In England, parents of 11-year-olds are able to choose which secondary schools they would like to apply for. Parents submit their applications in October, and places are allocated by their local council the following March.
In some areas, some of the secondary schools are grammar schools. These are schools that traditionally focus specifically on high academic attainment, and are able to select the students that they take in at age 11, based on their high academic ability. For this reason, they are also sometimes called selective schools.
In order to select students by academic ability, grammar schools use a test, taken by children at the age of 10 or 11 (ie usually when they are in Year 6). You may hear this test referred to as the 11+ (or Eleven Plus), the grammar test, the grammar entrance test, or the selection test.
Please note – this is different to the entrance tests that independent (fee-paying) schools set (grammar schools are state-funded schools), although some of the elements and expectations of the tests may be similar.
Here in Kent, most of the grammar schools use the same test, called The Kent Test. Some specific schools also use their own tests, such as the two Dover Grammar schools, the grammar schools in the Folkestone/Shepway area, Highsted Grammar in Sittingbourne, and Mayfield Grammar in Gravesend. These schools’ alternative tests are usually sat within a couple of weeks of the Kent Test, in the autumn term. For those schools, when it comes to submitting an application, parents may use either a Kent Test result, or the school’s own test result. Many students sit both. Schools in the Medway area use a different test – The Medway Test.
These schools’ individual tests may vary in their content and style, so if you are considering one of these, it is wisest to check with them specifically, about what their test involves. However, the Kent Test is fairly consistent in its style and content, year on year.
What happens during the Kent Test?
The Kent Test is administered in Kent Primary schools, to those Year 6 students whose parents have registered them to sit it. All schools run the test on the same day, usually a Thursday, a couple of weeks into the autumn term (the date varies each year). For those children not in Kent Primary schools, a different date is used, usually on the Saturday of the same week.
The Kent Test consists of several parts.
The first hour involves a paper that has an English test and a Maths test. Each one has a short, 5 minute practice test, which isn’t marked but gives students a good idea of the style of the test and how to input their answers on the answer sheet (more about that later). After each of those short practice tests, the English and Maths main tests are 25 minutes each.
The English test usually has approximately 25 questions, roughly half of which are reading comprehension questions based on a piece of text. The other half are questions based on spelling and punctuation (usually spotting the mistakes) and grammar (usually choosing the correct way that sentences and phrases should be worded).
The Maths test usually has about 25 questions too. These cover a wide range of Maths topics from Key Stages 1 and 2, and test a wide variety of Maths skills, including mental and written calculations, interpreting word problems, reasoning, and combining several skills from different areas of the curriculum in the same question.
The Maths test may include some concepts that are often not taught until Year 6, or beyond (ie after the test has been taken). This is to test whether students are able to apply their mastery of Maths to new, unfamiliar contexts.
Many students find that they are unable to complete all the questions in the time given. This IS normal, but the more questions a student can answer, the more chance they have of scoring enough marks, so speed IS important. Among the skills being tested here, are speed and efficiency, as well as accuracy.
The English and Maths tests are administered without any real break in between them, other than a couple of minutes for the teachers to stop the first test, and begin the second.
Once both the English and Maths tests are finished, there is usually a break time. This might be at a different time to the students’ usual breaktime.
After the break, students will sit the next three parts of the test. These are combined into one paper, called Reasoning, but are completed separately from one another, with strict timings for each one.
The skills and content tested in the Reasoning test are not explicitly taught in school. They are used because they are considered to be a good indicator of children’s general ability and academic potential.
The Verbal Reasoning test begins with a short practice test, in a similar way to the English and Maths. The practice test usually includes one of each of the types of questions that will be encountered in the 20 minute main test. This helps students to familiarise themselves with the style of the questions, since they can be quite unusual and very challenging for any students who have never practised them before.
Verbal Reasoning means thinking critically about patterns and relationships in words, letters, sentences and numbers. In some cases it involves being able to spot similarities, differences, or connections between different words or sets of words; some question types involve spotting a “rule” in a given set of words, letters, or phrases, and applying it to a new one. There are also some logic-puzzle-type questions that require critical thinking about the clues given.
There are usually about 40 questions in this Verbal Reasoning test.
Many children find that they cannot complete all 40 questions in 20 minutes, so it is very wise to practise beforehand, and especially ensure that students know that they do not have to stop if they become stuck on a hard question, but instead to input a “best guess” answer and move on.
