1st February 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
When I first started tutoring, I realised that there was often much work on offer for those wanting to sit Common Entrance examinations. Common Entrance, or 13+, are a set of exams taken by children (normally boys) as part of the admissions process for secondary schools who have an academic selection criteria. Each year, pupils sit these exams in order to gain a place at some the highest achieving independent schools in Britain including Eton, Harrow and Winchester.
The name came from the fact that the secondary schools who set these entrance exams agreed to use a common set of examination papers. However, marking of the papers and all other admissions procedures are done independently by each school. Pupils are expected to take exams in the core subjects: Mathematics, Science and English. There is then a choice of one language from French, German, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. If this alone is not enough to pick their brains, they are also expected to offer Geography, History and Religious Studies
Pass marks for some of the schools can be up to 70% in every paper, piling the pressure on young students preparing for the exams. One of my first Common Entrance students was also applying for a scholarship to Eton. Compulsory papers are English, high level Mathematics, Science and a General paper comprising of Philosophy or Coding. Alternative papers included Latin, Ancient Greek, French and History.
I was called to tutor this 12 year old boy in Ancient Greek and Latin for his scholarship entry. Upon reading through some of the past papers, I was surprised to discover how difficult they were. Not only were the boys expected to translate and answer a comprehension, but they were also being asked to answer tricky grammar questions intended to catch them out with irregular verbs and nouns as well as to transate a long passage from English into Latin. Even in A-level Latin we were give the choice as to whether we wanted to complete this or not.
Such a high level seemed strange to me and I spoke to some of my friends who had taken the same exams upon their entry into similar schools. The difficulty would not only sort the wheat from the chaff, but it also led to complacence in the first 3 years of secondary school. Although these pupils have proved their academic skills, these were then not pushed further once the scholarship was achieved – what seemed to me to be a complete waste.
13+ and Common Entrance
When I first started tutoring, I realised that there was often much work on offer for those wanting to sit Common Entrance examinations. Common Entrance, or 13+, are a set of exams taken by children (normally boys) as part of the admissions process for secondary schools who have an academic selection criteria. Each year, pupils sit these exams in order to gain a place at some the highest achieving independent schools in Britain including Eton, Harrow and Winchester.
The name came from the fact that the secondary schools who set these entrance exams agreed to use a common set of examination papers. However, marking of the papers and all other admissions procedures are done independently by each school. Pupils are expected to take exams in the core subjects: Mathematics, Science and English. There is then a choice of one language from French, German, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. If this alone is not enough to pick their brains, they are also expected to offer Geography, History and Religious Studies
Pass marks for some of the schools can be up to 70% in every paper, piling the pressure on young students preparing for the exams. One of my first Common Entrance students was also applying for a scholarship to Eton. Compulsory papers are English, high level Mathematics, Science and a General paper comprising of Philosophy or Coding. Alternative papers included Latin, Ancient Greek, French and History.
I was called to tutor this 12 year old boy in Ancient Greek and Latin for his scholarship entry. Upon reading through some of the past papers, I was surprised to discover how difficult they were. Not only were the boys expected to translate and answer a comprehension, but they were also being asked to answer tricky grammar questions intended to catch them out with irregular verbs and nouns as well as to transate a long passage from English into Latin. Even in A-level Latin we were give the choice as to whether we wanted to complete this or not.
Such a high level seemed strange to me and I spoke to some of my friends who had taken the same exams upon their entry into similar schools. The difficulty would not only sort the wheat from the chaff, but it also led to complacence in the first 3 years of secondary school. Although these pupils have proved their academic skills, these were then not pushed further once the scholarship was achieved – what seemed to me to be a complete waste.