Exam Information
There are two different possible 11 plus exams for entry to this school, The Kent Test and the Highsted Test. Both tests are different, but children do not need to take both tests.
THE KENT TEST
Exam style —GL Assessment/The Kent Test
Exam topic:
Reasoning
English and maths
Creative writing
Exam length — 2 x 1 hour exams + a 40-minute writing exercise.
Pass rate — In recent years, 15,000+ applicants took the Kent test; only 6,500 passed.
Other exam information:
The reasoning, English and maths tests are multiple-choice with a separate answer sheet.
The first test will be an English and Maths paper. Each section will include a 5 minute practice exercise followed by a 25 minute test. The English section will involve a comprehension exercise as well as some additional questions drawn from a set designed to test literacy skills.
The second test will be the reasoning paper. It will take about 1 hour, including the practice sections and questions. It will contain a verbal reasoning section and a non-verbal reasoning section of roughly the same length. The non-verbal reasoning will be split into short sections, administered and timed individually.
Finally, there will also be a writing exercise which will not be marked but may be used by a local headteacher panel as part of the headteacher assessment stage of the process. 40 minutes will be allowed for the writing task, including 10 minutes planning time.
Scores:
Your child will get three standardised scores (one for English, one for maths and one for reasoning) and a total (aggregate) score.
Standardisation is a statistical process which compares your child's performance with the average performance of other children in each test. A slight adjustment is made to take account of each child's age so that the youngest are not at a disadvantage.
Pass mark:
To qualify, children needed a total score of 332 or more, with no single score lower than 108. Test scores range from 69 to 141. The highest possible total score is 423.
If your child did not reach this threshold score and their primary school referred their case to the local Head Teacher Assessment Panel, the panel will have looked at their achievement in school and examples of their work, including the writing task completed on the day, before a final decision was made.
Please note that a score of over 332 does NOT mean your child is guaranteed a place at your chosen school.
THE HIGHSTED TEST
Exam style — CEM Select/School written exam
Exam topics:
A CEM Select computer-based test to assess verbal ability, numeracy and non-verbal reasoning.
An English paper to assess reading and writing skills.
Pass mark — The pass mark changes each year and depends on the range of the results the local children achieve on the tests. The pass mark correspond approximately with that which would be attained or exceeded by 25% of the age group nationally.
