Henrietta Barnet School 2nd test – How was it?
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Henrietta Barnet School 2nd test – How was it?
We are so glad now that it’s all over!
It seems like these English (inc. essay writing) and Math tests were nothing like what we expected.
Something you don’t see in those practice papers you can buy.
In Maths, there’s a question asking for a mirror image of a clock, also to imagine the other side of a piece of card with holes in it and a string threaded in a complicated way through them etc…
It is not just maths!
Basically less questions but bigger and harder ones, so there are questions split into A B C and so on so if you can’t answer the first one you can’t answer the others.
In English, although she was nervous about essay writing, the real thing was creating two paragraphs to follow the extract given.
She said she managed to finish her story just in time. But she didn’t understand the question which asking to find alliteration from the text but it didn’t seem to be there because it even said the sentence it was in.
I know we all have to put up with the long wait for the result from LEA.
After the allocation day, I wonder when the school will contact us to let us know if we have passed or are on the waiting list?
We know that quite a few girls also pass Independent sector, and instead choose to go private.
And also I don’t think these parents are bothered to contact the grammar school to cancel the place.
Do the school automatically cancel the first allocation if parents didn’t contact the school to confirm it?
If my daughter receives the good news from LEA, do we need to contact the school immediately to let them know we accept the offer?
I would like to thank again those who gave me kind advice prior to the exam.
Regards,
Sakura
It seems like these English (inc. essay writing) and Math tests were nothing like what we expected.
Something you don’t see in those practice papers you can buy.
In Maths, there’s a question asking for a mirror image of a clock, also to imagine the other side of a piece of card with holes in it and a string threaded in a complicated way through them etc…
It is not just maths!
Basically less questions but bigger and harder ones, so there are questions split into A B C and so on so if you can’t answer the first one you can’t answer the others.
In English, although she was nervous about essay writing, the real thing was creating two paragraphs to follow the extract given.
She said she managed to finish her story just in time. But she didn’t understand the question which asking to find alliteration from the text but it didn’t seem to be there because it even said the sentence it was in.
I know we all have to put up with the long wait for the result from LEA.
After the allocation day, I wonder when the school will contact us to let us know if we have passed or are on the waiting list?
We know that quite a few girls also pass Independent sector, and instead choose to go private.
And also I don’t think these parents are bothered to contact the grammar school to cancel the place.
Do the school automatically cancel the first allocation if parents didn’t contact the school to confirm it?
If my daughter receives the good news from LEA, do we need to contact the school immediately to let them know we accept the offer?
I would like to thank again those who gave me kind advice prior to the exam.
Regards,
Sakura
Hi Sakura,
Equally relieved exams are over! My daughter thought the maths tough (but OK) and the English pretty much what she expected. I think the school gets it half right - the exams do seem a reasonable test of ability (more so than multiple choice punctuation), but the secrecy about the format pushes so many parents into the arms of back-street tutors simply because of the fear that they will know the format/question types and may even have contraband past papers. Nothing against tutors - but the school's claim that their secrecy creates a level playing field seems naive. I've no doubt that a good tutor is a great asset (and a bad one a very expensive additional useless stress). To the extent that any advantage simply reflects knowing the HBS paper format is unfair. Still it was reasonably clear from the school's letters that the 2nd round exams weren't NFER, so they did give some clues about format. Because the exams were similar to those by the Independents, I assume most places will go to those also coached for NL Collegiate and the like, but I still think our daughters are in with a chance.
I assume on allocation day the LEA letter will say where your daughter is on the waiting list. However, if your daughter got into her top-listed school (not HB if I remember), then I assume she won't be considered for the HB waiting list. If she gets into HB on the first draft, then, if it's the same as previous years, you accept via the LEA, not the school.
Good luck!
Equally relieved exams are over! My daughter thought the maths tough (but OK) and the English pretty much what she expected. I think the school gets it half right - the exams do seem a reasonable test of ability (more so than multiple choice punctuation), but the secrecy about the format pushes so many parents into the arms of back-street tutors simply because of the fear that they will know the format/question types and may even have contraband past papers. Nothing against tutors - but the school's claim that their secrecy creates a level playing field seems naive. I've no doubt that a good tutor is a great asset (and a bad one a very expensive additional useless stress). To the extent that any advantage simply reflects knowing the HBS paper format is unfair. Still it was reasonably clear from the school's letters that the 2nd round exams weren't NFER, so they did give some clues about format. Because the exams were similar to those by the Independents, I assume most places will go to those also coached for NL Collegiate and the like, but I still think our daughters are in with a chance.
