This article was written by Yusuf, aged 11, during the summer holiday shortly after passing the St Olave’s 11 plus exam.
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I’ll start by talking about the night before the test. Even though this test had no real meaning to me- you have to put the school as your first choice if you want to do the second stage- I couldn’t help feeling a little nervous. I brushed the feeling off, because normally it’s pre-test nerves. Unlike previous tests, I didn’t feel sick to the stomach and I wasn’t put off my appetite.
On the day of the test, I felt pretty normal. After I brushed my teeth and ate the usual- porridge, dad told me to pack my asthma pump and a clear pencil case- opaque ones aren’t allowed. I went with my dad and my uncle to the test centre, which was the school itself.
Once we were at the school, there was a very long queue. We were sorted into colours- pink, blue, yellow (the one I was in), and finally green, and we had to bring in documents. When we were finally admitted into the hall, we sat in the main hall, and I could see their trophy cabinet. It was fascinating!
The rest of the time before the test was a blur. However, I do remember the teachers giving a welcome speech.
In the test, the 4 subjects were all bundled together in one paper. In the maths paper, there were 15 questions, which included ratio, statistics, all four operations and more. This was easy, and so was the NVR (which I usually find hard). But the verbal reasoning (VR) caught me off guard. Although verbal reasoning is easy in most papers, it is usually fiddly as even though you add and subtract, you do it with letters, which is confusing. And I did complete this, though there were lots of questions that I hadn’t even practised. However, I eventually got through this, and the rest was easy.
When we were ushered out after the test, we went out on the field, and once collected, and I went home.
A few weeks later, my parents got the email to say I’d passed!
By the time the result came, I had almost forgotten about it. St Olave’s wasn’t my first choice; it was a bit too far with poor transport connections so wasn’t a realistic option for me.
Nonetheless, I am aware that passing the St Olave’s test is very difficult and this was a fantastic achievement.
That’s my story and hopefully you pass too.
Yusuf, aged 11.
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