St Pauls School for Girls today

[Daogroupie]

Anyone got any comments to make on this. My dd thought the maths was the hardest so far, the English was about the same and for the first time she did not finish a paper. That was the Science. She said there was pages and pages of it and nobody in her room of twenty finished. Sounds like they underestimated how long it would take. She is starting to recognise people now as everyone is doing small rooms in alphabetical order! Year Ten girls running the rooms. Dd was surprised that they were allowed to have long hair drooping all over the place and not tied back. There were twenty rooms of about twenty girls so about four hundred sitting. Very calm, nobody in tears like City. Ran over so we did not get to pick them up until 3.45, real marathon as we had to be there at 8.40. We certainly got our money's worth, a whole day of childcare!

[T.i.p.s.y]

....and did she like it?

[Daogroupie]

Yes she did. She did not even notice me come in as she was talking to another girl in her line. She is cross with herself over the science. But I have told her that if they all managed to do about the same then it does not matter. It then just becomes a timing issue. Certainly a much more interesting day for her than another day at school doing KS2 maths sats papers.

[T.i.p.s.y]

Often schools make tests that cannot be completed as this helps them see who could answer the most difficult questions. You must be very proud of her doing all of the travel and exams. I'm sure other girls have had an easier time of it.

[Oscar]

My dd had the same problem. Couldn't finish the science comprehension.
We were expecting hard maths but she didn't expect the science comprehension to be so long or so hard. If it makes you feel better all of her friends said the same thing and no one finished.
I thought there were more girls than 400, maybe it just seemed like that from the pick up queue. Felt liek the same amount as Godolphin and that was about 600. Don't like the idea of email interview notification. I am not optmistic as we did not tutor our daughter and I think most have been prepared intensively for a long time.

[Daogroupie]

What makes you think most have been very heavily tutored? How long do you think before we hear? Did you have a few sit from your school? Is it your first choice? What is your feel for where the online test fits in with the academic test? How many do you think they will interview? Does your school think St P is the most academic of the girls schools?

[T.i.p.s.y]

Oscar, we did not prepare our son for Westminster. In fact we decided at the last minute to send in the registration form only to discover that the exam was a couple of weeks later. He is at a boarding school and the school also did not prepare him. He passed (he also did not finish the papers and said he messed up the NVR) and was told that he was a potential scholar so hopefully St Paul's exam can really weed out the most intelligent and not the most prepared. Good luck and keep hopeful.

[Oscar]

Definitely heavily tutored. About ten have sat from our school, maybe two, including my own have not been coached. I think SPGS and City of London are the most academic, followed closely by Godolphin. All different types of girl though. On line test will cut down the numbers next year, so that they don't have so many taking the actual exam for no good reason. This year I am sure that they will use the online results even though they have said they won't. I think this year they will use it to confirm the results of the written exam.
I don't know how many they will interview but friends last year who were good all rounders were interviewed and then failed. It is so competitive and they know exactly what they want. We have heard of parents who tried to buy the online test. It would be my first choice but I will be very surprised if my dd gets an interview, although she is bright enough to go there, we cannot compete with the tutored girls.
I don't know how many girls they take now, but if it's a hundred I reckon they will interview about 120/30...? I have only heard of one girl who finished the science test and she thought it was great fun!

[cinnamon]

Oscar, until last year St Paul's Girls interviewed ALL applicants (before the exam) - we were there this time last year. This is the first year of the computer tests and early elimination.

DAOgroupie, I thought it was pretty much universally acknowledged that it's the best (academically at the very least) girls' day school in London, if not the UK.

[T.i.p.s.y]

I would say it is cinnamon - at least academically! It's a pity they no longer interview as the interview was a way of picking interesting rounded girls istead of exam machines! Not that all the girls who get in are like this, of course!