I assume on allocation day the LEA letter will say where your daughter is on the waiting list. However, if your daughter got into her top-listed school (not HB if I remember), then I assume she won't be considered for the HB waiting list. If she gets into HB on the first draft, then, if it's the same as previous years, you accept via the LEA, not the school.
Good luck!
Hi James,
As you say, their English and Maths tests are more likely to be an independent school format, made by them.
Unlike multiple choices exams, it might take some time as special attention is needed to mark each paper one by one accurately.
I don’t know anything about ‘back street tutors’. I’m interested to know what percentages of girls are actually tutored.
But can anyone possibly help to prepare for a format like this?
I don’t believe there’re such special tips which only tutors can provide, just a down to earth constant study is needed.
After my daughter achieved L5, we just went on to study L6 level well before starting to do 11+ practice papers.
But I understand parents would feel panicky not knowing any information about the test and go straight to a tutor’s arms.
Instead of going to a tutor I’ve come here! And I’m very much pleased of all the information I got from here.
We’ve chosen HBS as our 1st preference. As some state school in the catchments area only takes children who put the school on the 1st choice.
Unlike other borough, Brent LEA let these schools know individual list of preference.
So our 2nd choice school is one of these challenging schools (Only 16% achieved good GCSEs; *big sigh*) where my older son goes.
I didn’t think of sending him to grammar, as both QEB and Tiffin are 1 and ¾ hours a journey away.
Thanks for the info. So I need to contact the LEA for acceptance, not directly to the school.
If the LEA offers our 2nd choice school, we still need to accept it.
And may be HBS will contact us regarding the waiting list. (They still got our unused address label and stamps anyway!)
As you say, their English and Maths tests are more likely to be an independent school format, made by them.
Unlike multiple choices exams, it might take some time as special attention is needed to mark each paper one by one accurately.
I don’t know anything about ‘back street tutors’. I’m interested to know what percentages of girls are actually tutored.
But can anyone possibly help to prepare for a format like this?
I don’t believe there’re such special tips which only tutors can provide, just a down to earth constant study is needed.
After my daughter achieved L5, we just went on to study L6 level well before starting to do 11+ practice papers.
But I understand parents would feel panicky not knowing any information about the test and go straight to a tutor’s arms.
Instead of going to a tutor I’ve come here! And I’m very much pleased of all the information I got from here.
We’ve chosen HBS as our 1st preference. As some state school in the catchments area only takes children who put the school on the 1st choice.
Unlike other borough, Brent LEA let these schools know individual list of preference.
So our 2nd choice school is one of these challenging schools (Only 16% achieved good GCSEs; *big sigh*) where my older son goes.
I didn’t think of sending him to grammar, as both QEB and Tiffin are 1 and ¾ hours a journey away.
Thanks for the info. So I need to contact the LEA for acceptance, not directly to the school.
If the LEA offers our 2nd choice school, we still need to accept it.
And may be HBS will contact us regarding the waiting list. (They still got our unused address label and stamps anyway!)
Hi Sakura,
Your daughter must be doing very well and be very bright to be onto level 6 !
Re tutors, I agree very much can be done by parents, particularly for Maths, and of course we didn't use one. I think it is quite a big help though when sitting the Independent school English exams (which HBS's seem to resemble). The comprehensions are comparatively sophisticated pieces, the answers not multiple choice and creative-writing-to-order skills do not come automatically. Whilst there's plenty of Maths material around in the shops there's not much (non-MC) English.
I think the great majority of Round 2 HBS girls had private tutors (based on the chatter outside the gates after the exams). Still seems likely to me that your daughter will be up there though.
Still over a month to go!
Your daughter must be doing very well and be very bright to be onto level 6 !
Re tutors, I agree very much can be done by parents, particularly for Maths, and of course we didn't use one. I think it is quite a big help though when sitting the Independent school English exams (which HBS's seem to resemble). The comprehensions are comparatively sophisticated pieces, the answers not multiple choice and creative-writing-to-order skills do not come automatically. Whilst there's plenty of Maths material around in the shops there's not much (non-MC) English.
I think the great majority of Round 2 HBS girls had private tutors (based on the chatter outside the gates after the exams). Still seems likely to me that your daughter will be up there though.
Still over a month to go!
We just received a letter from the HBS today.
My daughter was finally offered a place after all these months!
She was No.13 on the waiting list.
We are particularly pleased about the fact that we’ve done it on our own, no tutors.
We didn’t spend anything except on practice papers.
The help I got from this site was enormous, if it were not for this site we probably would not have done as well as we did.
