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Exam Preparation

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 6:35 pm
by coolmum123
Hello all,

I am a new poster but have been lurking on this forum for a while. I am so glad that I came across this website as there is such a wealth of experience and knowledge with regards to schools etc!!

My DS is in year 5 and will be sitting exams in Jan 09 currently I am helping him with his work towards this and I have a question about past papers from schools. I can only get hold of a limited supply so once he has done these (some time in the summer holidays onwards) do we keep redoing them or is it advisable just to do them once? I have got some NFER papers but now I'm not sure whether they are suitable practice for sitting exams for schools such as Habs and Merchant Taylors. Can anyone advise or divulge their strategy? Also in regards to the school papers - do they also supply answers?!!


Thanks and Regards

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:48 pm
by perplexed
I am sorry I do not know the schools concerned, but I think that if you post in the relevant area forum you will get some responses from people who know the entrance exams for these two schools well.

In my area (an NFER area) it is not possible to get "past papers", but there are 3 NFER practice papers in each subject (on sale on this website) which cover the sort of question types which may crop up in the exam.

In this situation (with limited papers) it is best to save the limited papers until towards the end of your preparation time, but make sure that during your preparation time you are using material which helps your child cover the ground which is necessary to answer the question types and topics covered in the entrance exam "syllabus" (i.e. syllabus as demonstrated by the past papers or whatever it is you have).

Can the school themselves give you more detail about the entrance exams too?

Good luck.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:10 pm
by coolmum123
Thanks perplexed,

this is the first time we are going through this so I am quite stressed as I'm not sure whether what I am doing is right or not!!

My son really wants to get into Merchant Taylors / habs in that order and want to do my best to help him prepare to the best of his ability!!! :(

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:35 pm
by Mike
Hi Coolmum123

The following is a link to Merchant Taylor

http://www.mtsn.org.uk/page.aspx?page_id=563#11

They indicate that the entrance tests are, verbal reasoning, mathematics and english. If you can obtain any local knowledge it would be of help, such as whether the tests are set by NFER. If they are, look at the free material on this site for Verbal Reasoning and Mathematics.

Regards

Mike

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:40 pm
by Guest55
It would also be worth doing a search in the Independent school section because I'm sure there are some posts about these schools' entrance tests in previous years.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:47 pm
by zorro
Dear coolmum123,
No experience of MTSbut DS took Habs exam this Jan.You have to be exceptionally bright to stand a chance. My DS is 2nd in his class (v . middle class C/E primary) in Maths and Literacy.His tutor assured me that he would have no problems with Habs exam (her 2 daughters were there and she had got 2 girls who were nowhere near DS's academic level in to Habs Girls. However he didn't even make it to 2nd stage (interview).
So please ensure your child is the right calibre as it is very distressing when your child does not make it.