KES Birmingham

[UmSusu]

Hello. This is my first venture into the Indie section and some help would be appreciated.

DS1 is planning to sit for the KES exam in January and some guidance is urgently needed about the level of difficulty / preparation needed. He has just done the KE grammar school exams and I am aware that the layout of this exam is different: but how different are the questions in maths and the comprehension? What are the best resources to use?

The Head suggested that they don't have a strict cut-off pass Mark but does anyone know what kind of marks we are looking at to secure a place?

Any words of wisdom would be most welcome: DS is bright but his writing is atrocious and we would be relying on him to do well in the other sections. I would say he is a borderline candidate at best for the grammars, so would like to improve his chances at the KES exam. We loved the school, it is within walking distance for DS and were really impressed with the facilities.

I have also put the enquiry in the Brum section.

[sherry_d]

KES has been discussed to death here. Try and use the search function. I had a quick search and picked these but I remember a very long thread perhaps around 18pages on KES including bursary info. Most posters normally post in the Birmingham section about KES so dig deep for older post (going back to 2009) on the Birmingham forum you should get good info there. FM had some very good knowledge on the format too.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=18495" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=18574" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[UmSusu]

Thanks sherry-d for your quick response

There is plenty to read there. I have trawled through some of the older posts and they are very helpful in informing decisions post-exam but don't really mention if there is a particular type of preparation more appropriate to an Independent school exam.

This is the first time we are going through this process and we are DIYing, so I am worried I will miss aspects through my ignorance! If it wasn't for this website I would have no idea what to do.

[sherry_d]

I really know nothing about the school, I hope someone will come and give you more info.

Good luck, you can certainly DIY for indies, many people here have.