Dear Parents,

I have compiled here all the different types of questions asked by the school teachers during the admission round.
Please remember these are sample questions only. I have collected these from various schools, parents and teachers in various good schools which will be starting their admissions in November 2009 – March 2010.

I would request you all to in general get a feel of how your kids are answering to these questions. But, let me also make it very clear to you parents that asnwering or not answering these questions do not gaurantee admissions into any school.

School admission involves

• Your child’s performance in the observation round.(Very crucial)
• Performance in written round ( ST Mary’s Prep ).
• Your interview with the school principal. (Most Important)
• The distance of the school from your home.
• Your educational background.
• Mother’s working or non working status.( Deciding factor)
• Your social background (even though no school will agree to this point openly :)).
• Your financial strength (not all schools go by this factor but in my opinion it’s one very crucial factor today).

Sample Observation / Interview round questions for Nursery Class of Pune Schools.

1. What is you name?
A. My name is XXX YYY.

2: Where do you live?
A. I live in Kalyani Nagar, Pune, India.
A. I live in Lunkad Sky Lounge, Kalyani Nagar.
A. I live on a tree. ( Answered by my neighbor’s son for Bishop’s school)

3. Do you go to school?
A. I go to Kider Brook.
A. I go to Primrose.
A. I go to Kangaroo Kids.

4. In which class do you go to?
A. I goto playschool B, Kider Brook.

5. What is your teacher’s name?
A. My teacher’s name is Deepti Mam.

6. Do you like your school?
A. Yes, I like my school.
A. No, I don’t like my school. Because my teacher scolds me.

7. Why do you like your school?
A. I like my school because I play and color teddy.

8. Why you do not like your school?
A. I do not like to write/ paint/ eat.

9. Do you know a) Twinkle Twinkle
b) Jack n Jill
c) Rolly Polly
d) Baa Baa Black Sheep
e) National Anthem
f) School prayer school
g) Machli Jal ki rani hai
h) Tota hoon mai toota hoon

A. One or two commonly taught simple rhyme with action is always a winner.:)

10. What is the colour of Apple?
A. Red

11. What is the shape of this ball / any object?
A. Round ( not expected sphere )

12. What fruit is this?
A. Banana / Apple/ Orange any commonly available fruit can be asked.

13. What vegetable do you eat?
A. Ladiesfinger / Bhindi, Potato.
My friend’s son refused to call it ladiesfinger even when the teacher insisted. Still he got through. Idea is to see if a child is using his imagination or can understand questions.

14. Who lives with you?
A. I live with mummy, papa and bhaiya.

In case you are a working mom, these question will

be give away as to who will take care of the child inyour absence. Naniji / Daadi ji / Maid….are the people expected to be with the kid.

15. What games do you like to play?
A. I spy, hide n seek, football..

Again they are not interested in the game, it’s the idea how your kid is oriented. Studious, playful.. Do mention only games that your child plays.

16. DO you like painting? What do you like to paint?
A. Yes , I love to paint spiderman.

17. What colour you paint on spiderman?
A. Blue and red.

18. What is the color of your shirt?
A. Make sure he knows 🙂 the colour of the shirt/ skirt worn on that day.

19. How many hands you have?
A. I have two hands.

20. How many nose I have?
A. One nose.

21. DO you have a any pet?
A. Yes I have a dog, his name is Tangy. He is black colour. He is very loving.

A. No I do not have any pet. I want to but my mummy does not want.
You have to be ready with your answer.:)

22. What does you father do?
A. He makes money.
A. He goes to the office.
A. He is a doctor.
A. He makes computer.
A. He sits on a chair whole day and talks on his mobile. ( My son’s answer).
A. He cooks.
A He plays with me.
A. He tells me stories and plays power ranger games.

23. What does your mom do?
A. She watches TV whole day.
A. She cooks for me.
A. She talks to her friends.
A. She scold me always.
A. She makes me eat food.
A. She gives me bath.
A. She goes to the office.

24. Who makes you do homework?
A. No one.
A. I do not get homework.
A. Mummy makes me do homework.
A. Papa makes me do homework.
A. Dadi / Naani makes me do homework.

