Harry Mount

Uncommon knowledge

It was the bane of children’s lives, but its eccentric questions will be missed

issue 13 October 2018

So farewell, then, to the Common Entrance Exam, bane of a million schoolchildren’s lives since it was introduced in 1904. Three of the biggest public schools — St Paul’s, Wellington College and Westminster — are giving up the exam. From 2021, they will do the pre-test: verbal and non-verbal reasoning, maths and English, taken at the age of ten and 11.

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