The Common Entrance exam is used by independent senior schools, particularly boarding schools, to assess the child’s level of ability. It can be taken for entry at 11+, 12+ or 13+. It is set by a central, independent examination board - the Independent Schools Examinations Board, but is marked individually by the school to which parents have applied for a place.
There is no common "pass" mark but at Top Marks we have forged relationships with many top schools to facilitate children through the academic process and attain their rightful place. We have a large selection of recent year’s entrance exams and also hold information on possible scholarships available.

Verbal & Non Verbal Reasoning are standardized assessments that test pupils' ability to solve questions by strategies. Verbal reasoning such as letter sequencing & information retention, often containing a degree of ambiguity and non verbal reasoning tests aim to see if the child can recognise similarities, analogies and patterns in unfamiliar designs and abilities.
Both tests are intended to try to ‘read the pupils intellectual skills’. The mental processes required to complete these tests demonstrates how pupils understand and assimilate new information.
The results can also be used for individual target setting when attending the desired school so Top Marks Tuition holds many Verbal & Non Verbal tests to allow the child to attain the highest set when they attend the desired school.

The personal statement is crucially important in the process of applying for a place at university, especially for the higher degrees such as medicine, business & law. The candidate has a few moments to grab the attention of the interview panel, and this statement needs to be precise, ordered and contain the right feeling for the application to turn into an interview. Some of the top universities have to reject over 4000 applicants as they only have approximately 25 places on the course, so they have to be ruthless. The A’level student often has the grades, but lacks the personal or life skills that come with maturity to enable them to succeed at interview.
This is where Top Marks can help; We can assess current students, especially A’ Level students, analyzing their personality & experience to make this short introduction to themselves flow in such a way that the universities in question will be very glad you applied.

Once a student has succeeded in the initial UCAS application to impress the admissions board, they don’t want to fail at the interview stage. They may be only one of 200 out of a total of 4-6000 that has been asked for an interview. This is a daunting but key step in acceptance to any university, as they have already informed the student that on paper they look good enough for their establishment.

Few applicants are asked to interview especially on higher-grade courses such as Business, Law and Medicine, and it is therefore vital that preparation for the interview is not taken lightly. At Top Marks we have specialist interviewers who are acutely aware of these issues as they themselves sit on several interview boards including the very testing London Medical Schools interview boards. These interview techniques do not come naturally, but we can negotiate interviewees through the highs and the very frequent pitfalls of the university interview; detailing strong points along with those they find a challenge. Another opportunity may not arise so good knowledge of expected interview techniques is absolutely paramount.