11 + exam

[V8Granite]

I’ve since found out that they have 220 spaces and everyone who has passed the 11+ at our primary school has had a place. There are 3 primary schools in Deeping where they get kids from and it’s not massively over subscribed apparently. Which is nice.

Dave!

[DeskJockey]

That sounds good!

[IanF]

We've got one of the best grammars in the country a mile from our house. Used to be that we'd be right in the mix for a space (and the school is associated with the church my wife attends, and they used to give preference to members of the youth choir which my son sings in). But they were sued and lost, meaning they had to open up to applicants from all of London. So rather than being a local school for local children (not in the Royston Vasey sense), they've now got children commuting from North London (2h+ each way) to attend, and 1500+ applicants for 240 places. It is crazy.

Racist!..

[V8Granite]

Edit: forgot to add, one of the things the tutor helped him develop was coping mechanisms. How to deal with a question you can't figure out, how to come back and review, that sort of thing

This is something that's entirely missing - we used to call it Exam Craft - for normal state school - at least where mini dinny went (which is the best school, results wise, in the area). I tried to speak with him on this and he looked at me like i had two heads.

• Read the Entire Paper before starting to pick the questions you are going to answer

• Jot down high level notes, reminders, pointers for each question you are going to attempt before you start

• Divide the total marks for the paper by the time to work out how long to spend in each question

• Stick religiously to this timing. You'll get more marks starting a new question than you will fine tuning another

etc. etc.

Ok, we have 2 tutors now due to one being on holiday for a bit and we discovered some things.

Firstly for the school he likes it’s only non verbal and verbal reasoning. The questions are odd so some you need to turn shapes into a code to work out the next inline, others its perspective and what is logically next etc.
including writing the answer, reading the question and working it out, you have 37 seconds per question. So if you do everything above, you 100% won’t have time to complete the test.

Getting a tutor is 100% the correct way as it’s such a different kind of test to anything they’ve ever done before it’s quite alien.

But, he is finding the code stuff really easy, he is doing 6 hours a week without any pushing, enjoys testing himself and assures me, when he makes his first million he will get me my Black Ferrari (Black 512TR with caramel or tobacco interior) and is open to the idea of him not passing or not getting into the school.

Looks like it will cost me about 20 hours of school and a Meta 3 and then I’m 100% guaranteed a Ferrari, easy

Dave!

[dinny_g]

Firstly for the school he likes it’s only non verbal and verbal reasoning. The questions are odd so some you need to turn shapes into a code to work out the next inline, others its perspective and what is logically next etc.
including writing the answer, reading the question and working it out, you have 37 seconds per question. So if you do everything above, you 100% won’t have time to complete the test.

No that's fair enough Dave - I was speaking more about your more typical GCSE / A Level type exams.

[Jobbo]

Firstly for the school he likes it’s only non verbal and verbal reasoning. The questions are odd so some you need to turn shapes into a code to work out the next inline, others its perspective and what is logically next etc.
including writing the answer, reading the question and working it out, you have 37 seconds per question. So if you do everything above, you 100% won’t have time to complete the test.

That sounds like a logic test. You aren't intended to write things down to get the answer (with the ones I've seen - it's multiple choice usually); you are expected to work it out in your head quickly - hence the tight time limit. I'm not sure how much tutoring will help with that, but good luck with it.

[Sundayjumper]

...you 100% won’t have time to complete the test.

And that is part of the design. Measuring how many questions you attempt and how many of them you get right gives two metrics. Slow and accurate, or fast and messy ? Both might get the same absolute number of questions right but it gives an insight to personality.

[V8Granite]

Firstly for the school he likes it’s only non verbal and verbal reasoning. The questions are odd so some you need to turn shapes into a code to work out the next inline, others its perspective and what is logically next etc.
including writing the answer, reading the question and working it out, you have 37 seconds per question. So if you do everything above, you 100% won’t have time to complete the test.

That sounds like a logic test. You aren't intended to write things down to get the answer (with the ones I've seen - it's multiple choice usually); you are expected to work it out in your head quickly - hence the tight time limit. I'm not sure how much tutoring will help with that, but good luck with it.

It’s odd as I found about half were instantly apparent and others I just couldn’t see. He is being taught strategies to enable him to work them all out. It’s certainly not what I expected or anything like the tests I did 30 years ago, which looking back may not have even been 11+.

Dave!

[V8Granite]

...you 100% won’t have time to complete the test.

And that is part of the design. Measuring how many questions you attempt and how many of them you get right gives two metrics. Slow and accurate, or fast and messy ? Both might get the same absolute number of questions right but it gives an insight to personality.

He needs to get 80% right but there is an age metric taken into account aswell, I don’t have any idea how much that’s taken into account as he was born in March.

School now is different and scary.

Dave!

[Sundayjumper]

If it's as simple as that, and it's multi-choice, then if he runs out of time and has questions he's not attempted, just guess "C" for all of them. That'll probably pick up a couple of extra points with no thought needed.

[V8Granite]

That’s what his tutor has said, she has a really good reputation and said if in doubt, C, there won’t be time to go back

Dave!

[dinny_g]

In Ireland, we did something very similar in the 80's called the "Drumcondra Tests". They were a little secretive at the time - there was never any discussion about why we did them or what they were used for (we didn't get any results for example) but every student in the country did them and they were taken pretty serious.

They sound very similar to the 11+ you're describing. Logic type tests, large numbers to complete in a short time etc.

[V8Granite]

In Ireland, we did something very similar in the 80's called the "Drumcondra Tests". They were a little secretive at the time - there was never any discussion about why we did them or what they were used for (we didn't get any results for example) but every student in the country did them and they were taken pretty serious.

They sound very similar to the 11+ you're describing. Logic type tests, large numbers to complete in a short time etc.

If someone says the secret word then you may be activated

Dave!

[dinny_g]

[JonMad]

Our daughter is nearly at the end of year 7 in the local state school. There's only one in the area and it's fairly well regarded and convenient to get to, we didn't consider private or grammar (Reading is the nearest, 30-45 mins away). My wife mentioned that someone asked her about it for our son (saying something along the lines of, 'of course he'll be doing his 11+ won't he?'). We'd never considered it up to now, though some of our daughter's friends did it, passed, then a subset of those went on to the state school anyway.

There might be something in the idea of if they need tutoring to get past the exam then they're going to struggle. Others with experience may counter that and say they'll be fine if they've learned how to get through the exam - how to learn, in a way?

FWIW I did it as the 12+ and went to a local grammar school. There are still about 5 grammar schools in the area (Slough).

[DeskJockey]

I don't think they'll struggle because they've been tutored to pass the exam. It is incredibly competitive and a very specific event that I think lies a bit outside how things are taught in primary (at least in state schools).

[V8Granite]

He passed

Dave!

[DeskJockey]

Congrats, that's good news. Hopefully that means he'll get a place at the school.

[V8Granite]

Fingers crossed !!

He has done exams before but this really had me nervous, no idea what the GCSE level parents are thinking

[V8Granite]

Fingers crossed !!

He has done exams before but this really had me nervous, no idea what the GCSE level parents are thinking