11 Plus Exams Wilts
Administration
The examination is administered by Wiltshire County Council (WCC).
Qualifying Age
Children entered for the test should have been born between 31st August 1995 and 1st September 1996. If a child is in Year 6 and is either under or over age then the parents should contact the grammar school for permission to take the tests.
11 Plus Exam Dates for September 2007 Entry
Wiltshire County Council has advised that there will be four examinations to be held on Saturday 25th November 2006.
The four tests are:
- Verbal Reasoning Multiple Choice – 50 minutes
- Mathematics Multiple Choice – 50 minutes
- English Multiple Choice – 45 minutes
- Free Writing Paper – 30 minutes
Tests 1-3 all carry equal weighting and are the primary determinents of success. Test 4 is key in borderline cases.
No child should sit the tests if she is unwell or affected by any personal circumstances that may influence her performance. Parents should telephone the School either before the test or on the morning of 25th November itself. Usually arrangements will be made for any child who cannot attend on 25th November to sit the tests on Friday 1st December 2006.
The Wiltshire Verbal Reasoning Multiple Choice Tests
This 50 minute test, as with English and mathematics, is multiple choice and set by NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research). The questions typically ask the candidate to elect one answer from five options but they have sometimes sought two answers from five or six. The answer sheet is self-explanatory (supplied with familiarisation pack – see below) and requires the child to mark a horizontal pencil line, a bit like an A4 page version of the National Lottery slips. The answer sheets will be marked electronically.
The appropriate familiarisation pack for this exam is:
NFER Nelson Verbal Reasoning Multiple Choice Practice Tests Pack
NFER only publish four verbal reasoning familiarisation papers therefore these papers should be used sparingly and it would be prudent to save some of these for the final build up of the examinations. This pack contains all four.
Children usually show the greatest improvement between the first and second or first and third verbal reasoning papers they attempt.
The verbal reasoning questions test intelligence, speed and accuracy through a series of questions based on vocabulary, sequences, patterns and decoding.
These exams are based on 15 types of verbal reasoning questions.
You can see get a feel for these types of questions by looking at the interactive Eleven Plus Exams Verbal Reasoning Volume 1 CD demo and reviewing the first 15 types. All the other CDs in the section are useful for further practice.
Essentially verbal reasoning exams breakdown to two key tasks: mastering the techniques for these question types and possessing a strong vocabulary, rumoured to be around 2,500 to 3,000 words.
Practice material comes in all shapes and forms: practice papers, e-papers (pay and download 11plus practice papers), interactive CDs, lessons in the post, websites that coach your child online. Though final examination is a pencil and paper examination many children respond to other forms, such as the interactive CDs. Ultimately your objective as parents is to master techniques and build the vocabulary for this exam.
Our recommended acquisition list for verbal reasoning would include:
- IPS Verbal Reasoning Method and Technique Guide (in this book types HIKNOS not critical)
- Verbal Reasoning CDs (in Volume 1 types 16-21 not critical)
There is a lot of practice material available in verbal reasoning, most of it relevant in that it build up your child’s mental agility and more critically their vocabulary.
The Wiltshire Mathematics Multiple Choice Tests
This 50 minute test, as with English and verbal reasoning, is multiple choice and set by NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research). The questions typically ask the candidate to elect one answer from five options but they have sometimes sought two answers from five or six. The answer sheet is self-explanatory (supplied with familiarisation pack – see below) and requires the child to mark a horizontal pencil line, a bit like an A4 page version of the National Lottery slips. The answer sheets will be marked electronically.
The appropriate familiarisation pack for this exam is:
NFER Nelson Mathematics Multiple Choice Practice Tests Pack
NFER only publish four mathematics familiarisation papers therefore these papers should be used sparingly and it would be prudent to save some of these for the final build up of the examinations. This pack contains all four. Another reason for holding back on these papers is that if you are starting preparation early your child would not have covered the entire syllabus.
Essentially mathematics exams breakdown to two key tasks: covering the syllabus thoroughly so that your child is not phased by any question and being super efficient at mental arithmetic (thus agile).
Practice material comes in all shapes and forms: practice papers, e-papers (pay and download 11plus practice papers), interactive CDs, lessons in the post, websites that coach your child online. Though final examination is a pencil and paper examination many children respond to other forms, such as the interactive CDs. Ultimately your objective as parents is to cover the syllabus and build mental agility in mental arithmetic for this exam.
You can get an idea of the typical eleven plus mathematics syllabus from looking at this page .
Our recommended acquisition list for mathematics would include:
NFER Mathematics Multiple Choice Practice Papers
Peter Robson Maths for Practice and Revision Books 1-5 & Answer Book . These books represent exceptional value (at £2.95 each) in covering the syllabus and providing thousands of practice questions.
Bond Assessment 11Plus Practice Papers in Mathematics, Multiple Choice
Athey Educational Mathematics Packs 5 & 8
Scofield & Sims Mental Arithmetic Books
Learning Together Preparation for 11+/12+/Common Entrance Mathematics
The Wiltshire English Multiple Choice Tests
This 50 minute test, as with mathematics and verbal reasoning, is multiple choice and set by NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research). The questions typically ask the candidate to elect one answer from five options but they have sometimes sought two answers from five or six. The answer sheet is self-explanatory (supplied with familiarisation pack – see below) and requires the child to mark a horizontal pencil line, a bit like an A4 page version of the National Lottery slips. The answer sheets will be marked electronically.
The appropriate familiarisation pack for this exam is:
NFER Nelson English Multiple Choice Practice Tests Pack
NFER only publish four English familiarisation papers therefore these papers should be used sparingly and it would be prudent to save some of these for the final build up of the examinations. This pack contains all four. Another reason for holding back on these papers is that if you are starting preparation early your child would not have covered the entire syllabus.
