i have been accepted by both latymer (edmonton) and mossbourne community academy,

I'd hate to reply to an old thread, yet it seems inevitable right now.
Just read that Science and Maths subjects at Latymer are extremely competitive. This is a problem - I want to study Medicine at Uni, and originally wanted to go Latymer as it is very close to my house (ended up going to a school almost an hour away - never mind that). Anyway, the question is gnawing at me - what are my chances of getting in? Entrance Exam, Grades, etc. I've read it all on the website, don't get me wrong but I wanted a point of view from someone who actually goes there.

Thanks,
J

Ahhhhhhh, I'm so so so sorry this reply is really late - tsr didn't tell me I was quoted, and was looking through this thread just now to see if I could find out where OP ended up and saw this :tongue:

So I'm going to assume you've applied (or not, as the case may be) by now, but in case someone else reads this in the future, I'll give a few of my thoughts.

Science and maths are some of the most popular subjects at Latymer - according to my geography teacher, there were a grand total of 12 people in my entire year (of 240ish people) who didn't take maths or a science to AS level (and I think he said 2 didn't take maths, science or English to AS? I can't remember, this conversation was a while ago). If we're going by pure statistics (can you tell I do A level maths? :tongue:

) the chance of a randomly selected Latymer sixth form applicant getting in would be just under 1/5, and the fact that you're going for sciences and maths does put you at a bit of a 'disadvantage' because they're really oversubscribed subjects etc. However, obviously if you have good GCSE predicted grades and are generally doing well at school, your chance is going to increase quite significantly, especially if you're genuinely interested in your subjects (so many aspiring medics are doing science A levels just to get into medicine, not because they have any interest on them), and having extra-curricular stuff would help too (Latymer is very, very big on societies).

But to be honest, there's no point in not applying - it's not like UCAS where you have a set number of choices, and applying to a uni which is a bit of a stretch means you have one less space on your form. So basically if you think you'll enjoy life at Latymer (don't apply for the sake of saying "I go to Latymer", apply because you like the school) you should definitely apply - you've got nothing to lose!

If you have applied, you'll be having your test soon - so first of all, good luck! Remember, the exam is an academic aptitude test, so it doesn't need prior knowledge of anything (everyone who applies, with all their different academic backgrounds and subject interests, sits exactly the same test). It's not like the year 7 test where most people will have done years of tutoring in preparation! There's absolutely no need to stress over it. Oh, and if you find it hard, it doesn't mean you're stupid - the test needs to differentiate between all the applicants, so it needs to separate the 'best' from the 'best' if you like (even though I have issues with using the word 'best' in this case because I think intelligence is very subjective, but that's an argument for another day). But honestly, the feedback I've heard on the test is that it wasn't anywhere near as bad as people expected.

If you haven't applied, I hope you're very happy wherever you end up... well, actually, I hope you're happy regardless of whether or not you've applied :tongue:

tl;dr sorry this is late, if you want to go to Latymer please apply and don't let the slightly scary-sounding admissions procedure put you off, best of luck! Tell me how you got on!

Reply 21

samsun12345

2

Original post by Celloberry

I've just finished doing my ASs at Latymer, so I can't tell you anything about Mossbourne, but if you want any more information on Latymer, just ask :smile:

What subjects are you planning on taking?

hi!
I just wanted to ask what your gcse grades ere as a latymer student?
I don't feel my GCSE grades are good enough :/

Reply 22

TeeEm

19

The mathematics teaching in Latymer is poor.

Reply 23

Marykatej

4

Original post by TeeEm

The mathematics teaching in Latymer is poor.

How so?

Reply 24

TeeEm

19

Original post by Marykatej

How so?

personal opinion

Reply 25

Marykatej

4

Original post by TeeEm

personal opinion

Anything in particular? I'm curious as maths is one of the courses I'm going to be studying. So is it the staff? or...

