How to get into Westminster School 16+ (AMA)

Great Post! Did you have to take the TSA at any stage? Looked on some general exam prep websites and they said that you take the TSA with the subject exams but you didn't mention anything about that..

Hey You're right I am planning on taking medicine and it seems Westminster has a table of A-Level choices you can take. Following that table, I'll have to take Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths out of which personally I am very comfortable with Bio and Chemistry and after reading the advice above by you and anon13 I'm quite good at Maths as well. (I honestly thought that the maths would be very hard and was thus a bit unsure about it)

I go to Tiiffin Girls School btw and I've been trying to take part in as many science and maths-related clubs and competitions as possible. CREST awards, Top-of-the-bench Challenge, Biology/Physics/Maths Chanllenges to name some. If there's any other competitions you have in mind I would love to know more about them as well. I love taking part in such things.

Also, can I please ask you to send the link to the prospectus you are speaking about, I have been trying to find it bit im not sure what I have got is the right one.

Thank you so much for this advice. Its really hard to get in touch with someone whose been accepted and are so willing to share the knowledge. I hope things at your end are going well

My year didn't do the TSA but I've heard they're doing it this year. I think they also did it in past years.

I did something similar for other schools and the way to prepare is just looking up "Oxford TSA past papers" and practicing them all. I did a few practice papers. I think the first one I did was the 2010 one and I got a 60.8 TSA score (33 raw) which is a little above average but I did some more under timed conditions and was getting 80+. According to sources online, if you get 70+ that's a competitive score and you would get an interview at Oxford. Keep practising them until you are in mid to high 70s.

Cheers.

Just for clarity, are you speaking about the thinking skills assessment for Westminster? and is it similar to the Oxford TSA past papers?

About:

This is a small post for future generations planning to apply for Westminster School for sixth form (16+ entrance exam). I'm writing this because when I applied it was difficult to find the correct information and it was often quite scattered. BTW this is mostly centred around STEM subjects. Here is a thread for people applying for classics at Westminster where you can discuss things and find help: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7219969

Context:

At the time of writing, I'm currently in year 11 and have finished all my sixth form (16+) entrance exams and interviews. I got offers from a number of schools including St Paul's School and Westminster School. In the end, I took the offer from St Paul's and rejected my offer from Westminster as they don't offer scholarships to boys at 16+ and don't give bursaries out to people living out of the M25 area and thus I simply could not afford the fees without my family going bankrupt . If I did have the money, I probably would have chosen Westminster since St Pauls is an all-boys school xd. Though, I'd definitely say St Pauls is superior in terms of STEM by a fair amount . You should take many things into consideration when choosing whose offer you'd accept.

In terms of revision, I did none. I had mocks and math olympiads at the time and I didn't really understand how I was meant to revise for something like this, and frankly, I couldn't really be bothered considering I thought the difficulty was very very hard (it's easier than people think ig, especially for girls for a number of reasons including the fact that there are a lot more spaces) and even if I did get an offer I knew I wouldn't go . I'll talk more about preparation later...

I applied for Maths, Further Maths, Physics, and Economics which is apparently one of the most common choices of subjects, if not the most.


Disclaimer:
The process changed the year I sat it (2021 applying for entry in 2022) so I wouldn't be surprised if they change it again. Also, make sure to note that I do not attend Westminster School and I never have and so don't ask me questions that only a current student would know.

Process:

First I'll talk about the exams. I had five papers: the personal statement, the maths paper, the further maths paper, and the economics paper. There were between 800 and 1000 people in the exam hall. The line was massive and it took ages to get in.

The personal statement had four questions. I can't remember the questions exactly but they went along the lines of:

1) Why do you want to study at Westminster?
2) What extracurriculars do you do and what can you do for the school?
3) What do you think is a problem that society will face?
4) Write a tweet about your day to day life (or something like how people would describe you).

The first two questions are obviously standard and thus relatively straightforward to answer. When asked "Why Westminster?" don't reply with generic information like "It is very academic" because a) they already know and have heard that many times and b) there are many other schools which are very academic. Tell them something specific about the school that applies to you. For example, talk about a certain club/society they have that interests you. Talk about why you want to move in the first place and think of a genuinely good reason (even if there isn't one). For inspiration, the reason I applied to all these top schools is because my school is in the bottom 3% and I knew that I could propel myself forward if I had the chance to go to a school like Westminster. Obviously your circumstances might be different. Try to get extracurriculars and remember to talk about how they have helped you and what your plan for the future is with them.

