Step by step guide to using School Entrance Tests’ past papers

1. You need to search the School Entrance Tests‘ Index to access the top independent school past papers.
2. Check that you have the correct exam format for the prep school you are applying for here.
3. Download the most recent 9+ exam papers available on that page or post for your child to go through.
4. Schedule revision sessions at least once a week. Ideally first thing in the morning on either Saturday or Sunday. Ideally both days!
5. Initially, use the first 1-2 revision sessions to familiarise your child with the age-specific exam format and the different types of question in that school entrance exam(s).
6. As they complete more of the practice papers we offer, then you need to track how much their performance is improving. We provide guidance for the scores on our premium exam papers. This is to indicate when your child is approaching the necessary pass grade.

Is private school or grammar school better for my child?

Grammar School advantages

• Grammar schools are some of the highest performing schools listed in national league tables.
• According to the Sutton Trust Report (2008), grammar school pupils:
  • Make greater progress throughout Key Stage 3 and 4
  • Achieve better GCSEs and A levels than pupils from other school types.
• Academically selected grammar school pupils arguably allow grammar school teachers to offer stretch challenges. Thereby, making more effective progress in lessons than a comprehensive, mixed-ability school.
• Many grammar school pupils go on to have successful careers. So, there’s Social mobility advantages from developing grammar school alumni networks of influential peers (from the same grammar school).
• Inevitably, secondary educational research studies have shown that grammar school alumni earn higher salaries than comprehensive school alumni.

Tutoring for the 11 plus exam

It is increasingly common among parents to seek tutoring for the preparation of 11-plus. It’s true that expert 11-plus tuition can be worth its weight in gold.

Specialist 11 plus tutors can relatively easily be found to guide your child through their 11 plus revision and prepare them with the most effective techniques and resources. It’s important to note, however, that there is a multitude of considerations beyond tuition that you need to factor in to ensure your child performs at their optimal level on the exam.

Key 11+ exam 2022 Dates

• April 2022: Most grammar schools open registration in April/May and the deadline is generally around June or July for parents to register their child for the 11+ exam. However there is some variability, so it is important to check the precise dates with the schools you are applying to. Some counties such as Buckinghamshire automatically enter all primary children for the 11+ exam and parents can then choose to opt out to
  withdraw their child from the process.
• September 2022: For most grammar schools, the 11+ exam will occur during the first two weeks in September 2021. However, this year there are quite a few differences in when the exam will occur, and the dates range from September to October. Here are some key dates to watch out for:
• October 2022: 11+ results will be posted in mid-October 2021. However, depending on when the exam occurs in your county, this may differ.
• March 2023: School allocations are confirmed on 1 March 2022.
• September 2023: New intake begins Year 7 at grammar schools across the UK.

Grammar school entry intro

Each grammar school has it’s own admissions criteria. With nearly all offers of a place based on 11 plus results. There’s a range of 11 plus exams with many commonalities too.

It’s taken in Year 6 (early September). Although 11 plus registration for your country and/or grammar school catchment area. Since many 2022 grammar schools require registration in Year 5’s summer term.

Unfortunately, even ‘A-scores’ so an 11 plus results in the 70-80% will not guarantee entry to the most oversubscribed grammar schools.

How do I motivate my child?

In our opinion, the best attitudes to prepare for prepare your child for their school entrance test are:

• Believing that your children should be able to pass. Also though, to manage their own expectations.
• Treating your target schools as options only.  That way if they don’t get in, it Is because the school was not right for them.
• Being open and honest about the high amount of prep school exam prep that will be required. Promote a growth mindset by avoiding the belief that your child has failed somehow.

