Pretest, 11+ and
Common Entrance

I have ten years’ experience of tutoring for 11+ and 13+ entry to leading independent schools including Eton, Harrow, Westminster, St. Paul’s, Winchester, Wellington College, Radley, Wycombe Abbey, Downe House, St. Paul’s Girls and Latymer Upper.  All my students have received offers and secured places at the schools they have selected.

Despite the knowledge that the 11+ and pretests broadly contain Maths, English, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning as the core subjects, these entrance exams are changing year to year to challenge candidates and provide parity of opportunity. However, this does not prevent your child from preparing as well as possible.

At school they will have been taught a strong set of fundamentals in the core subjects of Maths and English. So be confident that they will have the skills there, but training the weaknesses in areas they are not as familiar through practice and revision.

It is the way these core areas are tested that is innovative in these examinations. It will require familiarity with the style of question, such as multiple choice, as well as intuition in the exam itself. There may be elements of testing working memory, cloze procedure, spatial and numerical reasoning, mental arithmetic and testing of a strong, sound vocabulary. As part of the preparation process, children will want to practise their time-management for completing exam papers, familiarise themselves with tests and their timings.

This could all sound like a lot of hard work, but it doesn’t have to feel like that. Preparation should be made as enjoyable a process as possible for children. There are a great variety of publications to help you, in terms of practice exercises and papers for each subject, at different levels of progression. These range from Galore Park, CGP, Pretest Plus, Schofield & Sims, Bond 11+ to online adaptive testing with BOFA, atestingtime, Lumosity and Atom Learning. This will give children exposure to the style of any computerised test they will face and productive use of their screentime. Do the preparation with them, not everyday but little and often throughout the year leading up to the real thing. Know which type of exams your child will be facing, whether GL, CEM, UKiset or a mixture of styles through a school’s own selection test. Speak to the school and follow the school’s advice on this, finding what is relevant.