The next two questions were interesting and were obviously trying to get an insight into your personality. Question three is pretty unpreparable unless you generally have a good general knowledge about things. Don't talk about something generic like "climate change" because you can not get more boring than that. Try to be creative and show off your intelligence. I wrote about the "Universe 25" experiment and overpopulation which I feel like basically no one would have written about which probably made me stand out. There are aprox 1000 people, why are you special? Question four wanted to know about what you do in day to day life. I kept it simple and just talked about what stuff I like doing in terms of academics and sport. I talked about the books I read and what I like to do when I'm not studying such as playing badminton.

The maths paper had 50 questions and were all multiple choice non-calc. It was based off the gcse syllabus and had problem solving mixed it. I'm pretty sure I got 49/50 as I accidentally rubbed out Q50 right at the end and ran out of time when I was trying to change Q49 (because I thought I had put the wrong answer down for Q49). I think generally doing UKMT stuff will suffice. As I said, I didn't prepare at all but I do a lot of math anyway. After speaking to others, there were a few who had also answered all the questions but a lot had run out of time.

The further maths paper had 8 questions which were a lot longer and tedious and it was non-calc. I answered all the questions and I'm pretty sure I got them all correct. After talking to other people, I realised that others had found it very difficult and couldn't answer many of them. These questions only required GCSE knowledge. It was a lot more problem solving though. I guess doing olympiads would help a lot. Side note: I think this was the first year they had a separate paper for further maths.

I found the physics paper quite difficult. It was like a gcse paper but it was also problem solving. There were multiple choice questions at the start and then long answer questions later. I'm not really good at physics but I was relieved to hear that others found it difficult. Apparently the chemistry paper was insanely difficult according to like everyone I spoke to. My advice would be to prepare for sciences a lot and do stuff like the intermediate physics challenge.

The economics paper started with some short answer questions. They didn't expect any knowledge but I had read an economics text book in year 9 before and it helped me. The first question told you about a concept known as "opportunity cost" and you had to apply it to some scenarios. There was also some graph interpreting questions. The short answer questions just required careful thinking. There was a long essay question on Covid Passports. It was basically asking you to analyse the effects of the introduction of Covid Passports. I think knowing about current affairs would have helped. If you study geography, you are at an advantage.

Now I'll take about the interviews. I think about 140 girls were invited for the interviews and about 20 boys but I'm not entirely sure. I had four interviews: a general interview, a maths interview, a physics interview, and an economics interview.

The general interview was asking questions trying to further understand me and my personality. One thing they asked me what books I had currently been reading. I immediately answered with a maths books and an economics book and I continued to talk about things I had learnt from them and how it was useful. You want to come off as academic and interested and passionate. They asked my why I wanted to move in the first place. They also asked me if I would accept their offer if they gave it to me which I thought was extremely strange. I said yes but I knew that I wasn't going to.

The physics interview was strange because my interviewer asked me what was my favourite topic and then asked me questions based on it. I said electricity was my favourite and the questions he asked me where quite basic. He just tested knowledge of series and parallel circuits as well as formulae etc. He also asked me about an experiment in class that I had done recently and what the independent, dependant, and control variables were. I was expecting it be way more difficult. He didn't ask questions like why I wanted to study physics but he did ask me what I wanted to be when I was older.

The economics interview was quite fun actually. He asked me why I wanted to study economics in the first place and I told him about the problem of 'infinite wants but finite resources' which he seemed impressed by. Remember to sound passionate. He also asked me some general economics question testing stuff like why we have prices on things. It's hard to explain but he asked questions on simple concepts in a confusing and more fundamental way. Then he asked me a game theory question based on the show 'Golden Balls' and it was quite simple if you worked out average winnings.

