Exam dates for girls in January 2017

[Daogroupie]

WEEK ONE:

City of London School for Girls Date Option one Wednesday 4th January 2017
City of London School for Girls Date Option Two Thursday 5th January 2017
North London Consortium Group Two Friday 6th January 2017

WEEK TWO:

St Pauls School for Girls Monday 9th January 2017 (2nd round only for girls who pass CEM)
FREE DAY FOR ST ALBANS TO NAB! Tuesday 10th January 2017
Habs schools for Girls Wednesday 11th January 2017
North London Collegiate School for Girls Thursday 12th January 2017
North London Consortium Group One Friday 13th January 2017

[Priya25]

Thank you DAO groupie, thats very handy to have all dates for Indies in one place

[ToadMum]

WEEK ONE:

City of London School for Girls Date Option one Wednesday 4th January 2017
City of London School for Girls Date Option Two Thursday 5th January 2017
North London Consortium Group Two Friday 6th January

So, does everyone now get their Ks in a T about CLSG second day candidates weaseling the questions out of the ones who took the exam on the first day, or will they be different papers? Or do indie candidates not go in for that kind of behaviour, unlike their state grammar wannabe counterparts?

[Daogroupie]

This is new this year. City have just come out of the North London Consortium for the first time this year so they now have to cater for everyone who wants to apply for City instead of candidates being able to sit at schools more local to them.

They are obviously expecting too many for one sitting. DG

[examprepper]

St Albans High School have now taken the 10th Jan.

[Daogroupie]

Yes, I think they must have read my mail which was posted over four months ago!

We now have a clean sweep for the girls as Highgate has taken 12th December. DG

[Stroller]

A few tips, if I may.
Applying is easy, but please think hard about the number of schools and the viable transport options.

Going to open days BEFORE you apply is recommended. If you can't get there for the open day, how will you manage it for concerts, curriculum evenings and community events?
For candidates to be in the running for a place, there's
- sometimes a screening test as a first round (e.g. SPGS),
- at least one exam,
- possibly an audition or skills demonstration of some kind for those who are seeking a scholarship award (usually a fairly modest discount of some kind)
- an interview (often with short notice)
- an offer holders' morning where the balance shifts from "Our call" to "We'd love you to choose us please".

Add it all up. For a single school, it's tiring. For two schools, it's exhausting. For three schools or more, it's making a serious impact on your holiday balance and your employer's goodwill not just for one week, but for several.

Do not underestimate how hard it is. And that's for the adult(s) running the logistics. For the child who has to try to remain interested and interesting and sharp throughout, it can turn into a huge ask.

What if the attempts don't work? How will that affect your child's confidence? What's your backup? Are you speaking nicely about a whole range of schools? If not, start fixing that now because you have no way of really knowing how the dice will land.

[adelante]

Would like to second the above point.

We realised after the fact that we picked too many things for DD1. All ended well, and the Consortium grouping did alleviate exam pressure, but that was still a lot of interviews, visits, exams. For DD2, we are a making a lot more work upfront to figure out what are poor fits and should not be attempted at all, in order to stay focused on a more limited number of schools.

[Ibbotson]

I see Habs, NLCS and Group 1 are all on consecutive days. We were considering applying to Habs, NLCS and SHHS which all seems too intense. Of the three, SHHS is a definite as it's closer and the one where DD has the best chance. NLCS is closer and an easier journey than Habs, but would having exams on consecutive days weaken DD's performance for the last one? Does anyone have any experience?

[Daogroupie]

Hundreds of girls sat HBS and DAO CEM on consecutive days and got very high marks in both.

In my personal opinion the more exams students take the more they adjust to the format of them.

The ones who are more likely to find it difficult are the ones who go into an exam unprepared with working in exam conditions. They run out of time, don't read the question properly and don't understand how to chase the marks.

There will be lots of girls sitting four exams on consecutive days as they will St St Albans on the Tuesday as well. I know of at least twenty and there will be hundreds more.

There will also be others sitting St Pauls so they will sit five.

You will do the same preparation and they are generally the same format.

Experience gained on the first two will help with the third. If you are interested in all three schools sit the exams. DG