Could you pass todays 13+ exam? | Try these 13 Plus Exam Questions

Exam Questions

Hundreds of children are due to take the 13 + Exam in the coming months. The question is, could you pass the 13 plus exam they are soon to sit? Take our test to find out.

13+ Maths:

  1. I have 70 litres of a mixture of 20% red paint, 35% purple paint and 45% blue paint. Without adding any blue paint, how much red and how much purple paint should I add so that I end up with a mixture of 25% red, 40% purple and 35% blue paint? (Westminster School 13+)
  1. Victor is trying to remember a question he answered. He remembers that he was asked to find the prime factorisation of a number between 40 and 100. He also remembers that the answer was the product of one prime and the square of another prime. The number might have been 50 because 50 = 2 x 5². Find all the other possible numbers he could have been asked to factorise. (The Haberdashers’ Aske’s BoysSchool 13+)
  1. Granny swears that she is getting younger. She has calculated that she is four times as old as I am now, but remembers that 5 years ago she was five times as old as I was at that time. What is the sum of our ages now? (Westminster School 13+)

If numbers aren’t your thing, have a go at the languages section.

 

13+ Latin:

  1. “militibus gladiatoribusque ad turbam adiunctis, Nero cives suos oppugnabat velut ”imperator … hostes: What does Nero do? (Eton College 13+ Latin exam)

 

13+ French:

French

  1. Translatethe following into French: (a) The mayor did not want them to commemorate the bicentenary of the French Revolution. (b) He asked her to be kind enough no longer to eat biscuits in the library (Eton College 13+ French Exam)

Struggling? Try out your literary skills instead.

 

13+ English Literature:

  1. Translate this passage into modern English prose

And these few precepts in thy memory

Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportioned thought his act.

Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar;

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware

Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,

Bear ’t that th’ opposèd may beware of thee.

Give every man thy ear but few thy voice.

Take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgment.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy,

For the apparel oft proclaims the man…(Eton College, English 13 plus exam)

Food for thought:

  1. Globalisation causes inequality. Discuss. (Westminster School 13 plus Geography exam)
  2. There is little left to be mapped. Discuss. (Westminster School 13 plus Geography exam)
  3. Is it possible to write the history of a culture which did not have a system of writing? (Westminster School 13 plus History exam)
  4. Sir Robert Birley, a British teacher and administrator, called History ‘the most dangerous subject in the curriculum’. Explain fully whether or not you think he was right. (Westminster School 13 plus History Exam)

 

Answers:

 

13+ Maths

1) Red paint: 8.5 litres Purple paint: 11.5 litres

2) 44, 45,52,63,68,75,76,92,98,99

3) 100

13+ Latin

4) Nero fights his own citizens as if they were the enemy.

13+ French

5a) Le maire ne voulait pas qu’ils commémorent le bicentenaire de la Révolution française

5b) ll lui a demandéd’essayer de ne plus manger de biscuits àla bibliothè

13+ English Literature

6) Try to remember a few principles. Do not say what you are thinking, nor act on any rash thought. Be friendly but not overly friendly. Once you have friends and have tested their loyalty hold tightly onto them, but do not shake hands with every new acquaintance that comes along.  Avoid getting into fights, but once you are in one show them what you are made of. Listen to everyone, but do not talk to everyone. Listen to everybody’s opinion, but hold back your judgement. Spend as much as you can afford to on clothes, but make sure they are good quality, not flashy, for clothes often reveal what kind of man somebody is.

How did you fare? If you think your child (or you, of course) would benefit from some extra help, take a look at our 13+ tuition page.

If you are looking for some extra advice about school admissions and the 13+ exam, this article from The Telegraph would be a another good point of reference.

For advice on revising, how to study and exam tips our article Exam Tips has some very helpful advice as does Learning How to Study is Key to your Child’s Revision Plan.

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