In the maths interviews, I thought they would give me questions on Q50 of the maths test which I got wrong. I was correct. I answered 4 or 5 questions (which I'm pretty sure is more than expected for someone who gets an offer) and then got onto this longer one where I made a lot of progress but ran out of time. From what other people have said, getting 3 questions is great. I asked one of the other boys who were at the interviews and I think he said he got 4 questions done. The maths interviewer didn't ask me any questions like why I wanted to study maths, it was just me solving the questions he gave me. I'd definitely try to do the questions as quick as you can - as I didn't expect their interviews to be so short and rubbish - and thus you can show off more.

Conclusion:

I went in thinking that it would be a lot harder than it was considering there would be a ton of kids from the top schools in the country, and a lot of international students. It was daunting, however, it turned out fine.

- Remember to revise (don't be like me).
- Always be interesting and unique and different in essentially all aspects.
- Try have good general knowledge
- Be passionate and ambitious
- Have extracurriculars like sport
- Read books (honestly I read few but still managed to famoose them)

Hopefully this is useful. Let me know if you have any questions. I also applied to a lot of other schools including:

- St Paul's school
- Brighton College
- Marlborough College
- Millfield School
- Harrow School

Let me know if you want posts on them or any advice and if people who have been through the process of applying to top schools could write advice and their experience in this thread then that would be great.

Useful links:

Here is the old Westminster School thread for entrance in 2022:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6804410
Here is the old Westminster School thread for entrance in 2021:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6503450
Here is a Westminster 2023 16+ entrance for classics thread:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7219969
Some info about extra+super curriculars from my view:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97225498&page=3&highlight=#post97225498
Westminster School website:
- https://www.westminster.org.uk/
Useful Youtube videos on getting into Westminster:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtmWYjTDKRs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTXelMICWXY
Westminster School Youtube Channel:
- https://www.youtube.com/user/WestminsterSchoolUK

Some info for SPGS:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97156874&page=2#post97156874
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97205462&page=2&highlight=#post97205462

Some info for SPS:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97133472&page=2&highlight=#post97133472

My goal with this post and giving out advice is to make it easier for students so please if people have advice and useful information then write a post under this thread.

Ask me anything and good luck.

P.S. You can contact me directly by adding me on ig @prince0.k, just send a message and lmk what I can help you with.

(Like the post for extra good luck and because I spent ages writing it )

Hi! I was just wondering if you could give a bit more info on the maths and physics papers? How would you prepare for them? Should you learn the whole gcse spec before - would the be beneficial? thanks!

About:

This is a small post for future generations planning to apply for Westminster School for sixth form (16+ entrance exam). I'm writing this because when I applied it was difficult to find the correct information and it was often quite scattered. BTW this is mostly centred around STEM subjects. Here is a thread for people applying for classics at Westminster where you can discuss things and find help: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7219969

Context:

At the time of writing, I'm currently in year 11 and have finished all my sixth form (16+) entrance exams and interviews. I got offers from a number of schools including St Paul's School and Westminster School. In the end, I took the offer from St Paul's and rejected my offer from Westminster as they don't offer scholarships to boys at 16+ and don't give bursaries out to people living out of the M25 area and thus I simply could not afford the fees without my family going bankrupt . If I did have the money, I probably would have chosen Westminster since St Pauls is an all-boys school xd. Though, I'd definitely say St Pauls is superior in terms of STEM by a fair amount . You should take many things into consideration when choosing whose offer you'd accept.

In terms of revision, I did none. I had mocks and math olympiads at the time and I didn't really understand how I was meant to revise for something like this, and frankly, I couldn't really be bothered considering I thought the difficulty was very very hard (it's easier than people think ig, especially for girls for a number of reasons including the fact that there are a lot more spaces) and even if I did get an offer I knew I wouldn't go . I'll talk more about preparation later...

I applied for Maths, Further Maths, Physics, and Economics which is apparently one of the most common choices of subjects, if not the most.


Disclaimer:
The process changed the year I sat it (2021 applying for entry in 2022) so I wouldn't be surprised if they change it again. Also, make sure to note that I do not attend Westminster School and I never have and so don't ask me questions that only a current student would know.

Process:

First I'll talk about the exams. I had five papers: the personal statement, the maths paper, the further maths paper, and the economics paper. There were between 800 and 1000 people in the exam hall. The line was massive and it took ages to get in.

