St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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nkrishna79
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2021 8:31 am

St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by nkrishna79 »

Hi Ya,
I am new to this forum and would really appreciate some help. My son who will be in Year 5 this September, is planning on getting into St.Pauls. As a parent, we would like to help him as much as we can and hence wanted to find out
1. Are are there any specific books that he can use to prep for ISEB Pre test ?
2. Should we invest money in getting past papers? Please recommend a site which can offer a genuine price
3. Should we invest our time and money in putting him on some targeted classes during his Year 5?

I appreciate it a lot to answer, but please feel free to answer as and when you get time.
Thanks
Krish
Parent2022/23
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2021 4:03 am

Re: St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by Parent2022/23 »

The ISEB pre test is computerised and adaptive. There is a very good website that prepares for this but the forum rooms do not allow me to share this with you.
You need to be preparing for the written tests if your child is lucky to get through the pre test.

Will your child be sitting the pre test at his school or will he go in to St Paul’s?

Please note it is a little unfair how it works. The London prep schools that prepare for this pre test, allow children to sit the tests at their current school and over 2 or 3 or 4 days.
If your child’s school does not host the test, then your child will go in to St Paul’s to do it. There he Weill be made to do all 2.5 hours of testing in one session with a small 15-30 minute break. Not very fair! That’s why more of the places go to the London Prep Schools. They specifically practice for this pre test from year 3/4 and teach verbal and non verbal reasoning in class. Then they get to do the test from the comfort of their classroom with their teacher guiding through. And they don’t do it all in one morning/afternoon.

My son went in to Westminster to do it all in an afternoon. He got 90% (127 out of 141) which was 1% off of what he needed (130 out of 141) to make it to the final 100 to get to the second round written tests (which he was much stronger and prepared for).

Another note is one of his friends did get through the pre test and he had gone to test centres for mock tests. I wish I had done this as it makes the test more familiar in test centre setting.

Good luck
nkrishna79
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2021 8:31 am

Re: St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by nkrishna79 »

Dear Parent 2022/23,
Thanks so much for your response. I am not sure whether my son will be going in to St.Pauls to sit the test or will it be done in his current school. I will need to check. Thanks for the pointer. Also for the website - is it possible for you to send it to me in a separate email. Also its good to note that your son scored 90%. Great work done by your son. Also sad that he missed it only by few numbers. Anyway, i am sure he will get the best thats out there for him.

It will be great if you can let me know the website for ISEB pre-test practice.

Thanks
Krish
ToadMum
Posts: 11907
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by ToadMum »

Just FYI, a standardised score of 127 does not (necessarily) indicate a raw score of 90% (i.e.127/141 x 100), nor a standardised score of 130, 91%. 130 would nearly indicate that the raw score obtained (or required, as in this case, is two standard deviations above the mean - whatever the mean raw score and the sd were for that cohort.

In a normal distribution, 68% of data falls between -1 sd and +1 sd of the mean.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Kimoprimo
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2021 7:29 am

Re: St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by Kimoprimo »

Iseb scores are not revealed to parents as far as I know.. How would the op know
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by Daogroupie »

I know of DC who have been given their scores in a breakdown of each topic.

It is down to the school if they want to do this.

I know of two DD who have been given their scores by St Pauls girls. DG
ToadMum
Posts: 11907
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by ToadMum »

If the schools themselves are actually telling parents that a standardised score of 127 in a test with a maximum standardised score is 141 means that s/he got 90% in the test (unless accompanying that with the information that the candidate's raw score was actually 90%), I would give them a swerve, personally.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by Daogroupie »

They are of course giving the standardised score NOT a percentage. DG
Parent2022/23
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2021 4:03 am

Re: St Pauls Preparation ISEB PreTEst

Post by Parent2022/23 »

I insisted I received my child’s scores and they eventually gave it.
They didn’t give a percentage just the scores for each subject and the mean SAS.
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