Medway 11 Plus (11+) Test Grammar Schools
Grammar schools in Medway use an 11 Plus exam called the Medway Test. These grammar schools include:
- Chatham Grammar School (girls)
- Fort Pitt Grammar School (girls)
- Holcombe Grammar School (boys)
- Rainham Mark Grammar School (mixed)
- Rochester Grammar School (girls)
- Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School (boys)
2025 Predicted Entry Dates for the Medway 11 plus (11+) Test
These dates should help give you an idea of their dates for 2025 entry.
Registration for the Test has already closed on 30 June 2023. Medway primary school students will have taken the Test at their school on 12 or 13 September 2023. All other students will have taken the Test at a local test centre on 16 or 17 September 2023. Results were delivered on 3 October 2023, and the CAF application form must be submitted by 31 October 2023, naming the school. Offers will be sent out on 1 March 2024.
How to register for the Medway 11 plus (11+) Test
You must register your child for the Medway 11 Plus Test through an admissions portal on the school’s website. You will need to create an account, which will be confirmed with a verification email, or log in if you already have an account. Once in the admissions portal, you will need to enter your child’s details, including any special requirements they may need for the Test, select which year of entry you are applying for, review registration details, submit, and then wait for a confirmation email to confirm your child has been successfully registered for the Medway Test.
If you require any further help, get in contact with the admissions team via the following email address: [email protected]
Medway 11 plus (11+) Test Content
The Test is made up of three papers testing:
- Extended writing (40 minutes) – writing task
- Maths and non-verbal reasoning (1 hour) – multiple-choice
- Verbal reasoning (1 hour) – multiple-choice
The exam may be held over two days, with day 1 being the extended writing task and day 2 being the two multiple-choice papers. If the exam is held on the same day, there will be a break between papers.
This article will focus on the extended writing part of the Medway test.
Medway 11 plus (11+) Test Extended Writing Paper
Medway 11 Plus (11+) Test Writing Prompts
For the extended writing section of the Medway 11 Plus, your child will be provided with a writing prompt, which they will have to respond to.
Here are some examples of the prompts that your child may come across taken from Twydall Primary School, Medway’s familiarisation papers:
- Write the story of what happens when Alex forgets something really important.
- Your task is to write a letter to the Natural History Museum to tell them about your amazing discovery. The purpose of your letter is to describe exactly what you have seen so that it can be identified.
- Write a newsletter for next year’s Year 5 Children to take home.
- Imagine you and your family have moved home and you had to leave your school and friends behind. During this time, you decide to keep a diary to help you cope with the situation. You have to write two diary entries. The first is an entry before you leave your current house. The second after the move, once you have started your new school.
Your child will need to record their written response in a separate booklet.
How to achieve top marks in the Medway Extended Writing Exam
Areas that your child may like to try to cover to score top marks in this section of the Test are:
- Making sure their story is original – this can be shown through their ideas and the imagery and language used to convey those ideas. It is never a good idea to plagiarise others’ ideas.
- Ensuring their plot and the point of their writing is clear. Writing up an outline, perhaps in bullet points, of what they want to stay before beginning to write their response can help prevent your child from rambling and not making sense to the examiner.
- Making certain that their response relates to the question prompt. Even if your child writes a fantastic piece of writing, if it is irrelevant to the question, they will be penalised and lose marks.
- Ensuring they have perfect spelling, punctuation, and grammar per the national curriculum standards. This is why your child must always account for enough time at the end to read through their writing a few times and correct any SPAG mistakes they may have made. In preparation, go over words with your child commonly misspelt, like practice/practise and their/there, making sure they understand the correct usage.
- Incorporating advanced vocabulary and literary devices into their writing to showcase their writing mastery which will really excel them into the top result-receiving candidates. Some examples of literary devices they could employ in their writing are metaphors, motifs, onomatopoeia, oxymorons, pathetic fallacy, personification, and similies. For definitions of these literary devices, take a look at our 11+ Creative Writing Glossary.
- Making sure they structure their writing correctly. It is important to cover with your child where to use paragraph breaks and how to structure their ideas. They should know when to use a long or short sentence to elicit different effects in the reader.
Medway 11 plus (11+) Test Scoring
The Medway Test will choose the top 23% of the candidates; only another 2% are considered for a place through the review process.
The scoring process for the Medway Test is as follows: each of the three papers is scored providing raw scores; next, the scores are age-standardised so children born later in the year are not disadvantaged, then a total weighted score is calculated: (Extended writing standardised score x 2) + (maths and non-verbal reasoning standardised score x 2) + (verbal reasoning standardised score x 1), then the total weighted scores are ranked in order, and finally a pass mark is determined once everything has been marked (in 2023 the lowest weighted total score was 488).
The school also has the following oversubscription criteria: having a sibling at the school, having an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), and being a Looked After Child.
Creative Writing Course
If your child needs extra help preparing for the Medway Extended Writing Exam, consider signing them up for our creative writing course.
Creative writing experts, especially those who specialise in difficult exams such as the 11+, can provide your child with targeted advice and personalised attention. They can help to identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses whilst developing strategies for improvement.
A specialist writing tutor can ensure your child is comfortable with what is expected from them in the exam so they can feel confident in their abilities and remain calm under test pressure.
At Examberry, we have a great Creative Writing Course, designed to help your child reach their full potential in the lead-up to the 11+.
