11 Plus Exams Forum

If your DC has got into either KGS or Hampton in recent years, would you be willing to kindly shed light on what they did to prepare for the entrance exams please? DC's sitting the exams Jan 2013. Many thanks in advance

''Hello! Anybody there?" .... (calls into the large echoey room)
No response
'' I'm getting a bit panicky now.....''

Both my girls were offered KGS but we didn't take up the places. They actually didn't do any English or Maths preparation for the test at all. We just did VR and NVR for 11+ prep which helped at KGS as they had an NVR paper. They both got level 5s in Yr 6.

They both had interviews. One was asked what sort of school she wanted to go to and she said an all girls school. She was still offered a place.

I thought KGS had a general 'reasoning' paper, on which both VR and NVR came up?

I had thought the exam consisted of 4 elements: Maths, English (a comprehension and possibly connected story) VR and NVR though not sure how much of each?

DS1 got into both schools at 11+ and had the typical SW London Year Of Tutoring, as did many of his mates; the tutor did English, maths and reasoning work, focusing on English and maths with a VR paper every half term just to familiarise him. As far as I recall (3 years ago) both schools had English, maths and VR papers. English was comprehension, possibly some grammar questions, though that may have been Latymer Upper, and composition/story. DS2 got into Hampton at 10+ and there are only 2 papers then; English, which includes some reasoning questions, and maths. He saw DS1's tutor for a term before the exam and she mainly concentrated on exam technique (eg miss out questions you can't do and come back to them at the end, if there are 5 marks for a comprehension answer try and find 5 things to include in it).

Is this any use?

From the KGS website:

11+ candidates sit an examination consisting of Verbal Reasoning (computerised), Mathematics and
English papers.

My memory is therefore not quite right - it must have been VR and not NVR. The website gives more helpful details of the English and Maths tests.

Thanks guys, it's hard to know if DS is really up to it, so any tips on what you did is much appreciated.

DS is a great kid: fun and bright but totally without focus and makes silly mistakes; he knows the correct answers when quizzed, which is enfuriating. He seems to not read the Q properly or misinterprets things due to rushing. Consequently his scores vary hugely from high 90%s down to low 60% depending on the day. It's touch and go as to whether he'll get a place. Have any of you got similar experiences and how did you deal with it?

Hi Doblinski,

Just replying to your post about Hampton (and KGS - but no experience there). My son did Hampton exams two years ago in Jan. He was at a good state primary. Focus for the previous 12 months was on the Tiffin exams for which we used a tutor. For the english and maths elements for Hampton we did it ourselves mainly.

English
the 'secrets of comprehension' workbook
made up list/mind map of all known alternatives to 'said' - eg he hissed, she muttered....
list/mind map of snazzy adverbs to go with above verbs or others
resumed some bed time reading with tiresome commentary from me about 'did you notice what author did to describe....'

It sounds like a lot but was about 1 hour a week for about four months, with a step up in the Xmas hols

Maths
Used Bond books to complete the KS2 curriculum - if your child is at prep they have probably done all of this
Past papers from Habs etc - just for technique and so he learned to apply logic, where to write the answers and workings (I kid you not) and not to freak if the question was not something he had met before (prob v useful for a state school child where questions are formulaic if you see what I mean).

My DS found the exam very straightforward and stunned us with a scholarship. He has since been diagnosed as borderline dyslexic and is way down the class for English (and history, and RS and...).

By the way - we found that the atmosphere on exam day was not frenzied and intimidating - very relaxed and calm - done in a large number of rooms of 20 boys or so (not the massive sports hall experience a la Wilsons etc). So even if your son finds it hard it is unlikely to be an upsetting experience.

It is also worth adding that the school report seems to carry a lot of weight. Also that whilst there are some incredible boys at Hampton (who could run the country if required) they are quite scatty and scruffy in the lower years.

HTH - PM me if you want more info.

Has your son ever sat an exam before? Just a thought, but how about a mock exam? A friend's son is doing one in November in Barnes. I can ask for the details if you want.