Practice Entrance Exams 2024 at Better Tuition
2024 EXAMS
Our exams take place at The Venue, Westbourne Road, Urmston, M41 0XQ. Each exam costs £50. We offer:
- Same-day scores (you take the papers home and mark them – answers are provided);
- Professionally written exam papers;
- Formal, REALISTIC exam conditions;
- Video tutorials, which take your child through EVERY question, INCLUDED (N.B. These are NOT available for our Loreto/ St Ambrose-style exam on 10th September, hence the reduced price).
- Average scores and range, together with estimated likelihood of passing, INCLUDED.
- Your child’s exam papers returned to you, INCLUDED.
Morning exams start at 9.30 am, whilst afternoon sessions start at 1.00pm.
How It Works
Exam Dates and Booking
Which Format? CEM-style or GL-style?
Costs
Booking
How It Works
We have been running practice exams for over ten years and we are experts in our field. Over the past decade, the feedback we have received, coupled with our pass rates, tells us that our exams are the perfect way to prepare your child for grammar school entrance exams in Trafford and beyond. Our exams are suitable for children aiming to sit entrance exams for:
Urmston Grammar
Stretford Grammar
Sale Grammar
Altrincham Grammar School for Girls
Altrincham Grammar School for Boys
Loreto
St Ambrose College
& many more.
You don’t have to be registered with us as a student in order to sit our practice entrance examinations. We are entrance exam experts: we have several years of results from each of our papers and, although this is not an exact science, we can compare your child’s results with previous scores and make reasonable predictions about their chances of success in the grammar school entrance exams. We adhere to the highest professional standards; our papers are exclusive to our centre and your child will not have encountered them previously. You can see the high quality of our examination papers by visiting our download store, where you will find some examples, many of which are free of charge.
Video Tutorials
We offer detailed video tutorials at no extra cost. These will take your child through each question so that they can understand their errors. Please note that these are not available for the exam on 10th September.
The Benefits of Sitting a Practice Entrance Exam with Better Tuition
Your child will benefit hugely from sitting an exam under timed conditions in unfamiliar surroundings. S/he may find it very difficult. From time to time, children panic and get very upset when they sit a practice entrance exam. After all, they are only nine or ten years old. Our sympathetic team will look after your child and help him/ her manage his/ her nerves. We find that once they have overcome the hurdle of their first practice exam, children are able to sit the real exam with much more confidence. They know what to expect and they have the reassurance that they ‘survived’ their practice exam.
Your child will bring his/ her completed exam papers home, together with the answers, and you will mark them. This gives you the convenience of same-day results. You will then send us your child’s scores and we will send you the average scores (mean and median) and range of scores. We will also give you the estimated likelihood of passing. This will be based on our professinal judgement, coupled with several years’ data.
Surprisingly, many tuition services do not allow parents to see their child’s exam papers. We believe that it is extremely important that children should be able to work on corrections, so it is essential that their papers are returned. It’s advisable to go through the paper to check why errors have been made. For example, did your child run out of time? Did s/he perform poorly due to nerves? Were there topics covered that s/he did not understand? Or did s/he make what is often termed ‘silly mistakes’? Would s/he have gained marks if s/he had written down working out? Incidentally, it’s important to know that we ALL make silly mistakes – so please don’t berate your child too much about these. Don’t forget we provide detailed video tutorials at no extra cost. These will take your child through each question so that they can understand their errors.
Whatever the reason for losing marks, Better Tuition can help your child work on strategies to improve his/ her exam performance in the real exam. Find out more about our online tuition service. Find our more about in-person lessons at our tuition centre in Urmston.
Which Format? CEM-style or GL-style?
All our exams will follow the GL Assessment-style format. This means that ALL our exams are suitable for those Year 5 students planning to sit for Urmston Grammar, Stretford Grammar, Sale Grammar School, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, and Altrincham Grammar School for Girls.
Our exams will adopt the Trafford Consortium format, which consists of TWO, one-hour papers in maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning.
Exam Dates 2024:
Book for Introductory Practice Entrance Exam on 17th March Cost: £50 Location: Hartford Community Centre, Canterbury Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0RX
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 21st April Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 19th May Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 23rd June Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Catholic Grammar-style Practice Entrance Exam on 7th July Cost: £50 Location: Hartford Community Centre, Canterbury Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0RX
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 21st July Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 18th August Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Catholic Grammar-style Practice Entrance Exam on 1st September Cost: £50 Location: Hartford Community Centre, Canterbury Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0RX
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 8th September Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Loreto/ St Ambrose-style exams to be confirmed
SMALL ROOM EXAMS
These will take place at Better Tuition and are suitable for all students, particularly those who will be placed in a small room for the real exam in September. We will be using papers from previous exams at The Venue, so please ensure your child will not already have encountered the papers.
Small room exam – 31st July 2024 – 9.30 – 11.45 – Paper B (used on 19th May)
Small room exam – 7th August 2024 – 9.30 – 11.45 – Paper C (used on 23rd June)
Small room exam – 28th August 2024 – 9.30 – 11.45 – Paper E (used on 18th August)
Costs
Our exams cost £50. You may pay using childcare vouchers.
SPECIAL OFFER *: Book 5 exams, get one free (6 exams for £250).
SPECIAL OFFER *: Book 4 exams for £180 (save 10%).
We do not offer refunds UNLESS the cancellation request is made within seven days of making your booking AND no less than one week before the exam. We are unable to reschedule appointments. We will, however, post you the exam papers if you are unable to attend on the day.
* Exams must be booked and paid for at the same time and in advance.
Booking
Book for Introductory Practice Entrance Exam on 17th March Cost: £50 Location: Hartford Community Centre, Canterbury Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0RX
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 21st April Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 19th May Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 23rd June Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 21st July Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 18th August Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Book for Trafford Consortium-style Practice Entrance Exam on 8th September Cost: £50 Location: The Venue, 15 Westbourne Rd, Urmston, Manchester M41 0XQ
Loreto/ St Ambrose-style exams to be confirmed
If you prefer to pay in person, please call in to our office at 1 Crofts Bank Road, Urmston, M41 0TZ . Alternatively, you can make a bank transfer. To organise this, please call Paul Syrett or Christine McLaughlin on 0161 748 3912 (landline) or 07949 329996 (mobile). You can email us at info@bettertuition.co.uk.
About Better Tuition
Better Tuition provides professional tuition by qualified and experienced teachers in our tuition centre in Urmston as well as online via Zoom. We offer an unbeatable range of resources to help your child succeed, including books, worksheets, bespoke computer software and multi-sensory learning aids, along with the expert input of our entrance exams experts. Better Tuition is situated on Urmston’s main crossroads, a short car journey from the Trafford Centre. Learn more about our methods. Find out about online tuition during the pandemic.
