The Grammar School Leeds entrance exam.

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ami
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The Grammar School Leeds entrance exam.

Post by ami »

Hello!

I am new to the area and my DD is taking the entrance exam to GSAL in January, does anybody know what the exam is like and can anybody help us as it's in two months time with no study undertaken so far! Panicking!!!
hermanmunster
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Post by hermanmunster »

hi ami!

welcome to the forum!

I don't know much about the specific exam - I have a friend whose DD did it last year but she was at the GSAL junior school so I think they sort of took it in her stride... don't remember much worrying about extra study. I have feeling that Snowdrops might know a bit more about the GSAL exam - hopefull she will appear shortly!

You say you are new to the area is your daughter at school locally - if so is it one of the independent primaries ?

Herman
Snowdrops
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Post by Snowdrops »

Hi and welcome to the forum

My dd sat the entrance exam last year.

I can't really remember much about it in as much there was nothing out of the ordinary in it (comapred with the 11+ that is).

They have extension questions for the maths which not everyone is expected to answer.

DD didn't do anything for it after taking the 11+ in the September.

It's a crazy day - LOTS of people attending and a bit hectic but very do-able, we experienced one child crying, but expect that was more from the melee than anything else.

If you DC passes you will then be invited for interview (dc only :lol: ).

DD was offered a place but we felt the school too big as she was used to a little village school of just 105 pupils and Leeds Grammar is HUGE.

Good luck to your DD, if you need anything more specific I'll ask my DD when she gets in from school shortly :D
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ami
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Post by ami »

Thankyou Herman and Snowdrops for you replies.

My daughter is at a state primary. So I don't have the advantage of talking to parents who have older children at GSAL or any other independent school for that matter - all their children attend or will be attending the local secondary schools. So a subject like entrance exams i keep pretty much to myself.

Is the entrance exam easier than a typical 11 plus exam?
Does the exam cover cover verbal reasoning, non verbal reasoning and maths and english?
We have two months to prepare will my DD be capable of covering all the material? I hear the usual time of preparation is up to a year!!

Would love any help and advice -Ami.
hermanmunster
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Post by hermanmunster »

I'm not sure what is in it - I am sure my friend whose DD did won't knw either !!! It was very much part of the transition as she was at the junior school.

My DD had been at a private school where some of the girls take GSAL (not in her year though), they also took Harrogate Ladies, Gateways, Bradford GS and GGS, Ashville, Woodhouse Grove etc. Some also took Skipton which was purely VR and NVR.
All the girls concentrated on maths and english (comprehension / stories etc) and VR and NVR - they did not do school specific work, this combination seemed to cover what was required for all the schools.

sorry not to be much help - maybe snowdrops will be able to extract some more info out of snowdroplet.......
Snowdrops
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Post by Snowdrops »

Hi again, tis only me!!

I have spoken to dd and she said it was English maths and NVR (although they call it something else and I remember ringing up at the time to ascertain it was indeed NVR).

My dd went to state primary too and I would say if your dd is level 5 English and maths then I would just concentrate on teaching her the nvr methods and then practice some papers for timing and techniques, certainly she had covered everything needed in maths by January.

As I said previously, there are extension questions in the maths section but only those hoping to gain a scholarship will be expected to answer these.

DD also sat for Ashville and the exam was the same there (and to the same level) English, maths and NVR.
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hermanmunster
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Post by hermanmunster »

Hi again

if snowdrops is saying practice NVR then I would suggest it is the local GS papers that you practice with ie the Ripon / Skipton GS papers as these are the ones that snowdroplet will have done in the Ripon GS exam.

Also probably what DD used at school. Now you are going to ask me what they were... mmm back to snowdrops I expect
Snowdrops
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Post by Snowdrops »

We used the same as everyone else, NFER for the exams practice, and IPS, Athey, Bond and anythign else I could get my hands on for practice.

We were in the same boat not knowing anyone else who were taking the exams (being out of catchment for grammar) and no-one on here knew if it was 15 or 21 so I took the approach of learning anything and everything :shock: :shock: :shock: - but it seemed to have worked, she passed all three selection tests with flying colours :D
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Snowdrops
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Post by Snowdrops »

Just had a quick look on the book shop above and I rememer using AFN, AE and Learning Together too.

In fact the only thing I can't tell you is whether or not it's multiple choice or standard.

I will ask dd in the morning if she remembers, otherwise you can always ring up.
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ami
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Post by ami »

Thank you again for your invaluable advice. We are just outside the catchment area for the Grammar school as well. DD is level 5 in Maths and English -so you say I should just make her practice NVR and her maths and english. Have shown DD the prospectus for Ashville and Harrogate Ladies, but she is only interested in GSAL and Queen Ethelburgas. Are you allowed to express honest views on this forum about all these educational establishments? if so I would love to know any views, good and bad!
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