Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, 13 Plus (13+) Entrance Pretest Exam Information
Table of Contents
Introduction
Merchant Taylors’ School (MTS) is an independent day school for boys. Founded in 1561, it moved to its current premises in 1933 and occupies 285 acres of land at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire.
In Year 9, pupils study art and design, biology, chemistry, computing, design technology, economics, English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Latin, geography, government and politics, history, mathematics, music, physics, PE, Psychology, RS, Theatre Studies and the Extended Project Qualification. Lessons in RE, PSHCE and PE are also compulsory.
The school offers a huge range of overseas trips every year, including visits to China, Cuba, Vietnam, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, New York, California, Florida, the Atlas Mountains, the Red Sea, Mozambique and Peru.
The school’s motto is Concordia parvae res crescunt (Small things grow in harmony). In line with this, MTS provides a holistic education and invests in the academic and mental development of all its students. MTS is, above all, a happy school, set in grounds of great beauty, where talents and ambitions are nourished within an extensive pastoral care program.
Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, 13 Plus (13+) Exam Information
Address: Sandy Lodge, Northwood, Middlesex, HA6 2HT
County: Middlesex
Admissions info: admissions@mtsn.org.uk or +44 (0)1923 845514
School Type: Independent boarding and day school for boys
Number of Students: 1100 (approx.)
Open day: September and May
13+ Exam Date: January of Year 6
13+ Exam Type / Board: School’s own
Open Events for Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, 13 Plus (13+) Entry
The school’s Open Mornings are held each year in September and May. To book a place, please fill in the booking form available on the school’s website. You may also book a private tour with a senior boy on a school day. For more information, please visit the school’s website.
Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, 13 Plus (13+) Admissions
Following the visit to the school, you may wish to proceed to register your son. Boys must be registered by the end of June, when they are in Year 5 at their current school. This can be done online via a form available on the school’s website.
MTS will then request your son’s Head Teacher’s confidential reference. He will then be invited for a thirty-minute interview with a senior member of staff which will take place in September/October of Year 6. The interview will assess four areas: communication, intellectual curiosity, reasoning and extra-curricular commitment.
In November, following the interview, you will receive in writing one of three possible outcomes:
- offer conditional on a satisfactory performance in the 11+ examinations
- offer conditional on passing the 11+ examinations at grade C or above
- No offer
A deposit of £1,050 needs to be paid, returnable in the event of the examinations not being passed.
The Entrance Examinations will take place in early January when your son is in Year 6. Following the examinations, in mid-February, you will receive a letter containing an unconditional offer of a place in Year 9, an offer of a place on the waiting list or no offer.
Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, 13 Plus (13+) Scholarships and Bursaries
The school offers Academic and All-rounder scholarships, along with Subject Scholarships in Art, Drama, DT, Music and Sport.
For 13+ entry, the school gives out up to 5 major academic scholarships, each valued at a minimum of 10% of the school fees, up to 12 minor academic scholarships with a maximum value of 10% of the school fees and up to 2 all-rounder scholarships, each with the value of at least 10% of the school fees.
For more information about scholarships, please visit the school’s website.
Bursaries help parents/guardians with financial difficulties and cover up to 100% of the fees. All bursaries are means-tested. You will be expected to fill in a confidential means-testing application form and pay an administration fee of £100. The fee is fully refundable if there is an actual and proven need for financial assistance, regardless of whether a place is offered.
An external agency will process the application and you will receive a home visit. The deadline for applying for a bursary is in September of the year before entry.
You will need to provide the following information:
- Income
- Outgoings
- Capital Assets
- Capital Liabilities
- Net Assets
For more information about bursaries, please visit the school’s website.
Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, 13 Plus (13+) Exam Format
The Merchant Taylors’ School entrance examination consists of the following assessments:
- English (60 mins)
- Maths (60 mins)
- General Paper
The English paper examines both comprehension and writing skills, including inference, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. The maths exam assesses your son’s problem-solving abilities and arithmetic skills.
The General paper tests a variety of topics and is likely to include some Verbal Reasoning, amongst other topics such as problem solving, ethics and linguistics.
Please see below for further details and recommendations on how to prepare for the Merchant Taylors’ School 13+ entrance examinations.
How to Prepare for the Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, 13 Plus (13+) Exam
One of the best ways to prepare for a competitive entrance exam is to use our practice tests. Getting to know the types of questions and the format of the actual exam will help boost your son’s confidence.
Aside from becoming familiarised with the exam format, our practice tests will ensure that your son responds to the questions in an efficient and effective manner.
They also provide an excellent opportunity for your son to practise working under time pressure. Whilst doing the tests under timed conditions, children can get used to answering questions quickly, with a close attention to detail.
Our practice tests are thoroughly researched and up to date. They are designed to reflect the demands of a competitive entrance exam and are successfully used by tens of thousands of students every year.
They are available for immediate download, print and use after purchase. Please see below our recommended packs to help prepare your son for the Merchant Taylors’ School 13+ entrance exam.
Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, 13 Plus (13+) Exam Practice Papers
Recommendations for various sections of the Merchant Taylors’ School 13 Plus exam can be found below. We suggest using our 11+ range as the school uses 11+ papers for both Year 7 (11+) and Year 9 (13+) entry:
English
We highly recommend the following packs to prepare successfully for Merchant Taylors’ School’s 13+ 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
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 Merchant Taylors’ School’s 13+ maths test:
Full Practice Tests
Skill Specific Practice
11+ Fractions, Decimals & Percentages
11+ Reflection, Rotation & Symmetry
General Paper
Practice Tests
The General Paper will cover a wide variety of topics. It is likely that there will be some form of Linguistics and Verbal Reasoning tested. The following packs will help prepare for these elements of the paper:
Skill specific practice
The following topic specific packs will help your child prepare for the various question types that could come up in the Merchant Taylors’ School General Paper:
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Anagrams
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Analogies
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Compound Words
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Embedded Words
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Form a Word
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Insert a Letter
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Letter Analogies
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Letter Calculations
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Letter Codes
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Letter Sequences
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Move a Letter
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Number Analogies
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Number Calculations
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Number Sequences
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Shuffled Sentences
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Synonyms
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Completion
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Match
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Opposites
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Pairs
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Puzzles
11+ Verbal Reasoning: Word Relationships
Interviews
11+ Interviews – The Complete Guide
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If you are interested in the 11+ entry route, please click here to learn more.
Our practice tests aim to show what sort of questions were included in Merchant Taylors’ School 13+ past papers. The information provided about Merchant Taylors’ School 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.
