7 Plus Exam Papers

A Guide to Using 7 Plus Papers

The seven plus (7+) exams are a competitive entrance exam used by an ever-growing number of top independent schools to select students for entry into year 3. While all entry points for independent schools are competitive, the 7 Plus exams in London are particularly fierce, with every place having ten applicants. It’s sensible then, to think about applying to multiple schools.

The exams usually run between November and January of year 2. Aside from testing your child’s academic ability (and potential) schools are also checking if they would be a suitable fit for the school.

Below is a guide how to use 7+ plus papers when preparing your child to sit the 7+ assessments.

The English 7 Plus Paper

The main areas tested during the English assessment are comprehension and creative writing skills.

Comprehension:

Children are required to read and understand an age-appropriate passage, which could be fiction or non-fiction and then answer questions about it.

Ask your child to read the comprehension including the instructions so they are aware of what they are being asked to do from the beginning. If they do not understand the passage, they should go back and read it for a second time. A child should be able to summarise or recap the passage clearly before they begin to answer the questions.

When answering questions, the passage should be placed beside the question sheet so they can refer to it constantly. When working through practice papers remind your child the answer is often in the passage and encourage them to scan the passage to find the exact sentence or paragraph they need. When they find the answer, they can underline the key information they are going to detract from the passage and write in their answer. They will be required to write in full sentences when supplying their answers, so ensuring they have used some key words from the question and copied this into the answer to link the answer and question together is important. I often tell children, if the question was not there and someone was marking your work, they should be able to guess what the question was asking from your answer. Writing one-word answers or starting a sentence with because will not be sufficient.

The types of questions they are likely to be asked are as follows:

• Retrieval questions. These questions require children to identify the answers directly from the text. Spellings should be accurately copied when the word is written in the passage or the question, so attention to detail is important.
• Inference Questions. These questions require children to deduce, infer or interpret information, events, or ideas from texts.
• Word meaning. These questions require children to re-read the sentence the word is situated in, and make a logical guess based on the context around the word.

As the children move through the questions, they will generally move through the passage, so the answer to question 1 will usually be at the beginning of the passage, the answer to question 2 will also be at the beginning but further on in the passage than question 1, and so forth.

If they run out of writing space on the lines provided, they can continue writing their answer underneath the last line.

Children should always look at the mark available to determine how many examples or how much detail they need to provide. If for example, they are finding a question with 1 mark particularly difficult, they should not spend too much time on it and move on. If they are running out of time, they should find questions which carry most marks and attempt them.

When there are two minutes remaining in the assessment, which schools usually advise the children, it is a good idea to check their answers and ensure correct punctuation has been added to all sentences. Handwriting should be neat, written on the line and appropriate finger spaces to ensure work is readable and presented well.

Creative Writing:

Applicants will be given approx. 30 minutes for the creative writing (composition). They will normally be given a choice of topics or themes to write about and one option tends to be in relation to the comprehension.

When writing a story of their own it is important to include a clear beginning, middle and end in paragraphs. Further is it important to use descriptive language including adjectives, adverbs, a range of sentence openers, powerful verbs, connectives, and similes.

A range of punctuation should also be used to demarcate sentences and accurate choices made to ensure sentences make sense. After they write a sentence it is good practice to go back and read it back to themselves to ensure it makes sense and no word has been missed out.

Children should have clear, logical ideas and reflective responses that are relevant to the topic. They should be able to express themselves creatively and accurately. After they have finished, or when they have two minutes remaining, they should go back and check their work to make any last-minute edits.

Examples of writing formats children should be comfortable with are story writing, poetry, informal letter, diary entry, a short news report or a short descriptive piece of writing. Whichever the format they are asked to write in, their answers should be largely descriptive through the use of (as mentioned above) adjectives, adverbs, a range of sentence openers, powerful verbs, connectives, and similes.

The 7 Plus Maths Paper:

Although it varies with each school, children will have approx. 45 minutes to complete the Maths paper. The 7 plus exam includes content from the full year 2 mathematics curriculum. Mental arithmetic is a key area tested in the exam and can be assessed verbally or as a written exam. The exam will also include multi-step worded problems, including money and change, time, arithmetic, or a combination of each. There will also be mathematical logic puzzles, that could involve number, shape, or time. They test your child’s ability to think critically and apply their knowledge to abstract questions.

The space provided beside a question should be used to show working out methods and extra marks can be awarded for this. If a question specifically asks for the written method to be shown, it is important the applicant follows the instruction.

If a question is too difficult, children should be encouraged to move on and go back to it at the end and try again when they have finished the paper. It is important to attempt as much of the paper as they can.

As this will be their first experience of formal academic tests, it’s equally important to practice timing as well exam techniques and knowledge. Therefore practicing with accurate sample papers can help to ensure that your child develops key skills in good time for the actual assessments. The practice papers also help to identify which areas your child needs to improve.

Additional (paid for papers) are available from these providers:

www.plusprepared.com

www.exampapersplus.co.uk

www.prepplus.co.uk

You can find some (free) school sample papers below:

Bancroft Prep School 7 Plus Papers

Bancroft’s Preparatory School sample maths paper

Highgate School 7 Plus Papers

Highgate school English sample paper

Highgate school maths sample paper

Magdalen College School 7 Plus Paper

King’s College School Wimbledon 7 Plus Papers

KCS English Sample 7 Plus Paper

KCS Maths Sample 7 Plus Paper

North London Collegiate School 7 Plus Papers

North London Collegiate School English sample paper

North London Collegiate School maths sample paper

The Perse School 7 Plus Papers

The Perse School Sample Paper 1

Solihull School 7 Plus Papers

Solihull School English sample paper 1

Solihull School English sample paper 2

Solihull School maths sample paper 1

Solihull School maths sample paper 2

Westminster Cathedral Choir School 7 Plus Papers

Westminster Cathedral School English 

Westminster Cathedral School Maths

Westminster Cathedral School Spelling