When the time for the Verbal Reasoning test is finished, the next section begins. This is usually Spatial Reasoning, which involves recognising, analysing, or imagining various aspects and details of shapes – both 2D and 3D – from diagrams.
The Spatial Reasoning Test is split into two or three different, timed sections, each with between 8 and 12 similarly styled questions. Each of these sections is timed individually, and like the other tests, the timings are very tight – such as 5 minutes (sometimes fewer) to answer 10 questions. Working quickly and accurately, and knowing when to move on if questions are taking too long, is essential.
The final part of the Reasoning paper is the Non-verbal Reasoning Test. Like the Spatial Reasoning, it is split into two or three shorter sections, each with between 8 and 12 questions of a similar style. These sections – again – are each administered with their own, challengingly short time limit, eg 5 minutes. Those skills of efficiency, accuracy and making decisions about when to make a “best guess” and move on, are – again – vital here.
Non-verbal Reasoning involves spotting similarities, differences, connections and patterns in diagrams, which consist of combinations of shapes, lines and patterns. Some types of questions involve spotting a “rule” in a set of diagrams and applying it to a new one.
All of these tests consist of questions that have answers provided in a “multiple choice” format. This means that every question has a set of answers (usually 5) and the student must select the correct answer. Although this might make the test sound easier, unfortunately it doesn’t really work that way. In the Maths test, students still need to do the calculations to determine the answer before they can select the right one from the list; in the English test there are often several answers in the list that could possibly be correct, and it takes skill to think critically about which one is the best (and only) answer to achieve the mark; and in the Reasoning Paper, students will often have to work through the patterns to reach an answer, before they can select the correct answer from the list.
However, the multiple choice format can sometimes be advantageous, by allowing students to strategically eliminate some options, if they spot a reason why they cannot be correct. With some practice, this can be a very useful way to solve many of the Reasoning questions, as well as some of the English and Maths ones.
When students have decided on an answer, they must enter it onto the “bubble” style answer sheet by drawing a little line through the box next to the correct answer. Again, this might sound easy, but it is something that often causes problems. It is unlike other school tests, where answers are written either on the test paper under the question, or in a written, numbered list, like many will have used for spelling tests or times tables tests. Unfortunately, it is also very easy for students to lose their place on the answer sheet, as often the answers are only given on the answer sheet as A, B, C, D, E, rather than the actual word, number or diagram from the question. When students lose their place on the answer sheet, or miss out an answer box by mistake, they may fill in whole sections with the wrong answers. There are some tips and tricks for helping children make sure they keep their place and avoid this devastating outcome (I will do my best to share some in a future post) and plenty of practice helps too.
After the Reasoning Paper is finished, there will be another break. In many schools, this will be lunchtime, but this will depend on the school’s timetable.
The final task is a creative writing exercise, which requires students to choose one of the writing prompts provided, and plan and then write a response to that prompt. The time allowed consists of 10 minutes of planning time, and usually another 30 minutes of writing time.
There is usually a good variety of types/genres of writing to choose from, including stories on given themes or in given styles, diary entries, newspaper reports and letters.
This writing task does not form a part of the student’s final test score, but it is important that it’s done well, because in cases where students have not quite scored enough marks on their tests, but their headteacher believes they are capable and lodges an appeal, the writing exercise may be submitted as supporting evidence.
The writing task may sound easy compared to other parts of the test. However, in order to prove a student’s capability (especially if they have not scored highly on the tests), their writing needs be very high level, with ambitious vocabulary, creative imagination and precise and accurate use of challenging spellings, punctuation and grammar. It may seem easy to write for 40 minutes, but it isn’t easy to write a high level, completed piece from scratch, in that time.
As you may have gathered, the Kent Test process is pretty intense for students, but schools usually do their best to put students at ease on the day, and make sure that they have everything they need.
The best thing we can do as parents and tutors at home, is to ensure that our children are well prepared, have practised lots and are confident. And of course, try to make sure they are sleeping and eating well in the days and hours before the test.
To see Kent County Council’s information on the Kent Test, click here.
If you are considering using a tutor to help your child prepare for the Kent Test, please see details of my Tutoring Service, and contact me to enquire about availability. You are also welcome to send me a message through my Facebook page.
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