With over 70 different nationalities of students, it is important that The British School of Kuwait (BSK) employs an admissions testing system that does not favour students from any one national education system.  Nevertheless, as English is used in nearly all situations at BSK, it is essential that students joining BSK can communicate in English.

As outlined in the admissions process, students hoping to gain admission to BSK from Year 4 to Year 11 are required to sit a Cognitive Ability Test (CAT).

CATs take the form of a series of multi-choice tests in three key areas:

• Verbal reasoning. A series of short tests aimed at assessing the students’ use of the English language in normal situations.
• Quantitative reasoning. A series of short tests aimed at assessing the students’ ability in arithmetical and universal mathematical manipulations.
• Non-verbal reasoning. A series of short tests aimed at assessing the students’ intellectual dexterity.

CATs are non-specific in relation to national education systems but the tests are age-specific.

The Admissions Testing room is situated in The Sunshine Kindergarten.  Each of the three sections of the CAT takes an hour to complete. Parents should therefore set aside at least three hours between delivering their children and picking them up.

The results of marked CATs can be analysed in a number of ways.  BSK’s preferred method in to compare candidates by standard deviation from the mean, using the standard nine (STANINE) divisions of a normal distribution curve.  Having used this method for many years, BSK holds a wealth of data for comparative purposes.