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Davington Primary School

Faversham, Kent

Kent Test

If you would like to apply for a year 7 place at a Kent grammar school, you can register your child for the Kent Test in the Summer Term.  The test assesses whether grammar school is a suitable option for your child.

The score for a successful assessment is different every year. The score depends on the range of results children achieve. If lots of children scored very highly on the test, the pass mark would be higher. If lots of children got very low scores, the pass mark would be lower.

Your child will get three standardised scores, 1 for English, 1 for maths and 1 for reasoning.

Standardisation is a statistical process which compares your child's performance with the average performance of other children in each test. A slight adjustment is made to take into account each child's age so that the youngest are not at a disadvantage.

A standardised score of 100 represents an average performance for a child of a given age, with the lowest standardised score normally around 70 and the highest around 140. 

Until Kent pupils have taken the tests, it will not be possible to predict the threshold for grammar school. However, it is probable that it will be set using a minimum overall score and a minimum score for a single section. 

The Kent Test will take place at the start of Term 1 with all examinations taking place on this day.  The format of the tests is as follows:

  • The tests are multiple-choice with a separate answer sheet. They are marked by an automated marking machine.
  • The first test will be an English and Maths paper and will take 1 hour. Each section will involve a 5 minute practice exercise followed by a 25 minute test. The English section will involve a comprehension exercise as well as some additional questions drawn from a set designed to test literacy skills.
  • The second test will be a reasoning paper. It will take about 1 hour, including the practice sections and questions. It will contain a verbal reasoning section and a non-verbal reasoning section of roughly the same length. The non-verbal reasoning will be split into short sections, administered and timed individually.
  • There will also be a writing exercise which will not be marked but may be used by a local headteacher panel as part of the headteacher assessment stage of the process. 40 minutes will be allowed for the writing task, including 10 minutes planning time.
  • The Kent Test familiarisation booklet (PDF, 967.4 KB) gives a description of the different parts of the test and advice on approaching the types of questions asked.

You can name your preferred grammar school/s when you apply for a secondary school place.

If you move to Kent after the Kent Test has taken place, or if your child has not been tested and you want to move them from their current school secondary school to a grammar school, please read the KCC information about moving to a different school.

If your child took the test and was successfully grammar school assessed, the school will consider your application. However, this does not guarantee your child will be offered a place. If more children qualify for places than the number of places available, the school will use its admissions criteria to decide which children to offer places to. If you are not offered a place at a grammar school you can appeal to explain why you think grammar school is a suitable option for your child.

If your child was not successfully grammar school assessed or did not take the test, the school will turn down your application, and you'll be offered a different school. You have the right to appeal to explain why you think grammar school is a suitable option for your child.

Further information regarding the Kent Test can be found on the KCC Website.