CASE

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Hi. Does anyone have any idea on how one prepares for the CASE (common academic scholarship exam). DS has just moved to an independent school that uses this and we have never heard of it before. Are there past papers?

Yes, the ISEB website has past papers. But your school (assuming it's a prep school) should also have loads - some of which they will hold back for mocks etc but others the children will have for prep and revision purposes.

There are lots on the ISEB website - your school may well have some as well. You say that the school you have moved to this uses CASE - do you mean that the senior school that your DC wants to go to requires CASE? Not all independent, senior schools use CASE for academic scholarships, e.g. Eton, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, King's Canterbury and your school should be using past scholarship papers from them if appropriate, as they really do vary in style.

That’s helpful thank you both. I will contact the school and ask.

Sorry to ask again, any idea what is viewed as a good score in these CAS papers? Right now we don’t seem to be doing well but I have no context!

It depends on the subject and the school but it can be an adjustment of expectations. I don't actually teach an academic subject so I could be wrong but my sense it that 60% is promising scholarship potential and, when practising, 20 and 30% isn't uncommon.

I can’t help with actual percentages - your prep teachers may be able to give you an idea on that. For the actual scholarship result we received grades for each exam - A* to D equating to ‘outstanding’ down to ‘not scholarship standard’.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. It’s really helpful to have that context. I am assuming that scores of 60-70% would be needed for any scholarship consideration? Or would you say even higher. There seems little point to push if the gap is too much so helpful to get a feel on this one.