Comprehensive 11+ UCS Admissions Guide: Exam Prep & Interview Tips
University College School Hampstead: Ethos and History
Founded in 1830 by University College London, UCS Hampstead embodies a liberal ethos centered on fostering curiosity, creativity, and a love of learning in its students. The school aims to provide its students with a foundation for life, helping them to become the best version of themselves through stimulating learning and enriching extracurricular opportunities. The school’s strong academic reputation is reflected in high exam results and a very successful Oxbridge and Russell Group admission rate.
UCS 11+ entry is only for boys, with girls entering the school at 16+. If you’re thinking about applying to UCS Hampstead, the best way to understand whether the school is the right fit for your child, we highly recommend attending the school for an open day. UCS hosts open evenings throughout the autumn term where you can attend a talk and go on a self-guided tour of the school, speaking to students and staff to get a better sense of the UCS Hampstead environment. Alternatively, you can attend a private daytime tour of the Senior School and see the school alive during the teaching day, giving you first-hand experience of what life is like at UCS Hampstead. For more information on UCS 11+ open days, visit the UCS Hampstead Open Evenings page.
This comprehensive guide to UCS 11+ Admissions will break down the whole applications process, providing a UCS admissions timeline as well as UCS 11+ entrance exam guidance and interview tips. Read on for everything you need to know about UCS 11+.
UCS Admissions Timeline:
UCS offers 60 11+ places each year to new students who will join the Senior School with another 60 students from the UCS Hampstead Junior Branch. To secure one of these UCS 11+ places for your child, it’s important to understand the ins and outs of the application process. Here’s our breakdown of key UCS admissions dates:
Autumn term: Visit UCS Hampstead for an open evening to get a feel for the school.
Early November: Deadline for UCS 11+ applications. Applicants must complete the online application form and pay the £150 registration fee.
Early November: Academic references requested from the student’s current school.
Early January: Entrance exams sat at UCS Hampstead (see our UCS 11+ entrance exam section for more info)
Late January: Successful students are invited to interview.
Mid February: Offers are sent out to successful candidates.
For dates for the current year, take a look at the UCS 11+ Admissions Page.
UCS 11+ Entrance Exams:
The UCS 11+ entrance exams are set at the level of the national curriculum for the end of KS2. This means UCS Hampstead doesn’t require your child to intensively learn new content from the 11+ curriculum but instead to make sure they have a really strong foundation of their KS2 curriculum to apply to 11+ exam questions. UCS 11+ applicants will only sit papers in English and Maths, not Verbal Reasoning or any other subjects. This is with the aim of levelling the playing field amongst applicants who have not attended prep schools with a strong focus on other subjects. All of these exams will be sat in person at UCS Hampstead on an allocated day.
All UCS 11+ applicants will take:
an English exam (1 hour 15 minutes)
reading comprehension (45 minutes)
creative writing (30 minutes)
a Maths exam (1 hour 15 minutes)
multiple choice
core mathematics
maths problems
Preparation Tips for the UCS 11+ Entrance Exams:
The UCS 11+ English Exam:
Reading Comprehension: In the reading comprehension section of the UCS 11+ exam, questions will test students’ deduction, inference, summarisation and rephrasing skills. As your child reads, you can hone these skills by asking them comprehension questions that keep them engaged with what they are reading and get them to practise these skills, e.g. Can you summarise the paragraph we just read? What do we learn about the main character in this sentence? What’s another word for …?
It is also important you give your child opportunities to practise answering these questions in a written format and in the 11+ style. While UCS doesn’t publish their past 11+ entrance exams, typical 11+ resources like the Bond or CGP 11+ books offer useful practice materials. If you’d prefer to practise with tailored resources specifically in the style of the UCS 11+ exam, you could work with one of our expert 11+ tutors who are highly knowledgeable about all aspects of the UCS admissions process and can support your child to develop their reading comprehension skills.
Creative writing: The creative writing section of the exam is testing for structure, creativity, spelling and grammar, and vocabulary. These are all skills that you can work to develop in your child through careful practice.
A great way to do so is by turning reading into a creative learning exercise. As you read with your child, dedicate a notebook to new vocabulary. When your child encounters a word they don’t know the meaning of, get them to write it down in their notebook. You can then set them creative writing tasks inspired by what’s happening in the book, e.g. What happens next? or Write the story from the villain’s perspective, and challenge them to use some of the new words they’ve learned from reading. This builds new words into their active vocabulary in a fun, engaging way.
In general for the UCS 11+ English exam, your child should be reading lots and at an age-appropriate level in order to boost their vocabulary for both the reading comprehension and creative writing exercises. Sevenoaks School have a really useful 11+ reading list available online here to give you an idea of the level your child should aim for.
