KCJS 7+

[Lewisbelly]

Hello hello who’s sitting KCS 7+ this week? Wonder how many are sitting this year…

It was on the Wednesday around midday two years ago, last year it was around 5.30pm on the Wednesday. They had told us it would be on the Wednesday. This year they sent an email saying we would find out by Friday so they haven’t actually specified the exact day. Could be today or even tomorrow?

Good luck everyone who is waiting!

Any news? :p

Nope, its an anxious wait !

I think they’ll keep us waiting until end of day so they can close their phone lines before they start getting phone calls from parents!!

Kings is out… good luck to all… see you on Nov 3…

Got the email at around 5pm, DS got invited for the next round. Good luck to all.

Same for us - through to the next round on the first day back after half term. Best wishes to everyone.

My son was also invited to the second round! How did your son find the WUS exam yesterday?

My son was also invited to the second round! How did your son find the WUS exam yesterday?

Didn’t get as much out from him this time, though he was much happier and smilier compared to KCJS. Given that KCJS is the earliest (AFAIK) and the first time they sit in a formal exam, it was a bit of a shock to the system for everyone I reckon.

Found the questions for WUS not as hard. We did some practice tests last week that were like 50 questions in 20m and so I’d primed him for speed rather than accuracy. I think the exam wasn’t as bad and in maths - it was 28 questions in 30m. The level was definitely easier than for Kings and only a handful of the word type problems in maths.

Quite a few people we’ve spoken to have got the callback for Kings. Does anyone know how many kids they invite for the activity and interview sessions as it does seem like some culling will need to be done to keep to the 54 seats they have on offer?

The bar seems very low to pass their maths/English test. I know about 10 other boys from the same school who all got invited back!

Mine also found Westminster easier than Kings (and was similarly much happier upon exiting). So hard to know until all is said and done (and feels like things could go very randomly for/against any child on any day for any number of reasons) given how young they are

Mine’s also been invited back to KCSJ— congratulations to everyone going through! He found Westminster paper similar level to KCJS, but as we know, the difficulty of the paper doesn’t reflect the difficulty of getting in, so fingers crossed. Also, WUS have another paper based test in the 2nd round so maybe the first round was just to get the sheer number down from 500+..?

All the boys we know who sat King’s were also invited back — do they tend to invite most back? I heard KCJS and SPJ ended up with quite a lot on the waiting list last year, so I wonder if they’re inviting more candidates to second round this year because of that?

Sounds like we could be in the same school! Best of luck!

Or it’s possibly the VAT effect, lower number of applicants.
i only said the above because our son was averaging 50%-60% in various mocks since Spring, didn’t expect that to be sufficient to get through the first round but I guess it was!

Don’t forget that, as of this year, 8+ will be eliminated from many schools going forward (SPJ, WU, etc)

Thank you. Hope we all get the second round for WUS!

I'm sure there has been a wider impact of the VAT change but looking at the number of kids that sat the entrance exam for KCJS, not sure if their demand pipeline has been dented all that much. I saw group numbers go up to 22 on the day of the exam. If the 15 kids is an average per group - then they're holding solid at above 300 applicants which seems to be the number of applicants they've always had.

Yes, I think you are right. I would go so far as to assume that the top day schools will actually see demand stay stable or even increase… on the flip
side, I assume many boarding school fees in particular will not be justifiable and that there will be an accelerated hollowing out of the sector generally….

Hello, just joining this thread. Any tips on preparing for WUS interview?

Hi, which day is your son's interview?

November 12th

Our son's interview on the 12th of November as well!

Hi everyone, just wondering how your sons got on with their second round at Kings? Also, for those taking the second round for WUS—do you think the exam date matters? For example, does taking it on the first day versus the last day make any difference? I read on Mumsnet that students who scored higher are usually scheduled earlier, and I’m curious if there's any truth to that.