25. How many rooms you have in your home?
A. 1 / 2 / 3 rooms.

26. What is your favourite cartoon character?
A. Spiderman and Shinchan.

27. What channel do you watch?
A. Hungama, Pogo and Nick.

28. Do you watch movies?
A. Yes I watched Bhootnath on TV.

29. Can you pick the biggest teddy?
A. To know the concept of size.

30. Will you put these rings on this rod one by one?
A. These activities are used to find out the fine motor abilities of the fingers. The ability to grasp questions. The ability to understand and produce what is asked, are some of the important things that teachers are looking into your kid.

31. What letter is this? ( On a flash card / Block)?
A. “B”

32. What are the things your use on rainy day to not

get wet?
A. Umbrella, Raincoat, GumBoots (Newspaper was

my son’s addition).

33. Can you match the picture with color?
A. Red color with Apple
A. Water with glass
A. Bird with egg
A. Shoe with similar looking shoe.

34. Can you fix this puzzle?
A. Your kid has to fix a two- three peice puzzle.

35. Can you make a necklace with these beads? Put one red, then yellow and then green bead.

A. The child is judged on colour recognition.
A. The fine motor abilities of picking a small bead and passing a thread (thick and stiff) through it.

36. Can you tell me what the dog is doing in this picture?

A. The dog is running.
This type of question is only to judge the kid’s ability to recognise very basic level of observation ability of a kid and to express it freely.

37. What do you want to become when you grow?
A. My younger son’s reply was to become a ceiling fan because it moves fast always :).

A. My older son wanted to become a carpenter as that is what he was exposed to in our home during his interview time. Both got through the admission. So it’s not the question of “right or wrong” answer that matters but how imaginative your kid is matters.:)

38. What is in that bowl? Asked by the principal of DPS who has a fish bowl in her office.

A. Gold fish. Can I eat it. I love eating fish!!!

39. Would you like to eat a chocolate?
A. Yes. Thank You.
A. No. Thank You.

40. What is your best friend’s name?
A. My best friend’s name is Sahil.
A. I do not have a best friend.

41. Can you give a high five / can you shake my hand?

42. A quick action by the kid.

43. Where do frogs live?
A. In water and on the land.

44. Where do birds live?
A. In a nest / on a tree.

45. Which animal makes this sound, bhow bhow?
A. Dog.

46. How do you eat your rice?
A. I eat rice with a spoon.
A. I eat rice with my fingers.
A. Mummy’s hand.

47. Do you like aeroplane?
A. Yes.
A. No, I am scared.

48. How many wheels your car has?
A. Four wheels.

49. What is the colour of your cycle?
A. Red colour.

50. Do you like this school?
A. Yes. I like the ground, it’s big.
A. No, I don’t like your school.

Now, please do not panic if there are a few activities your kid does not do or will not do. Each child has different timeline and growth milestones. And any of these abilities may or may not develop. Out of the seven abilities, only two or three are known to develop in normal kids. The rest have to be taught or come to the child later.

The school will be asking several questions and if your child does not perform in even half of them, it does not matter.
Teachers who are taking notes during admission process are very qualified and very experienced.
They know by one or two answers about the major disabilites in a child.

Again these questions and the answers are a means to know if your child has the concept of numbers, colours, shapes, body parts . It does not matter if your kid does not know all body parts or all colours and shapes! No need to panic. They use these observation rounds to make sure if a child needs special attention or will they be able to cater to needs of special cases.

With growing awareness, schools are trying to prepare their staff in training kids with learning disabilities which can be corrected with little attention in the class or which is not possible to be corrected in the class with average kids around.

Such kids are better off, if they are detected early and provided adequate concentrated coaching. Since most schools in Pune are not adept in handling special needs, they prefer to admit average type kids only.
I know of only one school in Pune which does not differentiate and that is Aman Setu.

So if you are not aware of any disability, no harm is reading up about it for your own satisfaction. Common disabilites “reading, writing, math, non verbal, dyspraxia, auditory processing disorders”. You can write to me for more details on how to test your kid for disabilities or read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_disability .

You must check your kid’s intelligence here.

Tomorrow I will be publishing an article on the interview questions asked to the parents during school admission in pune schools.

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