Parents who are interested in the top independent schools for girls that are part of the London 11 Plus Consortium need to ensure that their child is well prepared for the entrance exam the Consortium uses.
In the article below, Keystone’s expert tutors have compiled a list of extensive answers to the key questions most parents ask about the Consortium and the exam itself, as well as their top tips for preparing effectively and achieving the best possible results.
What is the London 11 Plus Consortium?
The , formerly known as the North London Girls’ Consortium, is a group of girls’ day schools. The consortium was originally founded to reduce the number of examinations girls would be required to sit as a part of the 11 plus entrance process. To that end, the London 11 Plus Consortium developed an application process whereby only one test would have to be taken, no matter how many schools within the Consortium the student has applied to. They have recently reviewed their application processes over the pandemic period, which had ‘necessitated a variety of assessment approaches in 2020 and adoption of the ISEB Common Pre-Test in 2021.’
Following this review, the London 11 Plus Consortium have decided to replace their current examination with one bespoke 100-minute online assessment for all schools, which is made by Atom Learning.
At present the London 11 Plus Consortium is made up of the following schools:
What does the London Consortium Exam Involve?
For entry in September 2023 onwards, the 100-minute exam consists of five separate components, which will be completed in the order specified in the table below.
The new examination will be conducted online, with a mixture of adaptive and non-adaptive testing (see the table above). Adaptive testing means the test’s difficulty will adapt to the performance of the child, whereas Non-Adaptive testing have fixed questions for all candidates on that testing day. Please note the content of non-adaptive sections will be different on different testing days, so there will be no advantage or disadvantage to students based on their chosen date of testing.
All children sit the test on one of three selected dates, at either at their current school, or one of the schools they are intending to apply to if their current school is unable to conduct the examinations. The test will typically be taken in early December of Year 6.
Preparation Tips for the London Consortium Exam
The London 11 Plus Consortium exam assesses students in English and Maths. Thus, as with preparation for any 11 Plus assessment, it would be useful for students to have a strong foundational understanding of the 11+ curriculum in both English and Maths. The syllabuses can be found on the . However, please be aware that some of the mathematics content may not be covered (see below).
In addition, it is important that students are exposed to and comfortable answering the full range of verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types. Over and above the content, students should be comfortable working under time pressure and be able to tackle multiple choice questions, an assessment method which tends not to be all that common in day-to-day schooling.
Preparation for the Maths Section
The student should ensure they have a core understanding of the national curriculum for Maths up to the end of Year 5. No content introduced in the Year 6 curriculum will be tested. This section of the exam will be multiple choice and vary in terms of difficulty. Some questions may include diagrams or charts. This section is adaptive.
Core topics that may be assessed include:
- Mental arithmetic
- Four operations
- Factions, Decimals & Percentages
- Ratios
- Measures & Statistics (an ability to read graphs and tables)
Preparation for the Non-verbal Reasoning Section
This section will include multiple choice 2D Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Reasoning questions. This section may seem a bit alien from the students’ perspective as it is unlikely they will have encountered it regularly in school, if at all. Thus, familiarisation is key! Students need to be exposed to the different types of non-verbal reasoning questions to ensure they understand what is being asked of them and the best method for working out the answer. The latter is an important point to focus on; initially exposing students to a range of non-verbal reasoning question types will help to identify their strengths and areas for development. Students should then ensure they are comfortable with how to tackle those questions types they initially struggled with.
Topics that could be assessed include:
2D Non-Verbal Reasoning:
- Codes
- Matrices
- Sequences
- Similarities
- Transformations
Spatial Reasoning:
- Block Counting
- Combining Shapes
- Fold & Punch
- Folding Cubes
- Hidden Shapes
- Shape Completion
- Spinning Shapes
- Rotation
Preparation for the English Comprehension and Verbal Reasoning Section
A strong vocabulary is key! As with all verbal reasonin