is one of the top state secondary schools in the United Kingdom. Based in Barnet in North London, Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 is a selective day school with academy status, and it accepts boys from Year 7 to Year 12.
Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 is well known for high academic achievement, with students historically performing exceptionally well at GCSEs and A Levels. Most recently, 98% of students achieved A* to B grades at A level, with 62% of students receiving offers from QS World Top 10 universities; 28% of the year group also obtained offers from Oxbridge, which is very high.
Along with the school鈥檚 academic prowess, Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 School has a great reputation for extra-curricular activities. Clubs and societies range from chess to politics, with boys encouraged to establish new societies if there is an interest. The school has a 23-acre site, with facilities including expansive sports fields and a swimming pool. They recently opened a new theatre called 鈥楾he Robert Dudley Studio鈥�, as well as a new complex for music, containing a purpose-built performance venue called 鈥楾he Friends Recital Hall鈥� and various practice spaces and recording studios.
Entry Points
Unlike many other schools, there is one formal entry point at Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 School, which is at the 11+ stage. There is no external entry point for students in the Sixth Form, though places do sometimes open up between Years 7 to 11, at which point the school has its own process through which it offers places to new students.
The 11+ typically offers 180-190 places, though it is vastly oversubscribed, with over 3,600 applicants competing for these places every year.
Admissions Process for 11+ Entry
Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 School makes offers to students based on their performance during their 11+ test.
From the start of May until mid-July of Year 5, parents and guardians must submit an entrance test request form to the school. Boys will then sit the tests in the middle of September in Year 6.
The test contains two papers 鈥� the first on English, and the second on Mathematics. The questions are multiple-choice, meaning that a child picks one of four or five answers for each question. Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 uses for its test, which provides tests for many UK grammar schools -.
After the tests are completed, they are marked and the scores from both tests will be combined, creating a single test score for each candidate; students鈥� ages will also be taken into account. There will be a minimum standardised score of 220, which is necessary for each student to be admitted.
At the start of October, parents receive a letter confirming whether their son has met the required score and is eligible for consideration, or whether he has not met the standard.
Parents of students who have achieved the minimum score may then complete a Common Application Form to be submitted to their local authority, in which they must write the names of the schools to which they are applying in order of preference (though this order of preference will not be shared with the schools themselves). The local authority will look at your order of preference if more than one application has been successful, awarding you a place at the school which you have ranked highest.
At this point, the school offers places to the 180 applicants with the highest scores from their original tests - the lowest score gaining admission has been increasing every year due to rising competition. In the case of two or more applicants scoring the same mark, the rank order is determined by the distance from the school to the child鈥檚 home.
Example questions in the English Paper
There are many types of questions that have historically been asked in their English paper, which tests both understanding of text and overall knowledge of grammar and spelling.
Comprehension Questions
In these questions, students are asked to read a text and to answer questions based on it.
Example taken from
鈥淥ur tree house was our first care: filled with leaves and broken and torn by the wind, it looked indeed dilapidated. We worked hard, and in a few days it was again habitable. I was anxious to visit the tent, for I feared that much of our precious stores might have suffered. The damage done to Falconhurst was nothing compared to the scene that awaited us. The tent was blown to the ground, the canvas torn to rags, and the provisions soaked. We immediately spread the things that we hoped to preserve in the sun to dry.鈥�
Q: 鈥業n a few days it [the tree-house] was again habitable鈥�. What does this mean?
A: The family quickly got used to the damage to the tree-house.
B: The tree-house was quickly transformed into a luxury home.
C: The family were shortly able to live in the tree-house again.
D: The tree-house was destroyed again within a few days.
E: The tree-house quickly dried out by itself.
Q: Where had the family kept their supplies over the winter?
A: In a cellar.
B: In their tree-house.
C: In their tent.
D: In a cave.
E: Outside, in barrels
Spelling Mistakes
In these questions, students are asked to find the spelling mistake (if there is one) in a given sentence.
Example taken from
Find the group of words with the mistake
Q: The usual lull of antisipation before sports day was there.
Q: The majority of children were knowhere in sight.
Word Groups
These questions ask candidates to identify which word family a group of words belongs to.
Example taken from
Q: What type of words are the following?
Mysteriously carefully thickly adorably
A: Nouns
B: Verbs
C: Adjectives
D: Adverbs
E: Prepositions
Q: Which of these words is an adjective?
A: 鈥榯he swaying tree鈥�.
B: 鈥楬e was trailing his leg鈥�.
C: 鈥楽inging could be heard鈥�.
D: 鈥楢n object was tilting鈥�.
E: 鈥楽tanding up, he clapped his hands鈥�.
Example questions in the Mathematics Paper
The mathematics paper contains a vast range of topics, all from the KS2 curriculum.
Place Value
Example taken from
Q: In the number 836, what does the 3 stand for?
A: 3 hundreds
B: 3 ones
C: 3 thousands
D: 3 hundredths
E: 3 tens
Ordering numbers
Example taken from
Q: Put these numbers in order from the smallest to the biggest:
0.525 0.7 0.35 0.175
Percentages
Example taken from
Q: 60% of a school year decide to take Religious Studies for GCSE. If 180 students take Religious Studies, how many students are in the school year?
A: 108
B: 200
C: 240
D: 300
E: 360
Waiting List
Applicants who have achieved the minimum standard required but have not been offered a place are put on a waiting list 鈥� ranked according to their test scores. Any places that become available will be offered to those on this waiting list, which is maintained until the end of the calendar year.
If an applicant scored higher than the lowest-ranked pupil offered a place but was not allocated a place because they ranked another school above Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 on the Common Application Form, they will not be added to the waiting list.
Admission at ages other than 11+
Pupils may be admitted at a later stage than the standard entry point of Year 7, but only if a vacancy occurs, and if the pupil鈥檚 academic ability meets the minimum requirements of the school.
Appeals
Parents whose child has not been awarded a place at the school are able to appeal to an independent Appeals Panel, under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Details of appeal procedures are sent to parents upon request.
Preparation Tips for the Entrance Test for Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 School
Preparation is extremely important for admission to Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 School, especially with the school prioritising test scores so highly, whereas many grammar schools across the country tend to place more importance on other factors including proximity to the school.
Students should possess a thorough understanding of the KS2 curriculum in both English and mathematics, and should have some experience in completing past papers under timed conditions, as the occasion can be overwhelming for students, so being well-prepared is vital. 爱液视频 have provided specialist tutors for these exams for over a decade, who are experienced and can guide candidates through the entire process.
For more details on how 爱液视频 can help with preparation for the Queen Elizabeth鈥檚 School exam, feel free to call the office for a chat with one of our client managers, or contact us via our request a tutor form.