Harris Westminster Interview Chemistry

I was lucky enough to get an interview (still confused as to how this happened maths was horror) and I was wondering if anyone knows how the previous questions have been and how to prepare for it x

I was lucky enough to get an interview (still confused as to how this happened maths was horror) and I was wondering if anyone knows how the previous questions have been and how to prepare for it x

hii, I go hwsf rn! (I’m in y12)
The interview is essentially split into 2 - first they ask you ‘why do you want to take _’ and this is where you talk about a niche in that subject. e.g. I interviewed in English and I talked about the translation of literature creating a liminal space, and whether translated literature can ever be reliable.
The second half is where they show you a question/problem that you talk your way through. These tend to be quite abstract - not like gcse past questions.
E.g. for biology, one of the questions was ‘why do strawberries go from green to red’.
You’re not expected to know the answer, but they want to see how ‘teachable’ you are and your logic process.
For chemistry, you could be shown a reaction that you wouldn’t come across at gcse, and asked why a certain chemical needs to be present in order for it to take place. or you could be asked something like ‘how many different molecules can be made from _ hydrogen atoms and _ oxygen atoms’ (I think this was a question a while ago).
Hope this helps! xx

Hi. So basically I've got rejected from HWSF because I got 340 compared to the boarder line of 343 for Priority 3/4. But I've heard that you can still get in by handing in your GCSE result day to them. But I have some questions:

Thank you!

u have to actually come to the school on the day x
I know one person for sure, but quite a few get in by applying for the day (maybe like 20-30 in the year?) so u have a decent chance
definitely get the best grades that you can - most of the people who come here exceed the entry requirements by alot (all 8s/9s pretty much), so u definitely want to do the best u can!

I was lucky enough to get an interview (still confused as to how this happened maths was horror) and I was wondering if anyone knows how the previous questions have been and how to prepare for it x

Hey did you manage to get an offer??

It sounds like you’re saying you need straight 9s to get in on results day, but from what i understand looking at their admissions policy and talking to old students , just showing up on results day without required grades they mentioned isn’t the way to secure a spot. However, they do accept students without an offer if they achieve certain grades (though it’s not just about getting all 9s)

yeahhh so along the lines of mostly 9 (whether that may be 6 9s and 2 8s and 1 7s but still mainly 9) cuz ofc ur august result must exceed those students that have already gotten "conditional offer" from passing entrance exam + interview. but the main thing im confused about is: 1. would hwsf accept students with higher grades from august than those they already gave offers to? as such hwsf will rebuke their previous offer? or 2. they would have to accept offered students' grades even if it's the bare minimum for the required grades compared to someone who is trynna get into hwsf via august whose grades far exceed the offered students- as such u will still not get in since all the spaces are taken. and even this year they accepted around 300students and placed like 180ish on waiting list- so it's gonna be really competitive either way...

hey I go there now so I can answer ur questions x
Some background info: I wasn’t in any priority (I don’t live in london) and got in the normal way (tests then interview).
very few get in through applying on the day - maybe 15 max in a year, and priority will always be given to those who have offers (so those who miss the offer in 1/2 subjects will still get in over all 9 apply-on-the-day applicants 90% of the time).
off the top of my head it’s around 400 offers given out for 300 spaces (that’s how it was last year at least), but usually they don’t fill up their spaces completely within the first month (some people leave in September to go to different schools), so some people on the waiting list get in that way

oh damn.. you must be rlly smart than hahaha (what subjects u taking btw?) anyways back to the topic: how can i make sure i acc get in via result day? like those 15 ppl must be of what standard say? cuz i do further maths (if that will give me an advantage or not) but im doing higher competitive courses like bio/chem/maths/economics...

hey I go there now so I can answer ur questions x
Some background info: I wasn’t in any priority (I don’t live in london) and got in the normal way (tests then interview).
very few get in through applying on the day - maybe 15 max in a year, and priority will always be given to those who have offers (so those who miss the offer in 1/2 subjects will still get in over all 9 apply-on-the-day applicants 90% of the time).
off the top of my head it’s around 400 offers given out for 300 spaces (that’s how it was last year at least), but usually they don’t fill up their spaces completely within the first month (some people leave in September to go to different schools), so some people on the waiting list get in that way

I do maths, physics, biology and English x
it’s not really about the gcses u take (for reference pretty much everyone did triple/higher, and quite a lot of people did fm gcse) but the grades u get - it doesn’t have to be all nines, I would say a mix of 9 and 8s would be fine!

I do maths, physics, biology and English x
it’s not really about the gcses u take (for reference pretty much everyone did triple/higher, and quite a lot of people did fm gcse) but the grades u get - it doesn’t have to be all nines, I would say a mix of 9 and 8s would be fine!

How do you find your subjects? I want to do maths physics chemistry and english, so relatively similar, but I'm scared the workload will kill me 😭

Hii I was on waiting list but got enrolled at Harris last week. Anyone else going there this year?

Hii I was on waiting list but got enrolled at Harris last week. Anyone else going there this year?