Another great prompt to develop your child’s creativity (and a common 11+ question!) is by using photo prompts. You can find these by Google search or you could make a day activity out of it by visiting a gallery or museum and then letting your child choose a selection of postcards in the giftshop that make them feel creatively inspired. Starting from an image can help jumpstart your child’s creativity by giving them something visual that triggers their imagination.
Here’s an example exercise:
Spend a minute looking at this picture.
What can you see? What can you smell? What can you hear? Where is it? Who is there? Why?
Now either:
1) Write a story using this picture as the setting.
2) Write a descriptive piece about this image.
In order to make sure their piece is well structured, they should be sure to divide up the 30 minutes they have for creative writing in the UCS 11+ exam to leave time for both planning and checking. We recommend five minutes at the start to plan and leaving five minutes at the end to check spelling and grammar, giving them 20 minutes to write their piece.
In addition to exercises like this, UCS 11+ applicants should also practise different writing styles which may be tested in the exam (e.g. instructive, persuasive). The best way to do this is with written 11+ papers, such as the Bond books. Alternatively, students could work with an experienced 11+ tutor to improve their creative writing skills and work on bespoke creative writing questions in the style of the UCS 11+ exam.
For more tips on how your child can improve their creative writing, take a look at our dedicated guide.
The UCS 11+ Maths Exam:
As the UCS 11+ Maths exam doesn’t require students to learn new content to what they’ve already learned in school they should prioritise building strong foundations in core maths topics. While past 11+ practice papers are a great way to improve exam technique and get used to the exam format, you could also balance preparation with more fun online learning activities, like BBC Bitesize KS2 Maths.
When they’re answering written questions, make sure your child gets into the habit of showing their workings, as this is a really important way to ensure they get marks even if they make silly mistakes or get the final answer wrong!
Integrating maths thinking into everyday activities can help students become more confident with word problems and keep learning enjoyable. For example:
At the supermarket: “We need to buy 3 boxes of cereal. Each box costs £2.75. If we have £10, how much will we have left after buying the cereal?”
On the road: “We’re driving to Grandma's, which is 60 miles away, and we’ll be traveling at an average speed of 30 miles per hour. How long will it take us to get there?”
REMEMBER: get your child to include units in all their answers!
This is a great way to build the maths skills tested by the UCS 11+ paper and to keep learning fun and varied.
Another way to enhance your child’s preparation for the UCS 11+ Maths exam is by working with an 11+ tutor who has lots of experience in keeping Maths learning engaging while targeting the skills required for UCS admissions. Find out more.
Looking for support with your UCS 11+ application?
A specialist 11+ tutor with expertise in preparing students for UCS admissions can give your child the edge they need to succeed. Through focused preparation across all areas of the Maths and English entrance exam papers, as well as comprehensive interview mentoring, our UCS 11+ tutors create a personalised plan designed for success.
Learn more about the 11+ tutoring services we offer here.
Standing Out in the UCS 11+ Interview
While UCS Hampstead aims to invite as many successful candidates to interview as possible, reaching this stage is still a marker of your child’s success and capabilities. The University College School interview is an opportunity for the school to get to know your child in person, to see their curiosity, enthusiasm and their potential to contribute to the school’s environment.
Preparation for the UCS 11+ interview should be about fostering a genuine enthusiasm for the school and for learning, not rehearsing and memorising responses. We’ve created a dedicated guide to 11+ interviews here.
Some example UCS 11+ interview questions might be:
What do you think a UCS student is like?
Describe your favourite book character.
It can be really useful to familiarise your child with common 11+ interview questions so they can get a sense of what to expect and practice building confidence in their responses. Our 11+ interview guide is designed to give students the opportunity to excel in their 11+ interviews, with tips on interview technique as well as a bank of useful practice questions.
Looking for a UCS 11+ Tutor to support your UCS Hampstead Application?
Is your child aspiring to be a future UCS Hampstead student? Our dedicated team of tutors, many with direct insight into UCS Hampstead’s admissions process, are here to support your child in achieving their goal. With a thorough understanding of the school’s values and application requirements, our tutors provide expert guidance at every step of the way.
Our bespoke tutoring programme offers a tailored and focused approach. We begin with an initial consultation to understand your child’s needs and objectives, ensuring they are paired with a tutor who specialises in UCS Hampstead admissions.
Your child’s UCS tutor will assess their current abilities, highlight areas of strength, and identify opportunities for improvement, developing a personalized study plan. This can include practice with past exam questions, detailed feedback, the creation of custom resources styled after UCS 11+ exams, and mock interview sessions.
The frequency and length of lessons are fully adaptable to suit your child’s schedule and needs and all lessons are available both in-person and online. Throughout the tuition, the tutor will provide regular progress updates and fine-tune the study plan to ensure consistent improvement and full readiness for the UCS Hampstead entrance exam and interview.