DIY for HABS boys, MTS, St Albans and City of London boys

[Hopingforsuccess]

Hi there! We diyed DS for maths and VR and had a school teacher tutor him for English. He sat tests for QE, DAO and SW Herts and his score in all these schools is borderline and we are now thinking of applying for independent schools. Please can I have some advice as to how to prepare. DS’s maths and English is ok and I am not too worried about it. It’s the reasoning papers for the independents that is my concern. MT have introduced a general paper this year and I am trying to understand what kind of preparation is needed for this paper. HABS also do a reasoning paper which is new this year.

I would be very thankful if the experienced and knowledgable people in this forum could please help and shed some light.

I have bought an online subscription to work on maths and English past papers. I also have a subscription for VR and NVR practise.

Please can people share any tips?

Thank you very much

[Daogroupie]

The English and the Maths are the important papers and the reasoning is just a sideline.

The HABS is not new.

They always had a reasoning paper which was moved online last year.

If you were one of the 26% of candidates who got through the first round of DAO then you are already at the VR level required.

But you do need to do some papers in the next nine weeks as you lose your speed very quickly and it is over two months since the DAO VR paper and the VR papers for these schools are not until January.

What were your scores at DAO and SW Herts?

I would focus on the English.

That is likely to be the paper where most students lose or pick up marks.

I have yet to see an online English paper that has answers at the right level.

You be better off to continue using your English tutor. DG

[Hopingforsuccess]

Thank you for responding DG. I really appreciate it.

DS ranked in the 170s in DAO, 214 for QE and 212 for SW so veyr borderline scores. We are putting all our focus on maths and english at the moment and want an understanding of what to expect in reasoning papers. For Habs I understand reasoning will be done on the ipad which is why I bought subscription to online practise site so that he has a grip on working things online. Will this paper only be NVR and VR?

For MT I have heard that no one yet knows what the general paper will be like and the expectation is to see VR and NVR in it too.

I would also be very grateful if you could please advise on what kinds of scores are needed to gain an entry in one of these schools please.

[Bazelle]

It was 4 years ago so things might have changed, but my son just passed QE and missed Tiffin by 3 points or something like that, but got offers from MTS, Hampton, Latymer uppper and City, I hope this is encouraging.

[Daogroupie]

What was your DAO score for VR to get you into the second round?

If it was one of the last to qualify, example 107 or 108 then you need to keep VR ticking over.

The Habs paper will be NVR and VR.

It is the second year of online.

All of these schools are a lot easier to get into than QE or DAO.

So long as your score was fairly evenly distributed between Maths and English at both schools then you are in a very good position to get into all these schools.

DG

[Hopingforsuccess]

Thank you Bazelle definitely very encouraging.

DG he scored 127 in the first round of DAO. I am not sure if this is higher or low on the spectrum.

MTS is very secretive about the general paper and I will be very grateful if any parent who has a boy in MTS that is currently in year 7 at the school could please advise on what to expect in the paper. MTS is our top choice school.

[scary mum]

Hope you get the information you need, would just advise anyone in this situation to be wary of tutors contacting you via the forum, they may or may not have the relevant experience and will charge for practice and advice

[Hopingforsuccess]

Thanks Scary mum. I will be wary.

[branmoment]

The advice from MTS is that the General Paper changes every year to negate the impact of tutoring or school background

[Hopingforsuccess]

Thank you branmoment.