What would a school be looking for in the 7 plus exam?

There are four basic skills that the schools will use the exam to look for:

 Maths - your child will be expected to meet their current National Curriculum level. They should know their 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times tables and where to apply them. There will also be more methodical reasoning maths questions. For example this question from a past paper at a London school:

In a bag there are 20 wine gums. They are shared equally between 5 children. How many wine gums does each child have?

 Reading - reading is the biggest key skill for your child at this age. They will be expected to read out loud, discuss what they have read and talk about the topic.

 Writing - here the schools will be focusing on spelling, punctuation and grammar. If words are complex phonetically spelt words will be expected. Writing will be expected to be chronological and to flow throughout the piece. Here is an example from the London schools past paper as above:

“Write at least a side of writing on ONE of the following tasks. Either 1. Write about what happens to Sam next in the museum. Call your story: Lost in the Museum. Or 2. Write about the best school trip that you have ever been on. Call your story: My Favourite School Trip.”

 Reasoning - reasoning (especially mathematical) has a much bigger focus on the newer national curriculum. This is why many schools include verbal and non-verbal reasoning questions in their papers.