King’s College School, Wimbledon, 13 Plus (13+) Pretest Entrance Exam Information
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Table of Contents
Introduction
King’s College School (KCS, King’s or KCS Wimbledon) is a selective independent school in Wimbledon, southwest London. Founded in 1829 as the junior department of King’s College London, KCS is often rated the top school in the UK.
In Year 9, pupils study English, mathematics, French, history, geography, Latin/ Greek, a second modern language (German, Spanish or Chinese), biology, physics, chemistry, religious studies, PE, computing, PSHE and creative subjects (chosen from Art, Music, Drama and Design & Engineering).
The wide variety of Clubs and Societies allows pupils to further engage in areas such as Art, Drama, Classics, Economics, Geography, Psychology, English Language and Literature, History, Politics, Debating, STEM, Music and Sport.
King’s College School is one of the highest academically performing UK schools historically, thus pupils leave the school with an academic profile enabling them to attend the top universities in the UK or the US. A large proportion go on to study at Oxford and Cambridge Universities (over 25% in each of the last five years).
In line with the King’s motto Sancte Et Sapienter (With Holiness and Wisdom), pupils enter adulthood with the numerous advantages gained from attending one of the world’s leading schools.
King’s College School, Wimbledon, 13 Plus (13+) Pretest Exam Information
Address: Southside, Wimbledon Common, London SW19 4TT
County: Greater London
Admissions info: admissions@kcs.org.uk or 020 8255 5352
School type: Independent day school for boys (co-educational in the sixth form)
Number of students: 850 (in the Senior School)
Open day: September
13+ Pretest Exam date: January of Year 6
13+ Pretest Exam type / Board: School’s own
Open Events for King’s College School, Wimbledon, 13 Plus (13+) Pretest Entry
KCS’s Whole School Open Morning offers you and your child an exciting opportunity to see the school via a pupil-led tour, hear a speech from the Headmaster, take part in subject-based activities and meet staff members. You don’t need to book a place for this event.
For 13+ entry, you may visit the school on certain Monday afternoons. You will have the chance to ask the Headmaster, the Head of Middle School and a fourth form boy questions about the school and what it has to offer. Booking is essential for these forum visits and it is done via Admissions.
King’s College School, Wimbledon, 13 Plus (13+) Pretest Admissions
Registration for the entrance examinations should be made by early November, when your child is in Year 6 at their current school. This can be done online, via the school’s website.
Following the registration deadline, a confidential reference from your son’s school will be requested.
The entrance examination (pre-test) takes place in December when your son is in Year 6.
Approximately ten days after the pretest you will be informed on whether or not your son will be invited for an interview. Most interviews last for 20 minutes and cover a range of topics.
Following the interview, you will receive one of the three possible responses:
- A conditional offer of a place
- An offer of a place on a waiting list
- No offer
Offers are sent out in February. Acceptance of an offer requires a deposit of £2000, which you will be expected to pay at the beginning of March.
If your son holds a conditional offer, he may take the King’s scholarship examinations in May of Year 8. This should be indicated on the application form.
You can also take the Common Entrance route. For more information about CE, please refer to the school’s website.
King’s College School, Wimbledon, 13 Plus (13+) Scholarships and Bursaries
Up to fifteen academic scholarships and exhibitions are awarded annually at KCS. The number will vary according to the quality of the candidates, who must be under 14 years of age on 1st September of the year in which they sit their examinations, and already hold a conditional offer of a place for Year 9 entry in the following September. King’s also awards scholarships and exhibitions in Art, Drama, Music and Sport to boys with a conditional offer of a place.
Major scholarships are worth £400 per annum and scholarships are worth £200 per annum. Subject awards are available in English, Mathematics, Science, French, Classics, Geography and History. They are honorary and may be awarded only if your child secured a place through the scholarship route. For more information, please visit the school’s website.
King’s College School, Wimbledon, 13 Plus (13+) Pretest Exam Format
The King’s College School 13+ Pretest entrance assessment consists of the following papers:
- English
- Maths
- Verbal Reasoning
The English paper examines comprehension and writing skills, including inference, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. The maths exam assesses your son’s problem-solving abilities and arithmetic skills.
