King's School, Canterbury assesses its 13+ candidates by one of two routes, depending on the school a child comes from. Prep school children sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test in Year 6 and attend an Experience Day, while children from other schools and overseas sit the King's Entrance Exams in Year 8. The two are quite different, and preparing for the wrong one is a real risk. Knowing which route applies, and what it involves, is the first step to focused preparation. This guide explains both and how to prepare.
- Prep school route
- The ISEB Common Pre-Test, autumn of Year 6
- Then
- An Experience Day at King's in February of Year 6
- Non-prep and overseas route
- The King's Entrance Exams in Year 8
- King's Entrance Exams
- An online reasoning test, written Maths and English, and an interview
- Decision
- Based on the assessment, interview and school reference
The two routes
King's assesses 13+ candidates by one of two routes, and which applies depends on a child's current school. Children at a UK prep school take the ISEB Common Pre-Test in Year 6, followed by an Experience Day at King's, with offers made on the strength of the pre-test, a prep school reference and the Experience Day. Children from non-prep schools and from overseas take the King's Entrance Exams in Year 8, which combine an online reasoning test with written Maths and English papers and an interview. Both routes lead to the same 13+ entry into Year 9, but they fall at different points and assess in different ways, so the first thing to establish is which one applies to your child. Our guide to the King's interview covers the interview that forms part of the decision.
The prep school route and the Pre-Test
For prep school children, the first stage is the ISEB Common Pre-Test, sat at the current school in the autumn term of Year 6. It is an online, adaptive, age-standardised test covering English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, taking around two and a half hours in total, with the sections lasting roughly forty minutes for English, forty for Maths, twenty-five for Verbal Reasoning and thirty for Non-Verbal Reasoning. Because it is adaptive, the questions adjust to your child's answers as they go, and because it is age-standardised, it measures your child against others of exactly the same age in months, so a summer-born child is not disadvantaged. Our dedicated guide to the ISEB Common Pre-Test covers the test in full.
The Experience Day
Prep school children who do well in the pre-test are invited to King's for an Experience Day in February of Year 6. This is not a written exam but a chance for the school to see your child in person and for your child to experience King's, taking part in activities and spending time at the school. Offers are then made in the spring of Year 6 on the basis of the pre-test, a formal reference from the prep school, and the child's time on the Experience Day. The day rewards a child who engages genuinely, joins in readily and shows curiosity, rather than one rehearsing for a test. For a child who is naturally enthusiastic and sociable, it is a chance to show qualities a written paper cannot capture.
The King's Entrance Exams
For children from non-prep schools and from overseas, the assessment is the King's Entrance Exams, taken in Year 8. These combine an online cognitive ability test, covering spatial, verbal and quantitative reasoning, with written papers in Maths and English, each lasting around forty minutes, and an interview held on the same day at King's or by video link for overseas candidates. The reasoning test measures underlying aptitude, while the written papers assess attainment in English and Maths at the level expected in Year 8, so this route rewards a child with secure subject knowledge as well as good reasoning. Offers are made in early February of Year 8 on the basis of the exam results, the interview and a reference from the current school, with significant weight placed on the school's report.
How to prepare
Because King's assesses by two different routes, preparation depends on which applies to your child. For the prep school route, the foundation is secure English and Maths built early, with wide reading and some familiarity with the online pre-test format, and then a relaxed, genuine engagement with the Experience Day rather than rehearsal. For the non-prep and overseas route, the foundation is secure English and Maths at the level expected in Year 8, with some familiarity with cognitive ability questions and practice at written papers under timed conditions, plus calm preparation for the interview. In both cases the school reference matters, so it helps for the current school to know early that King's is the goal. Throughout, aim for a genuinely able, curious child rather than a narrowly drilled one.
Give your child the best possible shot at the King's assessment
Our tutors prepare children for the right King's route, whether the Year 6 Pre-Test or the Year 8 King's Entrance Exams, with an approach that is targeted, calm and tailored to your child. Book a free diagnostic to see where they stand.
Book a free diagnosticWhat to avoid
The first thing to avoid is preparing for the wrong route, since a prep school child and a non-prep or overseas child face quite different assessments at different ages. Confirm your route early. The second is treating the prep school Experience Day as a test to be rehearsed, when it rewards genuine engagement and curiosity. The third is neglecting the school reference, which King's weighs heavily in both routes and which is far stronger when the current school has notice. Confirm your route, prepare for the right one, brief the current school early, and let your child's genuine ability show.
