Expert1:1PreparationforMCS

It is becoming so, in stages, and which stage you are in decides whether your daughter can apply at all. MCS is becoming fully co-educational in stages. The sixth form has taken girls since 2010; girls join Years 3 and 4 from September 2027 and Year 7 from September 2030, with every year group co-educational by 2034. So a girl can be registered for Year 3 or Year 4 now, while a girl applying at 11+ cannot until the 2030 intake. The sixth form has been co-educational since 2010.

Three sessions. Two online, 115 minutes in total across mathematics (30 min), non-verbal reasoning (10 min), verbal reasoning (10 min), english (30 min), puzzles and problem solving (15 min), creative comprehension (20 min), and one written: a 45-minute handwritten creative writing task sat between them. About 115 minutes of online assessment with breaks included, plus the 45-minute written session.

3 of the 6 online sections: mathematics, non-verbal reasoning, verbal reasoning. Those sit in the first online session and cannot be revisited. The second session — english, puzzles and problem solving, creative comprehension — is not adaptive, so answers there can be reviewed. It is the same shape of assessment Dulwich College and City of London School set, which is worth knowing if your child is sitting more than one of them.

Registration closes Saturday 31 October 2026 — the same deadline as the first co-educational Year 3 and Year 4 intake. Test day is Saturday 16 January 2027, interviews are on 26 to 27 January 2027, results are released on Thursday 4 February 2027 and acceptances are due by Monday 1 March 2027.

The School's own answer is the useful one: "We look carefully for potential, and not simply at current attainment." That is worth taking at face value given the shape of the assessment — three of the six online sections adapt, so a child who is stretched is meant to find it hard, and finishing comfortably is not the goal. A 30-minute interview with one of the School's teachers.

Most families we work with start twelve to eighteen months out. That leaves room to build the underlying English and maths before anything is timed, and to spend the final autumn on all six online sections and the handwritten creative writing task. Shorter runs work and are common — we have prepared candidates in under four months — but a short run is triage rather than a full pass, and we will be straight with you about what is realistic before you book anything.

Every one of our Magdalen College School tutors is an alumnus of the school and sat this assessment themselves. We teach in person in Oxford and online anywhere in the UK. Tutoring is charged per hour from £60, with no contracts and no packages to buy up front. The first lesson is no commitment and you can stop at any time, and a free 20-minute consultation comes first.