English Entrance Examination

Notes for Guidance: 11+

The Kimbolton School English 11+ Examination contains two sections. Students must answer both sections.

Section A

This is a comprehension exercise. Students will be given a passage to read. It will be a piece of children’s literature which may well be known to them if they have read widely. It will not be an obscure text. Allowing adequate reading time is advised.

The questions will test the following skills:

• Understanding
• Inference
• Explanation
• Summary
• Defining words IN CONTEXT of the passage
• Identification of devices (figurative language and other writer’s tools)
• Analysis of the effect of language and/or structure
• Evaluative responses (PEE – Point, Evidence, Explain or a similar method of literary analysis); in this question, students are required to make judgements across the whole text and support these points with evidence from the text (quotations ideally).

Section B

This is a writing exercise. Students will be given a prompt picture or pictures which they MAY choose to write about.

The paper may ask for a description or a story, which may be fictional or from their own experiences. Planning briefly is advised. Up to 25% of the marks in this section can be gained for the quality and accuracy of the writing (spelling, punctuation and grammar); the remaining 75% can be gained for the style and content of the work.

The whole exam is 50 minutes long and students are advised to spend an equal amount of time on each section, or slightly more on the comprehension.

Both sections are equally weighted in terms of marks.

Notes for Guidance: 13+

The Kimbolton School English 13+ Examination follows a similar format to 11+ and students must answer both sections.

The same skills will be tested, but the expectations would be for more developed answers, especially the analytical and evaluative tasks. The reading passage will also be more challenging and will have been written pre-1900 or in the early 20^th century.