Our latest education related articles

Are you taking your GCSE Maths exam this summer and looking for advice on how to achieve a top grade?  In this article, Keystone Tutors have compiled some useful insights, tips and guidance on how best to prepare for the GCSE Maths exam, top tips for achieving a Grade 9 and some interesting findings from the examiners reports.

Non-verbal reasoning is a type of problem-solving centred on shapes, figures and patterns. It tests your ability to think logically and understand the relationships between patterns and numbers.

There are three types of reasoning tested within the UKiset:

• Verbal Reasoning: language questions and problem solving with words 
• Non-Verbal Reasoning: solving problems using shapes, pictures and logic 
• Mathematical Reasoning: looking at number, value, quantity and sequence concepts. 

Because the test is adaptive, the level of difficulty of each question will correspond to the accuracy of responses – the more questions a student answers correctly, the more challenging the questions are likely to become. So if a candidate finds the test particularly tough as it progresses, it is not necessarily a bad thing! 

Students taking the 13 Plus will be expected to use language effectively in all areas of the English exam, as well as in interviews. For a complete overview of the assessment, see our Guide to the 13 Plus Common Entrance Exams, which outlines formats, key subjects, and preparation strategies.

The exam will likely test candidates understanding of an unseen passage from a novel, play, poem or from another genre. At this level, students are assessed on their understanding of the text, as well as their analysis and evaluation of it. They may need to provide character analysis and give and justify their opinion; a broad vocabulary will help students’ to express their ideas clearly in their written responses. Our 13 Plus English Preparation Guide covers the comprehension, analysis, and essay-writing skills examiners look for.

Keystone works extensively with families looking to relocate to the UK from abroad or apply to a UK boarding school.  Our Consultants use their in-depth knowledge of the British education system and entrance exams to help families all over the world find the right UK school for their child.

We understand how daunting it can be to relocate and move children to a different education system so we have created this guide which covers some of the most frequently asked questions relating to relocating to the UK and applying to a UK school.

We hope you find it helpful in achieving a place at a UK school of your choice.

Keystone's Founder and Director, Will Orr-Ewing, shares his thoughts on education-driven property purchases.

Keystone's Founder and Director, Will Orr-Ewing, discusses the pros and cons of getting a tutor for your child.

Keystone's founder was quoted in today's Telegraph article on Oxbridge entrance from top independent schools.

Read the full article here.

Oxford has 39 colleges, Cambridge 31. You can leave it to chance and make an open application, but most people expect to direct their application to one of them. In some ways, it seems an unnecessary distraction. After all, no one presents Formula One drivers on the starting grid with a wine list expecting them to choose which champagne they want to be sprayed with on the podium. Not everyone gets an offer from the college they picked anyway: around 30% successful applicants receive offers via the pool. Nevertheless, your choice could affect where you spend the next three, maybe four years of your life. So how should you choose?

UK universities are incredibly popular with students from Hong Kong, and Keystone Tutors has extensive experience in helping these students to gain admission to their desired university.

This invaluable guide covers key facts and tips about the application process, how to choose the right university and course, and the costs and fees involved.

We hope you will find it helpful in achieving a place at the UK university of your choice!

This report, by Keystone's Head of Education Consultancy, Harriet Blomefield, explores the educational backgrounds (undergraduate degrees and secondary schools) of 'successful' people under the age of 40. To support this research Keystone collated just under 1,000 young people (aged 40 or under) who have been noted for making a recognised impact in their fields of work: business, politics, the arts and so on. We assembled our list from reputable publications such as Forbes’ 40 under 40, Harper’s Bazaar’s 150 Visionary Women, the Evening Standard’s The Progress 1,000, and Management Today’s 35 Under 35. From these lists, we selected individuals who were under 40 and looked up their university destinations and degree subjects.

In his recent Keystone blog, ‘How to Assess a School’s Academic Performance’, Felix Hamilton provided useful information for parents questioning which academic performance league-tables are the most trustworthy. He also made the point that schools cannot be judged on academic performance alone, a point that I would support wholeheartedly.

In 2020, the UK Government announced a new visa for Hong Kong residents that have British National (Overseas) status in response to the new security laws being introduced by China. China have since said they will no longer recognise the BNO passport as a valid travel document which has led the Hong Kong Government to say the same, Cathay Pacific to add a travel advisory to their website and the British Embassy in Beijing formally responding to what they call misleading claims. The UK government estimates over 5 million Hong Kong residents are eligible to move to the UK using the new visa and they expect 300,000 people to apply in the first year.   

This article aims to give an overview of the new visa and what this means for your children’s education in the UK. 

To assist teachers and students in making online lessons as productive as possible we have put together this infographic on the ground rules that students should follow for online learning.

In light of the Covid-19 school closures we thought it would be helpful to list some of our key recommendations when it comes to making home-schooling a success.

Michael has been working for Keystone for over 3 years, tutoring students online in English. In this short question and answer article, Michael covers some of the key concerns that parents often have about the effectiveness of online tuition, based on his own extensive experience. He also talks about some of the tools and techniques that can be used by tutors and students to get the most out of online tuition. 

We hope this article helps you in investigating how online English tuition can help your child achieve their full potential. 

Past papers are a fantastic way to prepare for any kind of exam - but UKiset do not publish them, sadly!  

Fortunately there are a number of ways to prepare for the different sections of the test, and any candidate taking the UKiset would be well advised to practice using the resources and tips below. You can also see our UKiset Preparation Guide for more advice on preparing for the UKiset.

It is difficult to recommend one vocabulary list for the UKiset, as it can be taken by students at any age between 9-and-a-half to 18 years old.

As a profiling assessment, it measures a student’s level of academic English which is then judged against peers of the same age.