Tiffin, Hampton and RGS entrance exams

[NoushieMin]

My son had an 11+ Assessment with a tutor today and these were the scores that he got.

reading 115
spelling 131
verbal 126
numbers 134
non verbal 140

My son is 9 years old and starting year 5 in September (state school). With some extra tuition do these scores look like he would be in a reasonable position to sit entrance exams for any of the above schools?

The reading is a little bit above borderline (not dire though!) for what I look for as a tutor but I'm in kent and different regions/schools vary as to how selective they are. Personally, I look for a minimum of 115 in each area for 11 plus suitability.

Did the tutor doing the assessment not give you any indication of how good the scores are?

Is this cat4 or Incas results?

She said it was a cognitive ability test that had 3 levels and my son was taking the test that was appropriate for year 5 (he will be starting year 5 in September). She said the average score in each section is 100. The scores range from 90-140.

Yes she said he did very well, especially in maths and non verbal reasoning. It’s just the reading that we know is his weaker area, although still a full two years above his actual age.

I just wanted to get feedback on the scores for those specific schools as they are highly selective schools but she thinks with hard work over the next year he should be fine sitting them.

I just want to have realistic expectations.

One other thing I would bear in mind if you're considering all three schools is that their entrance exams are quite different, so that's going to take careful planning.

Tiffin has multiple-choice English and Maths at the first stage, followed by a second stage involving written English and Maths, including longer written responses.

Hampton is particularly different from a standard 11+. Its English paper includes comprehension and creative/descriptive writing, so being able to produce a good piece of writing under timed conditions is important. It doesnt look like this was included in his assessments. There are also separate reasoning and maths papers.

RGS also has an online multiple-choice assessment element, alongside a written English/creative writing component.

So if he is going to be prepared for these schools, I'd make sure Year 5 preparation covers:
Comprehension
vocabulary
reasoning
spelling
grammar
punctuation
regular timed creative/extended writing.

I wouldn't rely solely on GL-style multiple-choice papers or cgp books.

Given his scores, I think he has a very promising starting point.

However, I would want to work out what is behind the lower 115 reading score and build that area during Year 5.

Thanks so much for your feedback. This is really helpful. Tiffin and Hampton are very close to where we live, so it might be sensible to rule out RGS and just concentrate on the two different preparations for those two schools. I just didn’t want to commit to these two exams if he didn’t have a decent chance as I do t want to put a lot of pressure on him at such a young age.

Hampton would be much easier to get into than Tiffin