Entrance assessments for Year 9 (13+ entry) are held during the spring term in January.
Our aim is to establish your son’s ability to cope with the academic demands of the school and to ensure that he will be happy with us and able to achieve his potential both inside and outside the classroom.
All boys who are seeking entry into Year 9 are assessed in English, Maths and underlying ability. We will also request a confidential reference from the Headteacher of your son’s current school and he will be interviewed by a senior member of staff.
Underlying ability and potential is assessed via the Bedford School Aptitude Test (BSAT). It is not a test of knowledge but is designed to identify a student’s intelligence, processing capacity and working memory. The test is taken online at Bedford School. Boys who perform particularly well on the BSAT will be invited back for further academic scholarship testing and an interview prior to us selecting scholarship recipients.
Boys who have applied for Music, Sport, Art or Drama Scholarships will be required to attend separate assessment days for each area applied for.
We are able to consider assessing boys for entry to the school at any stage of the year, provided that we have places available. However, we are unable to award scholarships or bursaries outside of the stated time frame.
Familiarisation Sample Papers
The familiarisation past papers below are available to parents and candidates in advance of the assessments and we advise that all candidates should preview the ‘look and feel’ of the assessments, prior to taking the tests.
BSAT Familiarisation Questions
