13+ eton.westminster.st.paul

[201513Plus]

My son was born in 2015 and he has applied for 13+ entry this year. The schools are Eton, St Paul’s, and Westminster.
He has completed all four sections of the ISEB and, except for Verbal Reasoning, we think he got everything correct. Although we will only know for sure once the first-round results come out in mid-December, I’d like to start preparing for the second stage in case he gets through.
Does anyone know where I can find past papers or practice materials for these schools? I’d really appreciate any advice from parents with experience. We have a little over a month left, and I want to make the best use of this time.
Eton will invite candidates for the Eton List Test at the end of February if selected, but St Paul’s and Westminster hold their second-round exams in January. How are boys preparing this year? And for those whose sons went through this process last year or the year before—how did you spend this time? I’d love to hear any tips or stories from families whose sons received offers.
Thank you so much in advance.

Our DS didn’t apply to Eton, but did to Westminster, St Paul’s and other day schools last year. He received offers from every school.

There were no published past papers from what I can remember for those two schools. We bought some from Exam Papers Plus but in all honesty I think the quality was quite mixed. The Westminster English one was laughably hard (I remember a comprehension about marriage advice that no child would be able to answer?!) It’s also worth doing whatever past papers you can find from other similar schools (St Paul’s girls school, Kings etc that do publish past papers…)

Also try and find out what the format of the English papers are. St Paul’s has discursive writing so if that’s still the same it’s a very specific thing to practice that no other schools do. There are quite set ways of structuring those answers so hopefully your son will have had some guidance from his current school.

Keep reading up over the break, and work on accuracy & speed in maths. Try and have as interesting conversations, perhaps with other adults that aren’t you so they become more comfortable with interviews. Good luck!

Thank you so much for sharing your experience — it’s really helpful.
There’s so little clear information available about these schools, so hearing from someone who has actually been through the process is incredibly valuable.

We’ll look into the resources you mentioned and spend the break practising discursive writing, maths accuracy and speed, and interview skills. Thanks to your advice, I feel much more confident about how to guide DS over the next few weeks.

I truly appreciate you taking the time to write such a thoughtful message, and I wish your son all the very best in the years ahead!

Anyone received 13+ invites from Westminster yet?

not yet. waiting for it now.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience — it’s really helpful.
There’s so little clear information available about these schools, so hearing from someone who has actually been through the process is incredibly valuable.
We’ll look into the resources you mentioned and spend the break practising discursive writing, maths accuracy and speed, and interview skills. Thanks to your advice, I feel much more confident about how to guide DS over the next few weeks.
I truly appreciate you taking the time to write such a thoughtful message, and I wish your son all the very best in the years ahead!

yes just got the invitation letter from westminster

yep - same here. Congratulations to your DS and good luck with the next stage! :)

Thanks and same to yours!

I received it as well. Let’s stay strong for the second round. Congratulations to everyone!

Kindly how are you preparing for the Eton list test , anyone that have been troughs in in the recent years can you advise please?

Has anyone received Westminster 11+ invitation for next stage after ISEB? Does the school send emails to inform all applicants regardless?

Yes email was sent some days ago, if you are still waiting I will suggest call them or email the school. I am assuming you would have checked your junk already.

Thanks very much , Ayome, for sharing the update. Did you receive the email on Friday, Dec 12? Feeling WUS is inconsistent in delivering the results to parents. On Dec 12 , they were working on the results data at that time, and promised to contact all parents regardless of positive or negative outcomes of invitations to next stage after ISEB. But quite a few parents still have heard nothing afterwards.

Could the admissions reach out to parents in different batches across the holiday?

I received the email about the written papers and interview exactly at 4:31 pm on 10 December, as originally scheduled.

Thanks for checking the time stamp. Is your kid’s application for 13+ entry or 11+?

I received on 10 as well, and applied 11+ , if I where you I would just call Westminster and check if you have not missed anything

A good night's sleep the night before and a hearty breakfast. Honestly that's the best preparation you can do for the List Test - it's one of those ones where you just have to think on your feet and be ready for anything. It's one of those computer ones that adapts and tests to failure so just make sure your son knows that if the questions are hard and he ends up not being able to answer, that's by design and everyone comes out feeling like they messed up towards the end.

Focus on making sure your son feels comfortable for the interview, would be my advice - see if someone will give him a practice interview if possible, one of his teachers at school or any adult he doesn't know well. The usual getting to know you questions, what do you enjoy, if you had to have dinner with someone who would you have dinner with, what is the last book you read that you'd recommend, etc. Just so they have practice chatting naturally with an adult they've not met before and don't clam up.

Thanks so much, that is a thoughtful full advice i would have thought of if . Of course if the test was hard and kids are already demoralised they wouldn’t perform at the interview afterwards. 😬 it all makes sense. Focus on felling good for the interviewer no matter what happens during the test.

Hi, how did your kids feel about the Maths at St Paul's today? My DS struggled today and said it was very hard. Left nearly 4-5 questions unanswered.

Yes, I think this time the St Paul’s maths paper was quite challenging. I’ve heard that some of the questions were actually harder than those in commercial mock exams.

It was an afternoon paper, and apparently there were some particularly difficult questions from around question 10 onwards. If a lot of time was spent there, it would have been very hard to reach the final questions.

There were 16 questions in total, although some of them had multiple parts.

For those sitting the Westminster second round, does anyone know what the 45-minute English paper will look like? There’s very little detail on the website or in the invitation email, unless I’ve missed something. Thanks!

@Csummer @Youmightnotlikeit @201513Plus
Sorry to resurrect an old thread.

My DC is sitting the 13+ at Westminster this year, and I’m keen to get as much practice for the English portion of the Westminster exam as possible…

The website has very little information about the content of the English paper. Is there any chance anyone who has done it before can enlighten me?

I’m assuming there’s comprehension and creative writing? What was the level of the text in the previous couple of years? Any memories you have about what it was like would be incredibly useful. Or any memories of the source text it was based on.

Also, do they get time to just read before they’re allowed to write, or is time not manage at all? Is it just 45 minutes to do everything and they have to manage their own time?)

Thank you so much to anyone who might be able to help