Louis is a confident boy

Louis and family entered the BE Beijing office on a balmy afternoon at the end of July, 2021. Straightaway, Louis's self-assurance and drive were clear – he joined his parents in asking detailed questions about the application process and his possible school choices.

Changing from Chinese public schools to British private schools is a challenging thing！

Louis had been studying at Chinese public schools since young, where he was a top student. He demonstrated great intellect in his interview with me and genuine passion for his hobbies: cars, racing and his debate team. But his spoken and written English needed work and he had no experience studying any of his A-level choices in English. As a top Chinese student, he and his family were naturally intent on only very ambitious UK school choices for him. With just over 3 months until 16+ assessments would begin, this was clearly going to be a challenging case.

How to prepare for the 16+ assessments in 3 months？

I began by setting Louis tests in his A-level subjects, maths, physics, biology and economics. His scores in most hovered around the 60% mark, with the exception of economics which he couldn’t yet answer. Using these results, I crafted a study plan for his BE teachers and Louis began 4-6 hours of classes a week in each subject, as well as English. At the time, BE Beijing had opened our new training center, and I was able to visit Louis’s teachers at regular intervals to discuss his progress and suggest study and review methods. Louis and I also began weekly TP meetings, in which we considered school choices, worked on personal statements and prepared for the UKiset test which he would take in August. Louis is a grafter and approached his classes with determination, making steady progress. He passed the UKiset test with the strong C1 English result he needed and a wonderful set of reasoning scores.

BE Top Schools Event provides Louis with the opportunity to interview with the schools in advance!

In the middle of September 2021, BE hosted the BE Top Schools Event, with 20 elite boarding schools offering advance interviews to BE students, a rare chance for Louis to make an early impression on his target schools. He and I began intensive interview training, helping him emphasise his strengths and passions and approach tricky “outside the box” questions analytically, as well as researching the unique features of each school. Naturally he was nervous, and I gave Louis encouragement at the event, reminding him of his “selling points”. He couldn’t have had more success, and was encouraged to register by all his target schools, with glowing feedback from almost all.

What should we do if Louis encounter fatigue in his study?

The next two months may have been the most difficult for Louis in the process as a whole. With his agreement, we increased the frequency of his past paper practice, so he would aim to complete one set of papers per week on top of his weekly classes. Yet, after a summer of intensive tutoring, Louis quickly entered a fatigue period. Noticing that he had stopped completing homework and was making half-hearted efforts at his progress tests, I had a serious conversation with him, and we decided to halt his classes for 2 weeks to relieve some of the pressures he was facing. Attitude is everything when it comes to study, and this adjustment had the desired effect. Louis returned to his studies with renewed energy. November soon arrived and I supported Louis throughout the month with last-minute interview preparation and pep talks prior to days of testing, asking Louis to review the content of the test questions he had found challenging.

After 4 months of immense effort, expectations were high as December rolled around and the offers rolled in. Louis received unconditional offers from Tonbridge, Radley, Abingdon, City of London Freemen's and Caterham. Our final step was just to try to choose between them. Louis settled on the illustrious Tonbridge, where he is now happily enrolled.