How to Prepare a Child for a School Admission Test Without Over-Coaching

There are two quite different kinds of admission assessment in Pakistan, and which one your child faces depends mostly on the class. For the youngest children, schools tend to talk to and watch the child. From Class 1 upward, many schools switch to a timed written paper. Preparing well starts with finding out which of the two your school uses, because the right preparation for each is different.

Early-years assessments are mostly about how a child talks, plays and copes. The Punjab School says its playgroup interview looks at where a child is against developmental milestones, how they use language and how they interact, and that for nursery, admission depends on the child's performance in a scholastic aptitude test or interview, held in January. The City School says that from playgroup to kindergarten it generally assesses a child's reading level, vocabulary and understanding of colours and numbers, and also considers confidence, spoken English and motor skills. Sadiq Public School in Bahawalpur says no child is admitted without passing an admission test, but excludes its classes from K0 to K2 from the written examination; its age chart labels K1 as Grade 1 and K2 as Grade 2, though the exam section of the same page numbers grades differently, so confirm with the school. The Federal Directorate of Education's 2025-26 notice for Islamabad Model Schools listed an interview for ECE-I, an admission test for ECE-II/Prep on 8 April 2025, and a Class I test on 9 April 2025.

At most of the schools we checked, written tests start around Prep or Class 1, and they are short. The City School says Class 1 and older applicants are tested in English, Urdu and Mathematics, with 30 minutes to finish and a 50 per cent pass mark. It says its papers check basic aptitude rather than following a set textbook, that the paper is not shown to anyone, and that parents receive only the marks. The Punjab School tests Prep and Class I applicants in English, Urdu and Mathematics in mid-February and admits on merit; from Class II it also checks proficiency in Naazra Quran. Lawrence College tests Classes I to VII in English, Mathematics and Urdu, with its 2027 written test on Sunday 15 November 2026 and applications due before 12 November 2026, and says its Entry Test page carries the syllabus and sample questions for each class. Sadiq Public School's written papers, for classes above K2, are 25 marks and 30 minutes each, and candidates scoring 50 per cent or more in each subject go on to an interview (the Principal can make exceptions), which is conducted in English and attended by at least one parent.

One school publishes a detailed guide for its youngest entry. Aitchison College's Guide to Admissions (Syllabi) for 2027-28 says its Grade 1 (K-1) mathematics paper may cover comparing objects by size and length, counting, writing and ordering numbers from 1 to 50, tens and units up to 50, simple addition with sums up to 48, and subtraction with numbers from 1 to 9, plus recognising basic shapes. Its K-1 English section expects familiarity with phonics and simple three-letter words, upper and lower case letters, identifying nouns and verbs in sentences, and writing four- to five-word sentences with capital letters and full stops, and there is an Urdu section on letter shapes, sounds and simple words. The same guide says it is a guide only, that papers are set to rank candidates, and that there is no pass or fail. Aitchison's points-of-entry page lists K1 for boarders only and K2 for boarders and day students. For the 2027-28 session, day-student applications close on 30 November 2026, boarding applications on 31 December 2026, and the entrance test is scheduled for the first week of June 2027. Treat this as one school's published expectation, not a national standard.

It helps to know what a typical child can do at these ages. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists milestones that most children (75 per cent or more) reach by a given age. By four, these include saying sentences of four or more words, talking about something that happened during the day, naming a few colours and holding a crayon between fingers and thumb rather than in a fist. By five, they include counting to ten, naming some numbers between one and five and some letters when pointed to, writing some letters of their name, paying attention for five to ten minutes during activities, and following rules or taking turns in games. Compare that with what your school says it tests. A playgroup or nursery interview is largely checking things in this range. A written Class 1 paper can go further, as Aitchison's guide shows, and also asks a five-year-old to sit and work for longer than many are used to: The City School's Class 1 paper runs for 30 minutes.

That gap is where over-coaching starts. If a school publishes its syllabus, as Aitchison and Lawrence College say they do, it is reasonable to check your child is familiar with each topic and to fill a genuine gap, such as never having written in Urdu. In our view, drilling past papers for months, or teaching to a format you have guessed at for a school that has not published one, is unlikely to help. The City School says its papers are not based on any textbook, and for the youngest classes several schools say they look at language, interaction and confidence, which are hard to cram. A short, regular routine of reading together, talking about the day, counting things at home and drawing or writing a few letters covers most of what the early-years assessments describe, without turning the test into the centre of family life.

Confidence and language deserve as much attention as content. The City School names confidence and spoken English among the things it considers for its youngest applicants, The Punjab School looks at interaction skills, and Sadiq's interview is in English with a parent present. If your child mostly speaks Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto or another language at home, that is not a problem to hide, but it is worth giving them some practice answering simple questions from an adult they do not know, in the language the school will use. Most of the written tests above also include Urdu, so a child from an English-medium pre-school may need practice there instead. On the day, practical details help: The City School asks Class 1 candidates to bring a pencil, eraser, sharpener and ruler, and Lawrence College asks applicants to bring the call letter and original documents.

Sleep is the easiest preparation to overlook. The CDC, citing the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, recommends 10 to 13 hours of sleep a day, including naps, for children aged three to five, and 9 to 12 hours for children aged six to twelve. Its general sleep tips include going to bed and getting up at the same time every day and turning off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime. If a test is in the morning, as Lawrence College's 10:00 start is, keep that same-time routine steady in the days before rather than changing it the night before.

SchoolNama cannot yet tell you which schools test, or how. Only 3 of our 6,666 campus records mention an assessment or entry test at all, and we have not verified those notes, so confirm the format with each school. Use /schools or your city page, such as /lahore, /karachi or /islamabad, to shortlist, then compare finalists on /compare. For the age rules that decide which class your child can sit for, see our guides on Class 1 admission age (/news/class-1-admission-age-pakistan), playgroup age (/news/playgroup-age-pakistan), nursery age (/news/nursery-age-pakistan) and moving from Montessori to Grade 1 (/news/when-to-move-from-montessori-to-grade-1).