Preparation for success

Competition to gain a place at a Grammar School has never been higher. Upwards of 1,000 children sit the Heckmondwike Grammar School entrance exam each year with only 210 places available. Places are awarded on academic ability. Children sit the test early in Year6. The top performing students are offered a place at the school. There is NO set pass rate. Living within the (very small) catchment area or having a sibling at the school gives a small advantage. Only the most academically able and well prepared children can expect to score highly enough to be offered a place at the school.

The Heckmondwike Grammar School test covers three areas: English/Verbal Reasoning; Non Verbal Reasoning and Maths.

 

To be successful in a non-verbal reasoning test a child will need to:

There are six question types used: finding the most unlike figure from a group of 5 “similar” figures; finding the diagram most alike to two or three given figures; completing a given series of 4 diagrams; completing a grid with the most suitable diagram; completing the pair when an example following the rule has been given and finally cracking codes based upon features within given diagrams.

There are numerous elements in each non-verbal reasoning question such as the outline shape, the fill, the direction of the shape. The shape may rotate, be inverted, have different layers, increase or decrease in size. Some also require basic counting skills.

 

Non-verbal reasoning requires good spatial awareness and it is a skill that some children already possess. For those who do not, it is possible to learn good technique by being highly disciplined and systematic, isolating each element of the sequence or pattern in turn, in order to rule out the options one-by-one.

For the Heckmondwike Grammar Entrance Examination all the questions given are in a multiple choice format, where five possible answer options are provided on the answer paper.