Essentially English exams breakdown to two key tasks: comprehension and grammar.
Practice material comes in all shapes and forms: practice papers, e-papers (pay and download 11plus practice papers), interactive CDs, lessons in the post, websites that coach your child online. Though final examination is a pencil and paper examination many children respond to other forms, such as the interactive CDs. Ultimately your objective as parents is to give as much practice as possible at comprehensions and grammar.
Our recommended acquisition list for English would include:
NFER English Multiple Choice Practice Papers
Eleven Plus English: A Parent’s Toolkit by Katherine Hamlyn
Bond Assessment 11 Plus Test Papers in English
Usbourne Guide to Better English: Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation
The Wiltshire Free Writing Paper
During this 30 minute test the child will be asked to write one essay from a selection of topics.
An 11 year old veteran of eleven plus exams wrote a helpful section on essays on this website for those interested in his approach. Visit Eleven Plus English Essays
Tutors
Parents usually employ a professional tutor for the preparation of these examinations however that is not strictly necessary. The fact that some parents do raises the bar for the others also attempting these 11 plus exams.
Selection Procedure for Wiltshire Grammar Schools
The scores attained in the verbal reasoning, mathematics and English tests are standardised to make allowances for the child’s age in relation to the ages of the other children and to give the three tests equal weighting to one another. The standardisation is carried out by statisticians at the National Foundation for Educational Research. The three standardised scores are then put together to produce a final result.
All candidates whose final score is equal to or greater than a predetermined cut off mark will be regarded as suited to a grammar school education without further consideration. Children whose final score is below – but comes close to the standardised pass mark, will be reviewed under the border zone procedure. In addition, Primary School Headteachers can nominate children for border zone consideration.
Children in the border zone will have their Free Writing paper marked and put forward for assessment by a professional review panel, along with a report from the girl’s Headteacher. The review panel will consider the child’s abilities and decide whether or not the child has grammar school potential on the basis of the professional report and the Free Writing paper, which will also be standardised to make allowances for the child’s age.
Membership of the two review panels (one for each grammar school) will include the relevant grammar school staff and a primary school headteacher from outside the Salisbury area who is involved in the moderation of the Free Writing marking.
Children whose score falls below the border zone marks and who are not referred to the review panel for further consideration, will be deemed unsuited to a grammar school course of education.
Allocation of Places
The LEA compares the ranked list and allocates places received from Grammar schools and:-
i) Where the child, after application of the admissions criteria, is eligible for only one of the nominated schools, that school will be the allocated place;
ii) If the child is eligible for two or more schools, a place will be allocated at the school for which the parent has expressed the highest preference;
iii) If the child is not eligible for any of the nominated schools then the child will be placed by the LEA at the nearest appropriate school with a place.
The LEA will post notification of allocations on 1 March 2007.
If parents do not inform the School in writing within 21 days that the offer of a place is being accepted, that place will be forfeited. When parents accept an offer, they will be required to send the School proof of address between October and November 2006. Providing false information on a child’s main residence at the time of application may result in the offer of a place being withdrawn.
If a child is not offered a place, parents may request details of the appeals procedure. Parents dissatisfied either with the outcome of the selection procedure, or by the refusal to offer a grammar school place, may lodge an appeal against the decision of the School Governors to an independent appeals panel, who convene under current guidance by the Department for Education and Skills.
Applying from within Wiltshire
Parents of children living in Wiltshire, should obtain the WCC Common Application Form (CAF) from their child’s primary school, or direct from WCC County Hall at Trowbridge. The deadline for residents in Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset is 20 October 2006. Applications received after the date cannot be accepted for the test in November.
Applying from outside Wiltshire
Candidates from other counties should apply via their own County’s Common Application Form. Their County Council will then inform WCC of any candidates.
NFER Standardisation
The answer sheets are marked electronically to produce the raw scores (e.g. 40 out of 50). The raw scores then undergo standardisation in order to produce a standardised score. In a nutshell standardised score is a figure that takes into account the age of the child at the time of taking the examination. For instance with almost 70% of verbal reasoning papers based on vocabulary it is clear that a child that is say 11 at the time the examination would be expected to have an advantage over a child that is 10 years old at the time of taking the examination, hence there is an adjustment process. This advantaged child’s score is scaled down whilst the disadvantaged child’s score is scaled up. The standardised score is expressed as a number out of 141 and ranges from 70-141 per paper.
National Allocation Day
Initial Offers for Grammar School and Upper school Places will be issued on 1 March 2007. There is a transfer appeals process, should your child not receive the school of your choice, however, you can only appeal for a grammar school, at this stage, if your child was successful in the 11 plus or at a selection appeal.
Wiltshire Grammar Schools
Wiltshire Grammar Schools include:
| School Name | Address | Telephone |
|---|---|---|
| Bishop Wordsworth School | 11 The Close Salisbury Wiltshire, SP1 2EB |
0172-233-3851 |
| South Wilts Grammar School for Girls | Stratford Road Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 3JJ |
0172-232-3326 |
Further information
Whilst we take great care to ensure that the above general information is a true reflection of the current regime for 11 plus exams in Wiltshire we would strongly recommend that you contact:
The Schools Admission Department
Director,
Children, Education and Libraries,
The Department for Children, Education and Libraries,
Wiltshire County Council,
County Hall,
Bythesea Road,
Trowbridge,
Wiltshire,
BA14 8JB
Telephone: 01225 713000
Fax: 01225 713982
Email: directorcel@wiltshire.gov.uk
Website: www.wiltshire.gov.uk