Top tips for motivating your child to practice

1. A system of carefully selected rewards or bribes can often prove effective!
2. Don’t make the sessions too arduous. Try to make learning fun and sit with your child whilst they work. Maybe task your other child or children with chores to do at the same time so that he or she doesn’t feel that their siblings are having fun whilst they are having to knuckle down and work.
3. Have tuition times that suit your child; when they aren’t tired or over-excited about some activity that they might be doing later in the day.
4. Too much pressure and not enough encouragement will create what is termed a negative learning environment. This means the child will be miserable and view the practice as a chore. In short, they won’t want to learn. Creating a situation whereby the child wants to learn, even if they may not enjoy every second of it, is the aim.
5. Employ short diversions and apply different learning methods that will make the work less monotonous and help it all sink in.

How do I reduce my child’s anxiety?

If your child is worried about taking their school entry exam, we advise reassuring them they will be fine and just to do their best.

Avoiding ‘burn out’ caused by creating so much stress around one school entrance exam.

How should I choose a tutor?

When choosing a tutor, you need to ask about their qualifications and their success rate in getting children into Grammar schools. You also need to see how they get on with your child and how much they charge for their time. We have many YouTube videos on tutor selection and other school entry topics and school entry exams.

How much tuition is needed?

During term time, most tutors will hold a weekly session of between 60 to 90 minutes with additional homework set each week. During the holidays the tutor may also recommend extra sessions. This is especially important in the summer period leading up to the September exams.

The key is that the additional work required needs to be manageable for your child. Because if it’s not, then this will simply add to their stress levels before the examinations which are counter-productive. While the beginning of Year 5 is usually a good time for your child to start tuition, it goes without saying you should begin the groundwork much earlier.

This is necessary for two reasons. Firstly, so you can fully identify the weaknesses your child may have when it comes to taking the 11 Plus. Secondly, you will need a bit of time in order to find the right tutor.

Inevitably, the best tutors can be booked up many years in advance, so the earlier you start to look for one the better your options will be.

How to reduce exam anxiety

We understand how stressful entrance exams can be and therefore want to level the playing field for those who can’t afford tutors / private education. Not only do we provide the biggest selection of all types of entrance tests anywhere online (all for FREE), but we also create fun and effective 10-minute tests in the form of quizzes. Through these, we aim to get children to practice exam questions within time restraints.

With all the extra adrenaline flowing through your bloodstream the night before a big school exam, it’s not uncommon to feel more anxiety than usual. Focus on thinking positive thoughts which can decrease anxiety, help you relax, and fall asleep.

Thus, its important to take it easy the night before your School entrance exam. Do something relaxing rather than studying and cramming. This will help decrease anxiety. Allow you to get a better night’s sleep. So that you will be more mentally fresh during your TEAS exam.

One way to stay positive is to imagine a happy or fun story or scene. If you have a negative thought or find yourself returning to the exam, acknowledge this thought and let it “drift away” while you continue to fixate on the story or images you have in your mind until you finally fall asleep.

Spend the hour before bed avoiding television, your computer, cell phone, and social media. The bright screens and overload of data can keep your brain buzzing into bedtime.

Once you’ve taken all the necessary steps you can to be prepared for exam day, our next group of tips will help you concentrate on how to get your best night’s sleep, which is critical for being sharp and alert during your exam.

Make sure you give yourself your usual amount of sleep, preferably at least 7-8 hours. You may find you need even more sleep. Pay attention to how much you sleep in the days before the exam, and how many hours it takes for you to feel refreshed. This will allow you to be as sharp as possible during your school entry test and make fewer mistakes.

Set your alarm early enough that you have plenty of time to have a well-balanced breakfast and avoid rushing in the morning to get ready. Rushing tends to get your sympathetic nervous system going, and you risk mentally fatiguing yourself by the start of Your school entrance test.

When is the ‘right time’ to start preparing?

The earlier you start, the better! Leaving preparations until the last minute creates a multitude of problems, all of which can be easily avoided by giving you and your child adequate time. Still, it does depend on the individual child’s current skill set. Be mindful of the danger of not being able to cover all the necessary material in time.

