse and clicking. He would have left most answers empty as he always forgot to put the curser in the answer window first. Impossible to say if parents were giving click the mouse instructions or helping with the questions. At the end of the day the boys will know and always remember.

They have used the PTM level 7 assessment (that’s what it said when you logged in). If you google it the following comes up:
www.gl-assessment.co.uk/support/ptm-product-support/progress-test-in-maths-test-level-age-guide/

It is a progress assessment for Y2. I would have expected it to be on Y3 level. I guess they took the current situation into the equation.

I agree it was a very easy test which makes me think they will just ask children from their usual feeder schools onto the next round where they can rely on school reports more as they know the heads etc. It felt as if this was just a way to ‘do something’ for everyone who had paid a registration fee!

Are you talking about WUS or SPS exam?

@LondonJJ I'm hoping WUS does a more thorough second round of assessments that's properly invigilated. Of course, only helps if my child gets through the first. With everyone finding the exam so easy, seems difficult.

My son just took the 8+ and it was extremely easy. Was done way too early and is surprised that the exam was so easy. I think the school will rely on feeder schools to take kids. This seems like a joke. Very sad after all the hard work has been put in.

It is a joke now. I doubt if Westminster will get top ability kids this year.