What questions are asked in Wirral and Liverpool?

Calday Grange, West Kirby, Wirral Grammar School for Boys and Wirral Grammar School for Girls.

GL Verbal Reasoning. Uses the 21 known verbal reasoning question types but these can change at any time and the schools are under no requirement to notify parents. It is our belief that GL will at some stage introduce less publicised question types into their mix without warning. Parents whose children have prepared properly for this and who have a wide vocabulary and have tried different formats of test should not be overly concerned. In the meantime GL continues to use the 21 question types plus variants. If you would like to find out more about this test go our page on GL Verbal Reasoning. The GL Verbal Reasoning test will reward those pupils with an in-depth knowledge of the different questions but most work should be focussed on building a wide vocabulary as it is this aspect which normally separates the good from the excellent.

GL Non-Verbal Reasoning. Uses 10 known question formats. Like all Non-Verbal Reasoning tests it focuses on asking pupils to find the solution to shape based puzzles and questions using solutions involving patterns, codes, reflection and rotation. Pupils don’t fond this difficult but individual pupils may have a ‘block’ with certain question types (such as nets of cubes for instance). Learning what is involved is the easy part. It is the ability to work very quickly and accurately which separates the good from the excellent in these tests. If you would like to find out more about this test go to our page on GL Non-Verbal Reasoning.

GL Maths. These papers are straightforward and use a mix of calculation based shorter questions and longer worded questions or questions about graphs, data or angles. Children will be asked to work quickly and so for this reason there is a real focus on having absolutely rock solid core skills. Children who have forged too far ahead and who are working on topics beyond KS2 risk having done so at the expense of not having the core skills required. There’s absolutely no point in going beyond KS2 during the preparation phase. The difference between the good and the excellent in this test tends to be marked by an ability to work both quickly and accurately, a faultless grasp of tables and the four operations is essential. To find out more about the GL Maths test go to our page covering it in more detail.

St. Anselm’s College

It is hard to predict what will come up in these papers as they are school written, however we do have some advice available based off information from their past papers. The tests are liable to change and aren’t guaranteed to follow the same pattern as previous years.

The English Paper includes a comprehension with standard answer questions, and is not multiple choice. It also includes a 20 minute essay task.

The Maths is a standard format paper with lots of worded questions.

Expect a lot of questions in the Mental Maths paper which will really stretch times table knowledge and the ability to apply it.

We believe that the Verbal Reasoning is a GL type paper. Find more information on this under the Upton Hall School section.

Upton Hall School

GL Verbal Reasoning uses the 21 known verbal reasoning question types but these can change at any time and the schools are under no requirement to notify parents. It is our belief that GL will at some stage introduce less publicised question types into their mix without warning. Parents whose children have prepared properly for this and who have a wide vocabulary and have tried different formats of test should not be overly concerned. In the meantime GL continues to use the 21 question types plus variants. If you would like to find out more about this test go our page on GL Verbal Reasoning. The GL Verbal Reasoning test will reward those pupils with an in-depth knowledge of the different questions but most work should be focussed on building a wide vocabulary as it is this aspect which normally separates the good from the excellent.

GL English papers contain a number of different sections. These include comprehension, spelling, grammar and punctuation. The comprehension is not normally a difficult classic text but children may find unfamiliar vocabulary within it. The comprehension will be about 1000-1500 words long and children will then have answer 20-30 questions. These are classic comprehension questions that ask the children factual questions where the answer is in the text and inference questions where children will need to apply logic. The Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation elements do not go beyond KS2 and any child doing well at primary school and predicted a high level 5 should be able to cope well.

The Blue Coat School

The Blue Coat School’s admission tests are school written and there is little information on the format of the papers and the content. However, we suggest using GL preparation for these tests, so use these resources to prepare for the 11 Plus Maths Test, these to prepare for the 11 Plus English Test and these to prepare for the 11 Plus Non-Verbal Reasoning Test.

Which 11 Plus Exam Preparation Options Are Right For You ?