The second in the five steps of our Selection Process, the St. Paul’s Foundation Assessment Day involves a day of testing with our candidates within St. Paul’s School. Like the other steps, this is an eliminatory stage.
On this day, the school welcomes the candidates approved in the initial selection after the application and their families. Students take two tests: the Cognitive Abilities Test 4 (CAT4) and the New Group Reading Test (NGRT), using tablets or computers. This stage takes place in person and is the first time that candidates visit the school, making it a time of great anticipation.
CAT4, adopted worldwide by several establishments in the education field, is an assessment of cognitive abilities – verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial reasoning – and provides an accurate analysis of the student’s potential performance. This means that, more than assessing what the student knows, this test allows you to infer the areas in which they need help and those in which they have the potential to thrive.
The NGRT measures students’ reading skills in English. It is particularly useful for identifying ability and possible difficulties in completing sentences and general understanding of the text. In this way, it tests not only students’ ability to decode what they read, but also whether they also understand and apply the meaning.
The results of these tests provide data that help the Foundation and the school to offer the necessary and personalised support to that pupil, if they were to become a scholar at St. Paul’s School.
These tests are carried out by the school in its regular student intake process. St. Paul’s Admissions Manager, Verena Ferreira, states: “As we receive students from several different schools, the test is not based on content to be studied, but on understanding how the student thinks. This applies to all the students we welcome – not just Foundation candidates.”
While the candidates sit the tests, their families are welcome by the Foundation team. As they always arrive full of expectations, they like to know more about possible future phases of the process.
Assessment Day is an important part of a meticulous Selection Process that analyses candidates abilities and difficulties individually, throughout their career as a candidate and possible scholarship recipient. To learn more about the St. Paul’s Foundation Scholarship Programme and the selection process, visit our dedicated page.