UKiset: What is it?

In a nutshell, the UKiset is an assessment for international students who want to enter the British education system. Independent schools will look at the results of the test when considering an overseas applicant’s academic potential and level of English. 

The UKiset – which is taken on the computer – is designed to level the playing field for pupils across the globe and helps teachers see how a candidate compares to students of the same age in the British school system.

The single assessment can be used to apply to multiple schools, and some head teachers offer places based solely on UKiset results and references. However, children are often asked to sit school-specific entrance exams as well. 

UKiset: Who can take the test?

The test is for pupils between 9 and 18 years of age, and can be taken by native and non-native English speakers. The computerised questions are adaptive and age appropriate, and will get harder if the candidate gets the answer correct, and easier if they get it wrong.

What does it cover?

The UKiset has three distinct sections designed to test different skills, and takes between 2 and 2.5 hours to complete (for sixth form candidates it may last a little longer).

The assessment is made up of:

• Reasoning: this section consists of verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and mathematical reasoning.
• Reading and listening: candidates will sit the Cambridge English test, a multiple choice paper that assesses receptive language skills.
• Essay writing: students will be asked to produce a short, handwritten essay to demonstrate their expressive language skills.

How much does it cost?

The assessment costs £295, a figure which includes registration, arrangement of a test date, invigilation fees, results sent to the candidate, and the full UKiset profile sent to up to five schools. 

If you are applying to more than five schools, extra choices can be added at £50 per school.

Where can you take the UKiset?

The assessment must be sat at a registered test centre, as opposed to at home. There are now test centres located in over 130 countries around the world and, once you have completed your registration, you will be sent your closest test centre location and next available test date.

Some schools will specify where the test should be taken so it is important to check with them first before you book anything.

Which schools require the UKiset test?

Over 270 private schools have received UKiset profiles since its launch. Around 30% of these schools insist that children take the test, while 40% use it as one component of their admissions process for specific parts of the world. 

Schools such as Eton College – which allows overseas students to sit the UKiset rather than its own pre-test – Charterhouse and Cheltenham Ladies College have all adopted it as an admissions procedure.

One of the benefits of the test is that teachers get a very detailed picture of a child’s potential, consisting of four pieces of information: 

(1) The UKiset profile, which includes their personal details, a photo and identification information.

(2) The reasoning score, which is standardised for their age and compared to British students in the same year group.

(3)  The Cambridge English Placement Test result, which provides the student’s academic English level for reading and listening. 

(4) The candidate’s English essay, which is provided it in its raw unmarked form as a demonstration of a child’s ability to express themselves in English.

How can you prepare?

Knowing how to prepare for the UKiset can be difficult as there are no official past papers. However, there are plenty of physical and online revision resources out there – if you know where to look. 

To prepare for reasoning section of the exam, UKiset suggests Bond workbooks. Bond is a cornerstone of 11+ preparation – it has book series on Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning – however it also publishes assessment papers for older children. 

While workbooks are very useful, it is also helpful for children to get used to the online format of the UKiset. Atom Learning, Bofa and Pre Test Plus are all excellent online resources.

For the language element, Cambridge Assessment English has published a huge range of material to help students prepare for the Cambridge English test. You should also encourage your child to watch English television or listen to English songs and radio to familiarise them with the language. 

For the essay section, the best preparation is to practice writing expository essays on a wide range of topics. Providing opinions orally in English could also help in this area.

If you are looking for more tailored support, Hampstead and Frognal Tutors has a wealth of experience preparing international students for British entrance exams, and offers both face-to-face and online tuition services. 

To make an enquiry, please click here.

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While there are lots of resources out there to prepare children for the 13+ exam or selecting a 13+ tutor, websites focusing on the ISEB Pretest (also referred as the ISEB Common Pretest) are harder to find.

ISEB Pretest: What is it?

The ISEB Common Pretest – created by the Independent Schools Examinations Board –  is taken by children in Year 6 and Year 7 and assesses English and Maths skills, along with verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Computerised testing is used by many private senior schools such as Harrow School, Eton College, St Paul’s Boys, and Westminster and is designed to measure pupils’ academic ability as well as learning potential.