The personal statement had four questions. I can't remember the questions exactly but they went along the lines of:

1) Why do you want to study at Westminster?
2) What extracurriculars do you do and what can you do for the school?
3) What do you think is a problem that society will face?
4) Write a tweet about your day to day life (or something like how people would describe you).

The first two questions are obviously standard and thus relatively straightforward to answer. When asked "Why Westminster?" don't reply with generic information like "It is very academic" because a) they already know and have heard that many times and b) there are many other schools which are very academic. Tell them something specific about the school that applies to you. For example, talk about a certain club/society they have that interests you. Talk about why you want to move in the first place and think of a genuinely good reason (even if there isn't one). For inspiration, the reason I applied to all these top schools is because my school is in the bottom 3% and I knew that I could propel myself forward if I had the chance to go to a school like Westminster. Obviously your circumstances might be different. Try to get extracurriculars and remember to talk about how they have helped you and what your plan for the future is with them.

The next two questions were interesting and were obviously trying to get an insight into your personality. Question three is pretty unpreparable unless you generally have a good general knowledge about things. Don't talk about something generic like "climate change" because you can not get more boring than that. Try to be creative and show off your intelligence. I wrote about the "Universe 25" experiment and overpopulation which I feel like basically no one would have written about which probably made me stand out. There are aprox 1000 people, why are you special? Question four wanted to know about what you do in day to day life. I kept it simple and just talked about what stuff I like doing in terms of academics and sport. I talked about the books I read and what I like to do when I'm not studying such as playing badminton.

The maths paper had 50 questions and were all multiple choice non-calc. It was based off the gcse syllabus and had problem solving mixed it. I'm pretty sure I got 49/50 as I accidentally rubbed out Q50 right at the end and ran out of time when I was trying to change Q49 (because I thought I had put the wrong answer down for Q49). I think generally doing UKMT stuff will suffice. As I said, I didn't prepare at all but I do a lot of math anyway. After speaking to others, there were a few who had also answered all the questions but a lot had run out of time.

The further maths paper had 8 questions which were a lot longer and tedious and it was non-calc. I answered all the questions and I'm pretty sure I got them all correct. After talking to other people, I realised that others had found it very difficult and couldn't answer many of them. These questions only required GCSE knowledge. It was a lot more problem solving though. I guess doing olympiads would help a lot. Side note: I think this was the first year they had a separate paper for further maths.

I found the physics paper quite difficult. It was like a gcse paper but it was also problem solving. There were multiple choice questions at the start and then long answer questions later. I'm not really good at physics but I was relieved to hear that others found it difficult. Apparently the chemistry paper was insanely difficult according to like everyone I spoke to. My advice would be to prepare for sciences a lot and do stuff like the intermediate physics challenge.

The economics paper started with some short answer questions. They didn't expect any knowledge but I had read an economics text book in year 9 before and it helped me. The first question told you about a concept known as "opportunity cost" and you had to apply it to some scenarios. There was also some graph interpreting questions. The short answer questions just required careful thinking. There was a long essay question on Covid Passports. It was basically asking you to analyse the effects of the introduction of Covid Passports. I think knowing about current affairs would have helped. If you study geography, you are at an advantage.

Now I'll take about the interviews. I think about 140 girls were invited for the interviews and about 20 boys but I'm not entirely sure. I had four interviews: a general interview, a maths interview, a physics interview, and an economics interview.

The general interview was asking questions trying to further understand me and my personality. One thing they asked me what books I had currently been reading. I immediately answered with a maths books and an economics book and I continued to talk about things I had learnt from them and how it was useful. You want to come off as academic and interested and passionate. They asked my why I wanted to move in the first place. They also asked me if I would accept their offer if they gave it to me which I thought was extremely strange. I said yes but I knew that I wasn't going to.

The physics interview was strange because my interviewer asked me what was my favourite topic and then asked me questions based on it. I said electricity was my favourite and the questions he asked me where quite basic. He just tested knowledge of series and parallel circuits as well as formulae etc. He also asked me about an experiment in class that I had done recently and what the independent, dependant, and control variables were. I was expecting it be way more difficult. He didn't ask questions like why I wanted to study physics but he did ask me what I wanted to be when I was older.

