11 Plus Exams Forum

Does anyone have an idea how long the essay element of the Wilson's English test is likely to be?

I am wondering if it is 20 or 30 minutes.

The school web site states 1 hour for the English paper, which includes comprehension and essay. So it could be 30 mins comprehension and 30 mins essay, or 40 mins comprehension and 20 mins essay.

Does anyone know how long the writing task element of the English paper was last year?

Thanks.

Hi gringo64 - welocme to the forum. As far as my DS can remember the English paper did indeed last for one hour. It was left to the child to decide how long to spend on each part of it ie the invigilator didn't tell them to stop the comprehension and go onto the essay - it was simply suggested when it may be time to move on ! I was horrified to hear that when he came out of the exam ! The school was very unwilling to divulge too much info surrounding the actual test I seem to remember, as I also asked them whether the comprehension would be multiple choice or not and they would not be drawn on that - it wasn't, but that's not to say they wouldn't change it....

Good luck anyway - it's a fantastic school.

Hi MynameisBond, Does your son remember how much time he did allocate to the 'essay' section?

Mynameisbond,

Thanks for your reply.
I find it a bit worrying, that it is left to them to decide how much time to spend on each element of the English test. I could easily see my DS spending the whole hour on the comprehension.
I must talk to him about this.
Thanks again.
Gringo64

My DS sat this exam last year and spent far too long on the comprehension and had to really rush his essay as he had hardly any time left. The boys really need to keep an eye on the time but under exam conditions at such a young age, this is very difficult!