The Verbal Reasoning paper is primarily designed to test and assess your son’s logical thinking, use of English language and vocabulary. Please see below for further details and recommendations on how to prepare for the King’s College School 13+ entrance examinations.
How to Prepare for the King’s College School, Wimbledon 13 Plus (13+) Pretest Exam
Practice tests are an effective tool for preparation for King’s College School’s 13+ exam. With the help of our practice tests, designed and formatted to match the actual exams, your child will learn to deal with various 13+ exam question types quickly and confidently.
The benefits for your child are numerous: the tests provide focused practice and familiarity with a wide variety of possibilities and examples, serving as an indicator of any weaker areas that require additional work ahead of the exam. We suggest starting early with your revision so that you have plenty of time to identify subject areas that need additional work.
Our practice tests are used successfully every year by tens of thousands of students targeting schools with a competitive entrance exam. They are age-appropriate, reflecting the demands of the actual exam.
The practice tests are challenging, and preparing for the 13 Plus can sometimes feel overwhelming. But once a carefully thought-out revision plan is implemented, students should find the process a lot more manageable.
Aside from getting used to answering the types of questions that may be asked on the big day, they also work on developing time-management skills, such as answering questions under pressure.
Please see below our recommended packs to help you prepare your child for the 13+ Pretest entrance exam at King’s College School.
King’s College School, Wimbledon, 13 Plus (13+) Pretest Exam Practice Papers
NOTE: The following English and Mathematics practice tests are in standard format, which means that students need to write in their own answers rather than choose from a list of multiple-choice options. This matches the 11+ Exam format used by the school.
Recommendations for various parts of the King’s College School 13 Plus Pretest exam can be found below. The exam is very similar to the King’s College Lower School 11+ exam which is taken in Year 6.
English
We strongly suggest the following packs for successful preparation ahead of King’s College School’s 13+ Pretest English paper. They will help improve your child’s comprehension skills, such as inference, and writing skills, including spelling, vocabulary and punctuation:
Comprehension
11+ Complete Comprehension Guide
Writing
✅ You can now purchase a bundle of all of our recommended 11+ resources for the King’s College School English exam at a large discount. Click the button below to learn more:
11+ English Bundle
If you’d like to have your child’s writing assessed and marked, you may be interested in our Writing Marking Service. Please click here to learn more.
Mathematics
We highly recommend the use of the following packs to help develop your child’s arithmetic and problem-solving skills within the examination context of King’s College School’s 13+ Pretest maths test:
Full Practice Tests
Skill Specific Practice
11+ Fractions, Decimals & Percentages
11+ Reflection, Rotation & Symmetry
✅ You can now purchase a bundle of all of our recommended 11+ resources for the King’s College School Mathematics exam at a large discount. Click the button below to learn more:
11+ Mathematics Bundle
Verbal Reasoning
Practice Tests
To further develop your child’s Verbal Reasoning abilities ahead of King’s College School’s 13+ Pretest entrance examination, we suggest that you make use of the following packs that cover all of the key question types:
Skill Specific Practice
The following topic specific packs will help your child prepare for the various question types that could come up in the King’s College School Verbal Reasoning exam:
Masterclasses
11+ Verbal Reasoning Masterclass
✅ You can now purchase a bundle of all of our recommended 11+ resources for the King’s College School Verbal Reasoning exam at a large discount. Click the button below to learn more:
11+ Verbal Reasoning Bundle
Interviews
11+ Interviews – The Complete Guide
Get 10% off orders over £70 and 20% off orders over £250. Use the code eppdiscount at checkout.
Our practice tests aim to show what sort of questions were included in King’s College School, Wimbledon 13+ entry past papers. The information provided about King’s College School, Wimbledon was believed to be correct at the time of publishing. However, please be aware of future changes. We advise you to contact the school directly if you are unsure of anything. School contact details are provided within the post.
Other entry points for King’s College School, Wimbledon:
Click here to learn about Year 3 entry via the 7 Plus (7+) Exam
Click here to learn about Year 4 entry via the 8 Plus (8+) Exam
Click here to learn about Year 5 entry via the 9 Plus (9+) Exam
Click here to learn about Year 6 entry via the 10 Plus (10+) Exam
Click here to learn about Year 7 entry via the 11 Plus (11+) Exam
Click here to learn about Year 12 entry via the 16 Plus (16+) Exam
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