The economics interview was quite fun actually. He asked me why I wanted to study economics in the first place and I told him about the problem of 'infinite wants but finite resources' which he seemed impressed by. Remember to sound passionate. He also asked me some general economics question testing stuff like why we have prices on things. It's hard to explain but he asked questions on simple concepts in a confusing and more fundamental way. Then he asked me a game theory question based on the show 'Golden Balls' and it was quite simple if you worked out average winnings.

In the maths interviews, I thought they would give me questions on Q50 of the maths test which I got wrong. I was correct. I answered 4 or 5 questions (which I'm pretty sure is more than expected for someone who gets an offer) and then got onto this longer one where I made a lot of progress but ran out of time. From what other people have said, getting 3 questions is great. I asked one of the other boys who were at the interviews and I think he said he got 4 questions done. The maths interviewer didn't ask me any questions like why I wanted to study maths, it was just me solving the questions he gave me. I'd definitely try to do the questions as quick as you can - as I didn't expect their interviews to be so short and rubbish - and thus you can show off more.

Conclusion:

I went in thinking that it would be a lot harder than it was considering there would be a ton of kids from the top schools in the country, and a lot of international students. It was daunting, however, it turned out fine.

- Remember to revise (don't be like me).
- Always be interesting and unique and different in essentially all aspects.
- Try have good general knowledge
- Be passionate and ambitious
- Have extracurriculars like sport
- Read books (honestly I read few but still managed to famoose them)

Hopefully this is useful. Let me know if you have any questions. I also applied to a lot of other schools including:

- St Paul's school
- Brighton College
- Marlborough College
- Millfield School
- Harrow School

Let me know if you want posts on them or any advice and if people who have been through the process of applying to top schools could write advice and their experience in this thread then that would be great.

Useful links:

Here is the old Westminster School thread for entrance in 2022:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6804410
Here is the old Westminster School thread for entrance in 2021:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6503450
Here is a Westminster 2023 16+ entrance for classics thread:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7219969
Some info about extra+super curriculars from my view:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97225498&page=3&highlight=#post97225498
Westminster School website:
- https://www.westminster.org.uk/
Useful Youtube videos on getting into Westminster:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtmWYjTDKRs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTXelMICWXY
Westminster School Youtube Channel:
- https://www.youtube.com/user/WestminsterSchoolUK

Some info for SPGS:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97156874&page=2#post97156874
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97205462&page=2&highlight=#post97205462

Some info for SPS:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97133472&page=2&highlight=#post97133472

My goal with this post and giving out advice is to make it easier for students so please if people have advice and useful information then write a post under this thread.

Ask me anything and good luck.

P.S. You can contact me directly by adding me on ig @prince0.k, just send a message and lmk what I can help you with.

(Like the post for extra good luck and because I spent ages writing it )

Hey! I've written like 99% of all the info I can give about maths and physics on the this thread. Look through some of the posts and you'll get the info. It's kinda annoying for me to have to re-write loads of time every time someone asks, however, if you have a question that I haven't already answered then send another message

Cheers.

Thanks for the reply. I was more wondering if it was more longer type questions for physics and if learning the whole gcse spec would be useful for the physics exam? What sort of topics were tested? Thanks!

Hey! I've written like 99% of all the info I can give about maths and physics on the this thread. Look through some of the posts and you'll get the info. It's kinda annoying for me to have to re-write loads of time every time someone asks, however, if you have a question that I haven't already answered then send another message

Cheers.

Hey would you say the maths exams in 16 Westminster are akin to the Challenge? It said that in a video but just wanted to get your views. Thanks

Hey! Do you think the further maths paper for Westminster is similar to the Hamilton/Maclalurin Paper or more like BMO1 questions? Also is the maths paper closer to the IMC or SMC? Thank you.

About:

This is a small post for future generations planning to apply for Westminster School for sixth form (16+ entrance exam). I'm writing this because when I applied it was difficult to find the correct information and it was often quite scattered. BTW this is mostly centred around STEM subjects. Here is a thread for people applying for classics at Westminster where you can discuss things and find help: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7219969

Context:

At the time of writing, I'm currently in year 11 and have finished all my sixth form (16+) entrance exams and interviews. I got offers from a number of schools including St Paul's School and Westminster School. In the end, I took the offer from St Paul's and rejected my offer from Westminster as they don't offer scholarships to boys at 16+ and don't give bursaries out to people living out of the M25 area and thus I simply could not afford the fees without my family going bankrupt . If I did have the money, I probably would have chosen Westminster since St Pauls is an all-boys school xd. Though, I'd definitely say St Pauls is superior in terms of STEM by a fair amount . You should take many things into consideration when choosing whose offer you'd accept.

