City of London

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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Guest

City of London

Post by Guest »

My son took the City of London school entrance test today. Found most of it OK but the verbal reasoning v. difficult. I think he may have just been v. tired but was wondering if anyone else's son had taken the test and found similar. He's normally v. good at verbal reasoning but says he left out approximately 20 out of 45 questions which would give him at best around 55% - obviously not good enough!
Guest

Post by Guest »

I've just seen this very old message I put here last year (in a state of some despair at the time). Just to be encouraging to everyone else who might be in a similar position I thought I'd pass on that despite this VR test he was offered a place, although we decided we preferred another school in the end. It just reinforces what other people have said on this site, you never know how your child has done.
Guest

Post by Guest »

My son is going to sit for the city of london boys school next January. Grateful for any tips on what to expect.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Allowing for the fact that they might change the format this year.....

The major problem for my son last year was the length of the day. He took 4 exams for independent schools and the one for City was spread out the most. He found it v. tiring as there was a long lunch break in the middle where they were left in the playground all together - he found this very difficult and quite stressful. I think this was probably the reason he ran out of steam in the verbal reasoning. I think of all the schools, City's selection process was the most demanding from a stamina point of view. Even at interview, they had both a group session and and an individual so whereas the other schools just interviewed for around 15 to 20 minutes, again City's interview was spread out over a half-day.

It was all v. friendly. We didn't choose the school in the end because in we preferred a school closer to home and where there was a bit of green space!
Guest

Post by Guest »

Actually I think I might have misled you there. They had a small group interview and a lesson in a larger group - not an individual interview.
Guest

Post by Guest »

I'm in two minds about this school and attending the open day hasn't helped. The school performs well but there's something about the atmosphere. The location and no green spaces is also a let down.
Indeed, the staff were very pleasant and the boys seemed relatively happy.

Has anyone any comments. I think I've already made up my mind and although my son liked the school he's OK with my decision.
Guest

Post by Guest »

I'm a great believer in looking closely at what suits your own child and not being distracted from that by other people's comments. I also think 'gut instinct' is a good guide! I actually did like the school but my son was never as comfortable there as he was at a couple of the other ones he tried for. I think this is where having the opportunity to do a test at the school and then (hopefully!) an interview really does help you and your child to get more of an insight.
di

City of London

Post by di »

Good Luck to any boys out there sitting the C of L tests soon.
brian

City of London

Post by brian »

Does anybody know if the verbal reasoning test for City of London is multiple choice or standard?
betty

City of London

Post by betty »

Re the City of London Reasoning test--I emailed them and they replied "We do not send out the reasoning paper as it is our own paper.
You are able to buy reasoning booklets that should help your son."
Very Helpful!
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