Leaving school entry test preparation to the last minute will create an unhelpfully fraught working environment for your child. For some it’s best to get started in the summer between years 4 and 5, giving you a solid year and a half to prepare.

Others may choose to start much later in the academic year. Ultimately, it’s a judgement call between starting early enough to get your child the preparation they need, without starting so early as to risk losing momentum further down the line.

How long to spend tutoring

At such a young age, children should not, in an ideal world, ever feel stressed about things like exams, and as such the more relaxed your child feels about their tutor/time spent on tuition, the better. Nothing will make your child more panicky on the day than a stressful couple of weeks leading up to the test.

We would recommend that you begin light preparations for your child while they are in year 4. In the early days, it must be stressed, that this work should indeed be light. No more than a couple of hours a week should be necessary in the early days, and no more than four or five hours each week even as it gets closer to the actual test.

In our opinion, children need to be able to review the feedback on their answers independently. Not only does this free up parents/tutors, but also gives children some responsibility for their own learning.  In my opinion, familiarising yourself with the exam format is the best way to prepare.

Burdening your child with too much work too soon will simply put them off the process altogether. If you are finding that you need to spend huge amounts of time tutoring your child, perhaps it would be wise to question if grammar school is the best environment for them.

3. What sort of tuition schedule works best? 

Nothing will make your child more panicky on the day than a stressful couple of weeks leading up to the test. We would recommend that you begin light preparations for your child while they are in year 4. In the early days, it must be stressed, that this work should indeed be light. No more than a couple of hours a week should be necessary for the early days, and no more than four or five hours each week even as it gets closer to the actual test. Burdening your child with too much work too soon will simply put them off the process altogether.

4. Motivating your child to do past practice papers

At such a young age, most children simply don’t understand fully why attending a selective school could potentially be of huge benefit to them. Make sure your child understands this before preparations start. For some children, going to selective schools’ open days is a good motivator because, if they take a shine to a particular school, it gives them something tangible to aim for. A system of carefully selected rewards or bribes can often prove effective!

Don’t make the sessions too arduous. Try to make learning fun and sit with your child whilst they work. Maybe task your other child or children with chores to do at the same time so that he or she doesn’t feel that their siblings are having fun whilst they are having to knuckle down and work.

5. When’s the best time for tuition

Have tuition times that suit your child; when they aren’t tired or over-excited about some activity that they might be doing later in the day. Too much pressure and not enough encouragement will create what is termed a negative learning environment. This means the child will be miserable and view the practice as a chore. In short, they won’t want to learn.

Creating a situation whereby the child wants to learn, even if they may not enjoy every second of it, is the aim. Employ short diversions and apply different learning methods that will make the work less monotonous and help it all sink in. Play word games on the school run, and buy your child workbooks that are designed to be entertaining.

Our Top tips to pass

Focus on accuracy first and foremost, and timekeeping second. Timekeeping and exam techniques are important skills to learn throughout your child’s school career. After all, this is just the first of many exams they will be sitting in the next few years. Time management will come with practice, but give your child the following general advice:

• Spending 15 minutes on one question, so that you then don’t have time to finish 20 subsequent questions, is bad practice.
• Never leave any question unanswered. If you leave a question blank, you have automatically got that question incorrect.
• Remember to keep an eye on the clock throughout any full-length tests.

Addressing learning gaps

Obviously deciding when to start tutoring depends largely on the abilities of the individual child. He or she may only need a few hours of exam practice. In this case, a few months may be adequate. However, if there are much greater gaps in their learning, then you may require several months of regular weekly tuition.

How to improve reading skills

As part of the long-term strategy, and from a very early age, I would strongly recommend encouraging your child to read. I believe that this advice applies to every child, whether they are hoping to go to grammar school or not, but it becomes especially important with regard to the 11 Plus.

Reading allows your child to expand his or her vocabulary beyond the typical range of topics; as the old adage goes, reading truly does broaden the mind. The 11 Plus has been known to feature words like ‘dormitory’, which are challenging because they are slightly old fashioned.

