What is expected of my son in the Merchant Taylors' School 4+ Assessment?
/A lot!
At MTS Expectations are high and places are low.
And also because most places are offered to boys already in the Nursery (those who got in at 3+). MTS have an internal priority. Which is obvious seeing as they have a Nursery. If my son went to the nursery, I would personally still prepare him for the 4+ assessment but I would be aware that he would have the priority over the external candidates.
So if MTS is truly a school that you dream of for your boy, send him to the nursery! If not, be laser sharp aware of the huge difficulties you will face to get him in at 4+.
Your son will have to be one of the ‘strongest applicants’ in order to even be considered for a place at Merchant Taylors. It is a group assessment with 10-15 other boys however your son will also be assessed on a 1:1 basis.
MTS write that their assessments are not challenging but I firmly disagree. They are challenging and a lot will be expected of your son. We know exactly what has come up historically in the MTS 4+ assessments. We know the boys who have passed and we know the boys who have not.
And we know exactly the reasons why.
Do you?
MTS will be looking for ‘teachability’ and ‘sociability’ so basically how easy your son will be to teach and how he is socially (with both adults and children). MTS are looking for boys who are focused and alert and who have the capacity to answer all questions asked to a very high standard. The nursery report will be very important for this assessment too.
I personally think MTS is very hard to pass because most parents do not understand that they need to start preparing their children at least 12 months before the assessment. By leaving it too late, you simply will not have time to cover all of the curriculum that needs to be covered. Therefore it will be very hard for your son to pass. Remember that they will be given an overall percentage based on the assessment criteria. You need to know what the criteria will be in order to be in with a chance of your son passing. If you don’t know the criteria, it’s up to you to either educate yourself and learn the criteria or to work with someone who knows it like the back of their hand!
If you are preparing for MT’s, we have incredible success. Each year we prepare at least 1-2 students and each year at least one of our students is offered a place to study at this school. Last year (2026 entry) we prepared 3 boys for this 4+ assessment and all 3 were offered a place! Considering they only had 6 places available last year for the 4+, this is pretty extraordinary (if I do say so myself!). Our results are real. Our results are honest. We know exactly how to prepare our boys to have incredible success in this 4+ assessment.