This time last year, as the list went down about 20’s – 30’s.
I expected to hear from the school a bit earlier.
So I presume the list goes down rather slowly this year.
My daughter was finally offered a place after all these months!
She was No.13 on the waiting list.
We are particularly pleased about the fact that we’ve done it on our own, no tutors.
We didn’t spend anything except on practice papers.
The help I got from this site was enormous, if it were not for this site we probably would not have done as well as we did.
This time last year, as the list went down about 20’s – 30’s.
I expected to hear from the school a bit earlier.
So I presume the list goes down rather slowly this year.
I wish her every success in her new school.-
forumadmin
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Congratulations
Hi Sakura,
Brilliant news! We were hoping that you would come back and let us know how you got on.
Congratulations to you both and best wishes to your daughter in her future endeavours.
ForumAdmin
Brilliant news! We were hoping that you would come back and let us know how you got on.
Congratulations to you both and best wishes to your daughter in her future endeavours.
ForumAdmin
-
Prospective HBS parent
Dear Sakura,
Fantastic news. You must be so proud of yourself and your daughter. I am tutoring my daughter at the moment. Which books did you use and which ones do you think were the best? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
From a parent who hopes she will be as happy as you this time next year.
Fantastic news. You must be so proud of yourself and your daughter. I am tutoring my daughter at the moment. Which books did you use and which ones do you think were the best? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
From a parent who hopes she will be as happy as you this time next year.
That is fantastic news Sakura! I was wondering what had happened - seems that number 13 was lucky for your daughter! I saw elsewhere on the forum that schools in some areas are offering more places than actually exist to take account of the kids going to private schools etc, which might be why the waiting list was slower this time around. I wish your daughter every success at HB and hope she is really happy there. Please let us know how you get on with the travelling (we live quite near you) as that is my main worry - apart from getting in of course!.
Best wishes and congratulations on the results of all your hard work!
Nou
Best wishes and congratulations on the results of all your hard work!
Nou
Thank you HP and ForumAdmin for your warm messages.
To be honest, I felt awkward and uneasy to come back to post here just after the allocation day because my daughter didn’t get in at the first place.
Especially as she was quite confident on the exam generally.
From September, I’ll be in unique position to see my one child is at the top of the bottom school, and the other one on the other hand is at the bottom of the top school.
Experiencing these 2 extraordinary schools (New Academy vs. Old Grammar) in England is very interesting!
Hello, Prospective Parent,
We used everything I could see in shops as I knew nothing about the test.
I just wanted to see the standard first, so only avoided “Step by Step” type of workbook.
For VR/NVR , it’s best to stick NFER type questions.
I liked IPS’s VR, as it’s easy to identify the type she’s not so good at.
For this point, I don’t recommend Athey. But she enjoyed their NVR questions a lot!
I can tell you there’s no such book available on the market that matches HBS standard for Math and English.
We used CGP and Letts books which cover L4-L6 (KS3) to alongside with NFER and Bond papers.
Her brother in Y9 has used these, so theｙ were handy for me to pick some topics up which she had not learnt.
Thanks, Nou,
I don’t know if they offer more places than actual number...
But anyway, transport is still an issue for us. We are using a bus No.328 but we are not very close from the bus stop.
I may have to change my working hours to help her for the first term or two.
To be honest, I felt awkward and uneasy to come back to post here just after the allocation day because my daughter didn’t get in at the first place.
Especially as she was quite confident on the exam generally.
From September, I’ll be in unique position to see my one child is at the top of the bottom school, and the other one on the other hand is at the bottom of the top school.
Experiencing these 2 extraordinary schools (New Academy vs. Old Grammar) in England is very interesting!
Hello, Prospective Parent,
We used everything I could see in shops as I knew nothing about the test.
I just wanted to see the standard first, so only avoided “Step by Step” type of workbook.
For VR/NVR , it’s best to stick NFER type questions.
I liked IPS’s VR, as it’s easy to identify the type she’s not so good at.
For this point, I don’t recommend Athey. But she enjoyed their NVR questions a lot!
I can tell you there’s no such book available on the market that matches HBS standard for Math and English.
We used CGP and Letts books which cover L4-L6 (KS3) to alongside with NFER and Bond papers.
Her brother in Y9 has used these, so theｙ were handy for me to pick some topics up which she had not learnt.
Thanks, Nou,
I don’t know if they offer more places than actual number...
But anyway, transport is still an issue for us. We are using a bus No.328 but we are not very close from the bus stop.
I may have to change my working hours to help her for the first term or two.
