Our highly recommended private school interview tips

Here’s our private School Interview Tips. Good luck!

Private School Interview Tips

This is the latest in our interview series:

Preparing for a high school interview is not to be taken lightly.

School Entrance Tests‘ aims to make all private school interview applicants more aware of how to pass a private school interview.

how to pass a private school interview

Being prepared for the answers will not be enough, you will have to stand out from the competition. You need to demonstrate certain positive and personal traits. For displaying your qualities in the right way, here is how you can do it;

Dress well

  • It’s always important to present yourself in the most impressive way possible.
  • You can wear their old uniform to represent their current school and look as formal as possible.
  • Some students always do something distracting, such as cracking knuckles, tapping their feet,
    etc. This will not be appreciated by your private school interviewers!

Be on time

  • It is also important to always be on time.
  • In private school interviews, the student’s punctuality is always taken into account.

Research the school

  • Before you even appear for the interview, it is important to understand and research your selected private school(s) in advance.
  • In fact, it’s best to spend a reasonable amount of time studying and understanding how old the school is, its alumni list, etc.
  • Knowing about the school will also allow you to formulate a list of questions to both showcase your personal interests and how these match each private school’s ethos.

Be alert and well-rested

  • Another important tip is being conscious about everything that is happening in the interview.
  • It is so easy to become nervous so to counter this, get a good night’s sleep for several nights before the interview.
  • Being well-rested and having a healthy breakfast will ensure that you are 100% ready for your private school interview.

Showcase your maturity and social skills

  • To be honest, maturity cannot be showcased, but will certainly become apparent from your private school interview answers.
  • The following small actions can help to demonstrate your maturity: switch off your mobile before stepping into the interview; avoid using colloquialisms and slang terms; make good eye contact, etc.

Be genuine

  • It is very important to be as natural as possible.
  • Your private school interviewers will quickly understand if you are being truthful, as it is their job to know if a person is being genuine.

Be polite

  • Even though you might be aware of all the answers, it is crucial to understand that good behaviour and gentle responses go a long way.
  • It is always important to be polite with the people who are interviewing you, no matter what.
  • That means addressing the interviewer by their name, shaking their hands, and being thankful for providing an opportunity for the interview
  • After the interview, the applicant should provide prompt and personalized thank-you notes to the interviewer.

Have fully prepared answers to the most widely used private school question

Yes, there are some questions that you can prepare for beforehand from the interview. Each interview usually has a unique set of questions, and you might be asked some varied questions to understand your knowledge and capability. Still the most widely used private school questions are listed below;

  • What is your greatest weakness, or what are your weaknesses?
  • Which subject do you enjoy the most, and which one do you want the least and why?
  • How do you spend your free time?
  • If your friends were to describe you, then how would they do it?
  • What have you read recently, and what did you most like about it
  • What has been your biggest challenge to date?
  • Which extra achievement would you like to achieve in high school?
  • Why are you applying to this school?

Preparing for the Parent private school Interview

  • Some private school parents become over-focussed on the interview performance of their child. Hence, do not give sufficient importance to preparing for their own interview.
  • Private school admission officers can ask for a meeting with parents for around 10-25 minutes to understand their child’s attitudes and school behaviour.
  • It is crucial for parents to be honest to officers while answering about their children.

Summary of our private school interview tips

Even if the interviewers forget what a particular student answered, they will always remember the tone used during the interview.

For the 20-30 minutes of the interview, the spotlight will always be on the student; making the most of that time should be the goal.