In terms of revision, I did none. I had mocks and math olympiads at the time and I didn't really understand how I was meant to revise for something like this, and frankly, I couldn't really be bothered considering I thought the difficulty was very very hard (it's easier than people think ig, especially for girls for a number of reasons including the fact that there are a lot more spaces) and even if I did get an offer I knew I wouldn't go . I'll talk more about preparation later...

I applied for Maths, Further Maths, Physics, and Economics which is apparently one of the most common choices of subjects, if not the most.


Disclaimer:
The process changed the year I sat it (2021 applying for entry in 2022) so I wouldn't be surprised if they change it again. Also, make sure to note that I do not attend Westminster School and I never have and so don't ask me questions that only a current student would know.

Process:

First I'll talk about the exams. I had five papers: the personal statement, the maths paper, the further maths paper, and the economics paper. There were between 800 and 1000 people in the exam hall. The line was massive and it took ages to get in.

The personal statement had four questions. I can't remember the questions exactly but they went along the lines of:

1) Why do you want to study at Westminster?
2) What extracurriculars do you do and what can you do for the school?
3) What do you think is a problem that society will face?
4) Write a tweet about your day to day life (or something like how people would describe you).

The first two questions are obviously standard and thus relatively straightforward to answer. When asked "Why Westminster?" don't reply with generic information like "It is very academic" because a) they already know and have heard that many times and b) there are many other schools which are very academic. Tell them something specific about the school that applies to you. For example, talk about a certain club/society they have that interests you. Talk about why you want to move in the first place and think of a genuinely good reason (even if there isn't one). For inspiration, the reason I applied to all these top schools is because my school is in the bottom 3% and I knew that I could propel myself forward if I had the chance to go to a school like Westminster. Obviously your circumstances might be different. Try to get extracurriculars and remember to talk about how they have helped you and what your plan for the future is with them.

The next two questions were interesting and were obviously trying to get an insight into your personality. Question three is pretty unpreparable unless you generally have a good general knowledge about things. Don't talk about something generic like "climate change" because you can not get more boring than that. Try to be creative and show off your intelligence. I wrote about the "Universe 25" experiment and overpopulation which I feel like basically no one would have written about which probably made me stand out. There are aprox 1000 people, why are you special? Question four wanted to know about what you do in day to day life. I kept it simple and just talked about what stuff I like doing in terms of academics and sport. I talked about the books I read and what I like to do when I'm not studying such as playing badminton.

The maths paper had 50 questions and were all multiple choice non-calc. It was based off the gcse syllabus and had problem solving mixed it. I'm pretty sure I got 49/50 as I accidentally rubbed out Q50 right at the end and ran out of time when I was trying to change Q49 (because I thought I had put the wrong answer down for Q49). I think generally doing UKMT stuff will suffice. As I said, I didn't prepare at all but I do a lot of math anyway. After speaking to others, there were a few who had also answered all the questions but a lot had run out of time.

The further maths paper had 8 questions which were a lot longer and tedious and it was non-calc. I answered all the questions and I'm pretty sure I got them all correct. After talking to other people, I realised that others had found it very difficult and couldn't answer many of them. These questions only required GCSE knowledge. It was a lot more problem solving though. I guess doing olympiads would help a lot. Side note: I think this was the first year they had a separate paper for further maths.

I found the physics paper quite difficult. It was like a gcse paper but it was also problem solving. There were multiple choice questions at the start and then long answer questions later. I'm not really good at physics but I was relieved to hear that others found it difficult. Apparently the chemistry paper was insanely difficult according to like everyone I spoke to. My advice would be to prepare for sciences a lot and do stuff like the intermediate physics challenge.