Not all schools use the ISEB Pretest

Depending on how they perform in the ISEB or other online tests, children are sometimes offered conditional school places subject to passing the common entrance exam in Year 8. Not all schools use the common entrance therefore it is always a good idea to check the individual schools admissions pages. The schools admissions pages are regular updated with exam dates, tests or online tests to be taken as well as scholarship awards information.

No Past Papers for the ISEB Pretest!

The Independent Schools Examinations Board does not publish any past papers for online testing, so knowing what to expect from the exam can be difficult. Don’t panic, however. Here are a selection of online resources recommended to us by a number of prep schools and parents whose children went through the process last year.

The following online testing website for Maths, English, and Reasoning should help reduce any anxiety you have about the revision process and to help your child achieve the very best mark they can.

Atom Learning

Atom Learning is a popular educational website that provides mock ISEB pretests, which are taken online. A clever algorithm means that questions are kept at the right level of difficulty, and parents can access performance analytics and a detailed ISEB syllabus when they sign up. While Atom Learning is not a cheap option, it is endorsed by a wide range of headteachers, who praise the website’s user-friendly layout and engaging content.

Price: £59.99 a month, plus a five day free trial.

Planet Bofa

Planet Bofa is another website that is popular with independent schools. Like Atom Learning, Planet Bofa tests children online. However, it also homes in on problem areas and provides tailored tuition. The website then retests children at a later date, using slightly different questions to make sure they have really got to grips with the topic. On top of this, BOFA creates subject reports which you can talk through with your child or pass on to a tutor.

Price: £55 for 3 tests plus a free pretest demo.

The ISEB website

The ISEB website does not publish past papers but it does contain a huge amount of practical information about the assessment. For example, you can find a list of all the senior schools that use the ISEB pretest, along with details about the length of the exam, the format and the timings. The parent section is particularly useful, as it provides examples of the sort of topics children will be tested on.

Price: free

Lumosity

Lumosity is a brain training website which will help your child develop their verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills. Promising to improve memory, attention, flexibility, speed of processing, and problem solving, the website generates brain-training puzzles at the right level for the user. Fun, competitive and engaging, Lumosity is a sure hit with children who hate revising.

Price: free or £7.95 a month for full access.

Question Mix

Question Mix is a website which focuses specifically on UK entrance exams. However, unlike Planet Bofa and Atom Learning it doesn’t publish mock exam papers. Instead, questions are presented in fun and dynamic ways and an impressive array of brain teaser exercises inspired by entrance exam questions are also available to try. A ‘My Performance’ section lets pupils track their progress, and most questions have full explanations if your child gets stuck.

Price: £5 for 1 month, £12 for 3 months, £24 for a year.

Bond Online

Bond Online has a huge range of resources for children aged 9 to 11. With an interactive question bank, instant marking and feedback for students and parents, thousands of practice exam questions and a range of physical workbooks, it is well worth the monthly subscription fee. Although Bond’s primary focus is the 11+ exam, lots of the topics it covers are highly relevant to the ISEB Common Pretest.

Price: £6.50 a month, £55 a year. Free resources also available.

BBC Bitesize

BBC Bitesize is a very useful resource, particularly if your child needs to develop their Maths skills. With videos, self-marking questions and easy-to-follow explanations, the website comprehensively covers Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3. It also has some well designed games to engage children who might otherwise be put off by numbers and shapes.

Price: Free

The post ISEB Pretest: Best Online Websites appeared first on Hampstead and Frognal Tutors.

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+)

2. 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 Boys’School 13+)

3. 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:

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

13+ French:

5. 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:

6. 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:

7. Globalisation causes inequality. Discuss. (Westminster School 13 plus Geography exam)
8. There is little left to be mapped. Discuss. (Westminster School 13 plus Geography exam)
9. Is it possible to write the history of a culture which did not have a system of writing? (Westminster School 13 plus History exam)
10. 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.

The post Could you pass todays 13+ exam? | Try these 13 Plus Exam Questions appeared first on Hampstead and Frognal Tutors.