How to improve Maths skills

With regards to maths, it’s best to ensure that your child is confident with everything on the KS2 maths syllabus. Reports from your child’s school should give an indication of whether your child has any major gaps in his/her knowledge.

Use Key Stage 2 maths revision resources to fill any of these gaps, and be sure to revisit material that your child struggles on regularly. Schools often take a modular approach to maths. This means that, if they cover fractions in September of Year 4, they may not cover them again until September of Year 5. By then they’ve completely forgotten how to do them!

So, try to resist the temptation to ‘overrule’ your child when examining different methods with which to tackle the basic operations in maths; they will have been taught differently in their primary school and it is better to try and understand how they arrive at their answers, rather than try to impose the method that you were taught!

In summary, the most important thing is to ensure that your child is confident with the basics in the following areas and then move up to more complex worded problems in each area.

Is a Grammar school or private school education better?

• Private Schools: There is a huge range of Independent/private schools spread out over Great Britain, Ireland, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Private or independent schools are fee-paying schools.
• Grammar Schools: Grammar schools in England and subsequently in British territories overseas have a long and colourful history as part of a highly rated education system.

Grammar school guide

There is no scarcity of excellent schools and knowledge in both Independent and Grammar schools. It is just the preferences of the individuals depending upon their convenience.

The history of grammar school is ancient. It started basically to teach Latin during the 12th to 14th Century.

Later the syllabuses were expanded, and it incorporated other subjects such as English, mathematics, natural sciences, liberal arts, and other European languages. Earlier the grammar schools were for primary education only. However, post the expansion of the courses, it became a secondary /11 plus course.

Where are grammar schools better?

Grammar schools provide equality in terms of level in class. The students can only study here if they clear the entrance test that shows it provides opportunities to the most efficient students. It is observed that the pupils selected from Grammar schools are more proactive and successful.

Parents and students from the lower-income group can access this highly efficient and knowledgeable source of education without being partial to any specific community.

This system provides opportunities to every individual who is eager and capable of studying. It helps them in gaining access to high-quality education systems. Some observe that the culture in Grammar schools is so professional and respectable that the students feel less bullied and thrive towards learning more and more.

Difference between a grammar school and an independent school

Grammar school follows the concept of free public education whereas, independent/private schools have their fee structures designed.

The classes in a grammar school have a huge number of candidates. Managing so many students at a time is a hectic thing to do. Grammar schools are highly selective and have a major focus on the academic achievements of the students.

Things to know before enrolling in a grammar school:

Even if it has hundreds of advantages, it is always advisable to consider the demerits along. The government funds grammar schools.

Some also say that the 11 plus exam is unfair as it builds fear of failure in students from a very early age and affects them badly. They also say that 11 is not the age to take this test as the students remain in the cognitive and learning stage at that interval. It creates a lot of pressure on the students and the parents as the students keep on preparing for this entrance from a very early age.

Proactive measures for grammar schools 

Provision to provide free teaching and coaching to students coming from weaker economical sections can be valuable in bringing uniformity and equality among all the sections of the economy. We can do it through free tuition projects. Judging a student on his/her English proficiency and basic mathematics is unfair. The traits of a child can lean more towards art and creativity based on his/her interests.

There have been examples where students have been poor in mathematics but have achieved a lot in their lives. Hence, conducting an entrance with no bar to subjects or other abilities is a good initiative. This way pupils can select the best suitable courses and curriculums as per their interest.

Many researchers have mentioned that if it can delay the selection process a year or two, then it will help the students. When the entrance exam will be conducted for students over the age of 12 & 13, they will get a little more time to develop their interests, understanding, and strengths.

Children develop much faster when grouped by ability. Putting a goal in their head to achieve and thrive is a good initiative. However, it has to be systematic and vigilant. Grammar school is an attractive and persuasive approach towards a better education system. If considered with some improvements, it has magnificent potential.