Why should your child sit more than one entrance exam?
To give your child the best chance of success in entrance exams for Trafford’s grammar schools, you need to be entrance exam savvy.
Just a few years ago, Year 6 children would sit their entrance exam (11 Plus, as it was known) in their own primary school hall over a couple of afternoons. Going back even further into the mists of time, children were not told in advance when the entrance exam would take place, nor even what it was. Contrast this with today’s pressure cooker of successive entrance exams taken in up to five different, unfamiliar schools, many of which have different paper combinations, and you have a recipe for stress. [UPDATE: Due to the formation of the Trafford Consortium, the number of Trafford entrance examinations your child can sit has been reduced to two – for girls – and three for boys. You can read more about the changes here.]
In order to reduce stress, many parents choose to enter their child for only one entrance exam. We caution against this for the following reasons:
- If you sit two exams rather than one, you double your chances of passing one; if you sit three, your chances are trebled!
- If your child fails the entrance exam for his/ her preferred school, but passes the entrance exam for another school, this will give you a positive point to include if you decide to appeal.
- Even if you are adamant that there is only one grammar school you want your child to attend, isn’t it better to leave your options open?
A final, controversial point I would make is that if your child sits the first entrance exam, regardless of which school holds it, this will give them valuable experience. We run popular practice entrance exams at Better Tuition which give children a good idea of what to expect on the day, but we can’t replicate the experience of 1,000 children and their parents and carers assembling in one place. Presumably the schools do not object to such a speculative approach, otherwise they could revert to the one-exam-for-all-schools format.
For up to date information about Trafford’s grammar school entrance exams, please visit our entrance exams page.
Finally, if you have any questions about entrance exams, please post them here, or take a look at our help and advice for children taking entrance exams. We have lots of information on our site and you are welcome to call in to Better Tuition to book a free assessment, some tuition or a practice entrance exam.