Reply 26

TeeEm

19

Original post by Marykatej

Anything in particular? I'm curious as maths is one of the courses I'm going to be studying. So is it the staff? or...

Not many good teachers...
A lot of them left, new came in, they left again (recently high staff turnover)

MOST kids have help outside the school

Reply 27

Georgiecat

13

Original post by Marykatej

Anything in particular? I'm curious as maths is one of the courses I'm going to be studying. So is it the staff? or...

I do A2 maths and I don't agree with this at all - teaching in maths has never been a real issue for me, or anyone in my class.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 28

bethanyyyy

3

Original post by Georgiecat

I do A2 maths and I don't agree with this at all - teaching in maths has never been a real issue for me, or anyone in my class.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I also think the maths department is quite good (I do A2 further maths). We seem to get people into Cambridge for maths most years as well. However I guess you have to bear in mind that they don't work for EVERYONE - our year did have a few Us last year in AS maths (though most were due to the C2 paper which was harder than normal). But tbh I don't think the Us were the Maths departments fault - some people just can't cope with the transition from GCSE to AS, and although the Maths department do offer support for those people they don't necessarily always take it...

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 29

Georgiecat

13

Original post by bethanyyyy

I also think the maths department is quite good (I do A2 further maths). We seem to get people into Cambridge for maths most years as well. However I guess you have to bear in mind that they don't work for EVERYONE - our year did have a few Us last year in AS maths (though most were due to the C2 paper which was harder than normal). But tbh I don't think the Us were the Maths departments fault - some people just can't cope with the transition from GCSE to AS, and although the Maths department do offer support for those people they don't necessarily always take it...

Posted from TSR Mobile

Original post by Marykatej

Anything in particular? I'm curious as maths is one of the courses I'm going to be studying. So is it the staff? or...

Original post by TeeEm

Not many good teachers...
A lot of them left, new came in, they left again (recently high staff turnover)

MOST kids have help outside the school

That C2 paper was disgusting. Everyone who survived it should have got an automatic A.

As bethanyyyy said, the help is there (especially at A level, which is a huge jump from GCSE), and this year things have got a lot more formalised - there are actual lunchtime catch-up sessions etc - but a lot of people fall behind (which is really easy to do because even though the teaching is usually good, there's a lot to cover so the pace can be a bit fast, especially if you do further maths) and don't take the support available.

Reply 30

Jem +

10

Original post by Georgiecat

Ahhhhhhh, I'm so so so sorry this reply is really late - tsr didn't tell me I was quoted, and was looking through this thread just now to see if I could find out where OP ended up and saw this :tongue:

So I'm going to assume you've applied (or not, as the case may be) by now, but in case someone else reads this in the future, I'll give a few of my thoughts.

Science and maths are some of the most popular subjects at Latymer - according to my geography teacher, there were a grand total of 12 people in my entire year (of 240ish people) who didn't take maths or a science to AS level (and I think he said 2 didn't take maths, science or English to AS? I can't remember, this conversation was a while ago). If we're going by pure statistics (can you tell I do A level maths? :tongue:

) the chance of a randomly selected Latymer sixth form applicant getting in would be just under 1/5, and the fact that you're going for sciences and maths does put you at a bit of a 'disadvantage' because they're really oversubscribed subjects etc. However, obviously if you have good GCSE predicted grades and are generally doing well at school, your chance is going to increase quite significantly, especially if you're genuinely interested in your subjects (so many aspiring medics are doing science A levels just to get into medicine, not because they have any interest on them), and having extra-curricular stuff would help too (Latymer is very, very big on societies).

But to be honest, there's no point in not applying - it's not like UCAS where you have a set number of choices, and applying to a uni which is a bit of a stretch means you have one less space on your form. So basically if you think you'll enjoy life at Latymer (don't apply for the sake of saying "I go to Latymer", apply because you like the school) you should definitely apply - you've got nothing to lose!

