Failed Common Entrance (CE)? Here's Your Recovery Plan

Pro tip: Because the senior school marks the papers and has usually already made a conditional offer, a weak performance normally triggers a conversation between the two heads rather than a formal resit. ISEB asks senior school heads to telephone prep school heads about concerns by the Tuesday of the week following the examination, and to send an overall report on candidate performance. A change of subject or level after the closing date is likely to cost £5 per candidate, and for summer entries such a change is processed and charged as a new single-subject registration.

• Revising towards a pass mark that does not exist
  ISEB sets no pass mark for Common Entrance. The senior school marks the scripts and sets its own grade boundaries. Ask that school what grade it wants and what percentage range that grade covers, then aim at that number.
• Registering at the wrong level and receiving the wrong papers
  Papers are despatched by registered level. Mathematics runs at Foundation, Core and Additional; English and science at Foundation and Core; French, Spanish, Latin and Classical Greek at Level 1 and Level 2; German at a single level. Confirm the registered level with the prep school before the closing date, because changes afterwards attract a £5 administrative fee per candidate and, for summer entries, a subject or level change is processed and charged as a fresh single-subject registration.
• Skipping the 10-minute mental arithmetic test in practice
  Every 13+ mathematics candidate sits the same 40-mark mental arithmetic test, whether they are entered at Foundation or Core. It is 40 marks in 10 minutes with no working time, so it rewards drilling more than any other paper in the set.
• Treating Thinking and Working as a Scientist as an extra rather than a core strand
  At least 25 percent of the marks in every CE science paper come from this strand. A candidate who has only memorised content will lose a quarter of the paper before answering a single knowledge question.
• Splitting history time evenly between the two sections
  Section A is worth 20 marks and Section B is worth 30. ISEB advises 20 to 25 minutes on the unseen evidence question and 35 to 40 minutes on the essay. Candidates who give the evidence question half the paper routinely run out of essay time.
• Attempting all three sections of the theology philosophy and religion paper
  The rubric asks for one question from any two of the three sections. Answering three questions in 60 minutes produces three thin answers instead of two developed ones, and only two can score.
• Leaving the geography fieldwork enquiry until the exam term
  The fieldwork enquiry is 40 marks and 20 percent of the geography grade, and it must involve primary data collection. Submission deadlines are 15 October for autumn, 15 January for spring and 15 March for summer, all before the written paper.
• Practising the modern language speaking test only as free conversation
  The test has three fixed parts: a role play worth 9 marks, a text-based task worth 8 and an open conversation worth 8. The examiner hands over one of three cards at random 10 minutes beforehand, and every role play contains one unpredictable task.
• Buying recent past papers directly as a parent and finding they are unavailable
  ISEB releases papers to parents, tutors and agents only one year after the session. Schools can buy them immediately. Plan around the year lag, or ask the prep school which recent papers it holds.
• Assuming the 11+ mathematics paper allows a calculator
  Calculating aids may not be used in the 11+ mathematics examination, even though candidates are expected to be familiar with calculators. Calculators are allowed in 11+ science and in the 13+ calculator and Additional mathematics papers.

• Entry to independent schools at 11+ or 13+
• Online assessment options available
• Pre-tests increasingly common before CE
• Schools set own pass marks
• Core subjects: English, Maths, Science
• Some schools use for scholarship decisions