question re: north london consortium exam marks

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tancred
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:10 pm

question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by tancred »

Hi, does anyone know what sort of marks you need to be accepted at one of the North London Consortium girl's schools - say, City, St James or the Francis Hollands? I take it the schools don't give you the actual marks, right? So my question would be: what sort of marks should my daughter be getting in the Consortium past papers, to be fairly confident of a place?? She's doing these tests - and others - but I've no idea what level she should be aiming for. Can anyone help?
Ellie
Posts: 103
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:53 pm

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by Ellie »

Tancred you are right, the schools do not give out the marks. However, it is widely acknowledged that the various schools differ in their entry requirement. I am unsure to what degree but from my own experience, NLCS, G&L, CLSG, SHH and probably a good few others require a higher pass mark than other schools in the two consortium groups.
tancred
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:10 pm

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by tancred »

Thankyou Ellie, yes I thought so. But does anyone have any idea what sort of mark that is? Is it in the 70s, 80s, 90s? I'm struck by the fact that everyone is putting in a lot of effort into preparing for these exams, but nobody seems to know quite what level they are aiming for. I understand it's competitive, but surely we should have a general idea? And I was thinking that one good indication would be: how well did the children who got into these schools do in the run-up to these exams in the practice papers - the North London Consortium past papers or the 11+. Is anyone has any idea, I'd really, really appreciate it!
sgcmum
Posts: 182
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:46 am

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by sgcmum »

hi tancred,
we had applied to nlcs,northwood in gr2 and habs girls.she got a place in all 3 but they were very careful not to reveal/indicate marks.all i got was 'your daughter has done exceedingly well in both papers..solved all the puzzles/did very well in the interview' etc.
at home,on a cooperative day,she would score between 85-95 in maths in past years indie papers and about 75-85 in english.i am not entirely sure about my english marking though.but i was told at habs that her marks in both subjects were not that different.so iam assuming somewhere around 85%.hope that helps.

sgcmum.
tancred
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:10 pm

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by tancred »

Thank you so much, sgcmum, that is a great help. Mmmm, I'm not feeling so confident about 85%. Do you think my DD will be able to get into one of these schools with 75%??
And pursuing this thought, does anyone have any experience to share on the question of whether it's better to aim high, even if it means setting your DD up to the possibility of failing, or aiming to what you know to be achievable? Has anyone else found this a difficult question?
Thingsbehindthesun
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:25 pm

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by Thingsbehindthesun »

One of my nieces actually didn't do very well in a schools entrance exam but still manged to get into a highly regarded school. I think the main thing is that they tried their best and even getting around 75% isn't necessarily a failure,when trying for very academic schools, as they tend to have trickier papers and they know that . Do aim high but not at the expense of confidence,if that make sense.
;D
sgcmum
Posts: 182
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:46 am

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by sgcmum »

Tancred,

75% should be possible.I wd call 85% range as a safe score.the most important thing is for your child to confidently attempt all questions,not giving up the moment she perceives something 'tricky'.help her to deconstruct the questions into what is required and has she answered completely.if she finds a q too tough just skip to the next one.come back to it later.
SATs papers are a good starting point.
The fact is i don't have an idea as to the minimum scores reqd.just do one's best and leave it at that - like nadal. :D

Sgcmum
tancred
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:10 pm

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by tancred »

Thanks so much for your advice. I entirely agree with you that it's hard to see 75% as a fail when the standard demanded is so high. I am simply concerned that it would be perceived as such by my dd if she were to set her heart on a school that did not accept her at that mark. But we have been talking about the 'more academic' of the schools in the Consortium. Which are the 'less academic' schools?
Thingsbehindthesun
Posts: 463
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:25 pm

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by Thingsbehindthesun »

I think City & NLCS would be seen as "more" academic but they are all good schools that get high numbers of A/A*s.But there are no perfect schools and what would matter would be if it suited your child.
;D
Humbug
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 8:06 am

Re: question re: north london consortium exam marks

Post by Humbug »

Hi there

Similar question re these schools - does anyone know what the prospects are for a child who has a marked strength in one area but is less strong in another? (In our case, very good at English, but probably around upper average at maths). And does anyone know how much schools take the primary school report into account under these circumstances?

Sorry, I realise these are probably not easy questions to answer!
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