If you have applied, you'll be having your test soon - so first of all, good luck! Remember, the exam is an academic aptitude test, so it doesn't need prior knowledge of anything (everyone who applies, with all their different academic backgrounds and subject interests, sits exactly the same test). It's not like the year 7 test where most people will have done years of tutoring in preparation! There's absolutely no need to stress over it. Oh, and if you find it hard, it doesn't mean you're stupid - the test needs to differentiate between all the applicants, so it needs to separate the 'best' from the 'best' if you like (even though I have issues with using the word 'best' in this case because I think intelligence is very subjective, but that's an argument for another day). But honestly, the feedback I've heard on the test is that it wasn't anywhere near as bad as people expected.

If you haven't applied, I hope you're very happy wherever you end up... well, actually, I hope you're happy regardless of whether or not you've applied :tongue:

tl;dr sorry this is late, if you want to go to Latymer please apply and don't let the slightly scary-sounding admissions procedure put you off, best of luck! Tell me how you got on!

I haven't checked on TSR for a while, I apologise sincerely.
Just like to say thank you for your thoughtful response :^_^:

I haven't applied - I'll be applying for 2016 entry (I'm in Year 10 :rolleyes:

).
I remember not revising for the Year 7 tests at all (and apparently you can't revise for those, yet half the people I knew who were applying all had tutors of some sort). Regardless, I did not prioritise Latymer on my application, and so ended up at a different school.
Around 18 people ish applied from my current school last year, and only 3 were offered a place (2 accepted, the other went to a different school). That coincides with the statistics on the Latymer website - if I'm correct 70/400 people started Latymer last year, which is around 17.5% of applicants, similar to the 16.6% from my school. Anyways, they were telling me how difficult the exam was and that I was unlikely to get a place. :/ pretty harsh, but I didn't let it get to me. I just want to ask for any advice you can offer for the exams - I know theres Non-Verbal/Verbal and Quantitative (which I've been told the latter is the most difficult). I know theres no secret formula to gain entry into Latymer, but I really want to get in (purely because it is so close to my house, and the school is excellent).

Reply 31

Georgiecat

13

Original post by Jem +

I haven't checked on TSR for a while, I apologise sincerely.
Just like to say thank you for your thoughtful response :^_^:

I haven't applied - I'll be applying for 2016 entry (I'm in Year 10 :rolleyes:

).
I remember not revising for the Year 7 tests at all (and apparently you can't revise for those, yet half the people I knew who were applying all had tutors of some sort). Regardless, I did not prioritise Latymer on my application, and so ended up at a different school.
Around 18 people ish applied from my current school last year, and only 3 were offered a place (2 accepted, the other went to a different school). That coincides with the statistics on the Latymer website - if I'm correct 70/400 people started Latymer last year, which is around 17.5% of applicants, similar to the 16.6% from my school. Anyways, they were telling me how difficult the exam was and that I was unlikely to get a place. :/ pretty harsh, but I didn't let it get to me. I just want to ask for any advice you can offer for the exams - I know theres Non-Verbal/Verbal and Quantitative (which I've been told the latter is the most difficult). I know theres no secret formula to gain entry into Latymer, but I really want to get in (purely because it is so close to my house, and the school is excellent).

I joined in year 7, so I didn't do the actual sixth form tests, but as I understand it, even though the year 7 tests theoretically don't need any revision, more or less everyone who got a place in year 7 was tutored (including myself) and to be in with a realistic chance of getting in, you do need tuition in some shape or form. In year 12, the tests are different - because everyone wants to do different subjects, the tests need to be a general test of academic intelligence, as opposed to the very maths-and-English based year 7 tests, so there is really, genuinely very little revision you can do for the year 12 tests. But going by the advice of my tutor for the year 7 tests, don't let one question bog you down (i.e. if you can't work something out and it's taking too long, move on) and jot (make notes, don't try to work everything out in your head). Of course, again, I've only done the year 7 tests, and this is just speculation based on what I've heard from people in my year, so don't take this as gospel! Good luck!