The economics paper started with some short answer questions. They didn't expect any knowledge but I had read an economics text book in year 9 before and it helped me. The first question told you about a concept known as "opportunity cost" and you had to apply it to some scenarios. There was also some graph interpreting questions. The short answer questions just required careful thinking. There was a long essay question on Covid Passports. It was basically asking you to analyse the effects of the introduction of Covid Passports. I think knowing about current affairs would have helped. If you study geography, you are at an advantage.

Now I'll take about the interviews. I think about 140 girls were invited for the interviews and about 20 boys but I'm not entirely sure. I had four interviews: a general interview, a maths interview, a physics interview, and an economics interview.

The general interview was asking questions trying to further understand me and my personality. One thing they asked me what books I had currently been reading. I immediately answered with a maths books and an economics book and I continued to talk about things I had learnt from them and how it was useful. You want to come off as academic and interested and passionate. They asked my why I wanted to move in the first place. They also asked me if I would accept their offer if they gave it to me which I thought was extremely strange. I said yes but I knew that I wasn't going to.

The physics interview was strange because my interviewer asked me what was my favourite topic and then asked me questions based on it. I said electricity was my favourite and the questions he asked me where quite basic. He just tested knowledge of series and parallel circuits as well as formulae etc. He also asked me about an experiment in class that I had done recently and what the independent, dependant, and control variables were. I was expecting it be way more difficult. He didn't ask questions like why I wanted to study physics but he did ask me what I wanted to be when I was older.

The economics interview was quite fun actually. He asked me why I wanted to study economics in the first place and I told him about the problem of 'infinite wants but finite resources' which he seemed impressed by. Remember to sound passionate. He also asked me some general economics question testing stuff like why we have prices on things. It's hard to explain but he asked questions on simple concepts in a confusing and more fundamental way. Then he asked me a game theory question based on the show 'Golden Balls' and it was quite simple if you worked out average winnings.

In the maths interviews, I thought they would give me questions on Q50 of the maths test which I got wrong. I was correct. I answered 4 or 5 questions (which I'm pretty sure is more than expected for someone who gets an offer) and then got onto this longer one where I made a lot of progress but ran out of time. From what other people have said, getting 3 questions is great. I asked one of the other boys who were at the interviews and I think he said he got 4 questions done. The maths interviewer didn't ask me any questions like why I wanted to study maths, it was just me solving the questions he gave me. I'd definitely try to do the questions as quick as you can - as I didn't expect their interviews to be so short and rubbish - and thus you can show off more.

Conclusion:

I went in thinking that it would be a lot harder than it was considering there would be a ton of kids from the top schools in the country, and a lot of international students. It was daunting, however, it turned out fine.

- Remember to revise (don't be like me).
- Always be interesting and unique and different in essentially all aspects.
- Try have good general knowledge
- Be passionate and ambitious
- Have extracurriculars like sport
- Read books (honestly I read few but still managed to famoose them)

Hopefully this is useful. Let me know if you have any questions. I also applied to a lot of other schools including:

- St Paul's school
- Brighton College
- Marlborough College
- Millfield School
- Harrow School

Let me know if you want posts on them or any advice and if people who have been through the process of applying to top schools could write advice and their experience in this thread then that would be great.

Useful links:

Here is the old Westminster School thread for entrance in 2022:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6804410
Here is the old Westminster School thread for entrance in 2021:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6503450
Here is a Westminster 2023 16+ entrance for classics thread:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7219969
Some info about extra+super curriculars from my view:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97225498&page=3&highlight=#post97225498
Westminster School website:
- https://www.westminster.org.uk/
Useful Youtube videos on getting into Westminster:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtmWYjTDKRs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTXelMICWXY
Westminster School Youtube Channel:
- https://www.youtube.com/user/WestminsterSchoolUK

Some info for SPGS:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97156874&page=2#post97156874
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97205462&page=2&highlight=#post97205462

Some info for SPS:
- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7165673&p=97133472&page=2&highlight=#post97133472

My goal with this post and giving out advice is to make it easier for students so please if people have advice and useful information then write a post under this thread.

Ask me anything and good luck.


(Like the post for extra good luck and because I spent ages writing it )

Hi! This post is so helpful so thanks for the time doing it. I was just wondering if you needed to do a thinking skills assessment on interview day, as i just read that this year we will need to do a 40min thinking skills assessment. If you did, what was it like? Thanks!