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

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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.

Agree with icantbelievethis001. It is only one 7+ exam. Many other opportunities yet to come this year and next. Make it a big glass!!

You guys are all so lovely and knowledgable
Why I hadnt come on here before I don’t know?! My loss, but now my gain. Thank you all!
We only applied to SPJS. We’re quite happy with the school DS is in but would like our son to be stretched, life’s a little too easy for him and he loves learning.

For us it will be preparing for 8+ next year but with more test practise.

Does anyone know how many applied for the 8+ this year?
Also, is there such a thing as tutors or sites that teach exam techniques/ practise? That’s is downfall. Experience and exposure to tests.

May I Congratulate everyone who gets a place at SPJS this year...and a pat on the back to those who managed it last year .

...and of course a big hooray for all other successful school placements too. ;)

Bond 7-8 80% accuracy is not good enough for St Paul’s

Apologies. Did I say 7-8. I meant 80% @ age 8-9.

Oh I misunderstood. Still bond is very basic only good for learning stage not for improving.

Actually I mean there is not such thing as exam techniques for math exam for such young age. The math knowledge they are examining so far is so basic that can be learnt within a month by a quick learner. If they can’t perform well in exam which has no unlearned knowledge , it indicates the followings

1. Too careless and makes silly mistakes(normal for a boy at this age)
2. They are not fast enough which means they haven’t practiced enough
3. They don’t really understand math taught to them and can’t use it to solve problem. They are clueless when they see new types of questions.

4.can’t handle pressure

I can’t say anything about English as I am not a native speaker. Non verbal reasoning is purely IQ related and Verbal reasoning has more to do with English.

80% on bonds 8-9 is good, although also a good idea to do all 7+ EPP (aiming for over 90% with repetition). I have heard a few parents saying that they were doing 8+ papers too (when aiming for 7+).

8+ EPP is actually very similar to 7+ except dealing with bigger numbers and smaller fractions. But the type of questions they are asking are almost the same.

Thank you all so much for your input and encouragement. What level in maths is required to be in the top 25% at the SPJ exams? For both 7+ and 8+? I.e. Does it need to be a math result of 50/55 marks to get an interview? Or is it simply based on speed and accuracy on the day? Any tips on workbooks and websites would be very appreciated.

The boys that get offered places realistically need to be at least 3 years ahead of the national curriculum. Being able to problem solved and be quickly embrace new things that they havent seen is the differentiator. Often in the exams and in the interviews they will be given an example that they will not likely to have been taught. Those who are able to apply that new knowledge and solve the problem are the boys that will get through.

Agree about EPP 7+ and 8+ papers being similar. My son could do the 8+ almost as well as the 7+. I don't think we really know what is expected because we can only rely on our DSs to give feedback, but I know my son could do EPP7+ and 8+ consistently high 80s-90s and was in the top 25% (definitely not one of the top). Despite being competent at EPP and bonds books he found the exam very hard in maths. To level the playing field, I expect they put emphasis on problem solving questions rather than ones which require specific maths techniques that not everyone will have been taught. But this is only guessing. My impression is that being consistent over all papers, dealing with stress on the day and scoring high on NVR (bonds 8-9 standard probably) are all very helpful.

Agree with icantbelievethis001 regarding questions. We did a lot of practice papers, but questions that came up on interview are VERY specific! Not only maths, but a lot of maths combained with reasoning.
Same with English. They cancelled the creative writing officially, but they asked for creative writing piece on the second round.

Gosh. I’m getting more insight from you guys! This all makes sense and stuff I know my DS can do, but I can’t remember ever seeing it being done with him. I’m feeling a right loon and at the moment. If anyone who has a boy in SPJS can recommend their tutor please PM me. I think it’s time I considered a move.

I’m actually so annoyed now! Off to pick up and need to calm down, so I don’t show DS how disappointed I am with his tutor! Grrrrr!

My son told me we had to write a descriptive writing piece in the second round but I have no idea what the specific questions were as he never said. Obviously this is just my view, but if you do well enough on the written papers (top 50), probably being well-behaved, attentive and polite is sufficient in the second round. If you are borderline, an impressive interview/activity performance could make a difference I imagine. I don't think my DS managed to solve the NVR problem himself in the second round activity but was in the top 40 in the exam.

How are kids invited back for interview, I mean in alphabetic order or according to their overall ranking in the first round?

No order. They group children according to the school they come from. Hence your DS will be in same group as others from their school that have also made it through. In our group there were about 3 schools with about 3-4 children each and then a few individuals.

Ah, yes, by school, that makes sense. Thanks, icantbelievethis001.

That’s interesting Ican’tbelievethis
Why would they do it by school?

Doesn’t that make it harder for the ones who don’t know each other or allow certain ones to take charge? Am I missing something here?

@RoseGriffiths , it's so the boys don't tell each other the questions if they are interviewed on separate days. All secondary schools use this process as much as possible too.

Thanks Singingrain (love the name by the way!).
Of course. This makes total sense. Gosh. I feel so green! Have you or are you going through the process now?

@RoseGriffiths , my dc are older but I work closely with the prep sector in SW London so am aware of the processes. It's very tricky to navigate the 7 and 8 plus process for the listed schools as it's so niche with many many bright boys living locally but you have got lots of options in the coming years.

Good morning.
My boy was placed on the reserve list for King's. Based on a previous years experience how do you think are there any chances that he gets a place? Is anyone else in the same situation?

Last year I heard KCJS did not go to reserve list as they considerably over-offered but SPJS went to reserve list. KCJS may have been more cautious this year so fingers crossed.