Kendrick/Berkshire Test 2015

[NENA]

Thank you sonasona......!

[NENA]

Hi, my daughter is going to be sitting the exam in Sept 2015. We're not tutoring though (personal choice, I'm just not a big believer in it), so will just be doing practice papers at home.

Best of luck with it, I hope it goes well for your DD.

Thank you....

I can understand you not wanting tutoring for your DD........we thought the same with our first DD and maybe under estimated the exam somewhat. It's going to be a tough competition for a place this year and I personally don't have the time to be able to sit with our DD and coach her. I've taken to having regular meetings with our tutor to ensure I'm appraised of her progress.

All the very best to everyone with children sitting the exam this year......

[berks_mum]

Some of the parents I know have admitted that they underestimated the exam and their able DDs were left out. They believed in all the 'Natural ability', 'Not heavily tutored', 'No additional preparation required' kind of stuff which was a big mistake. In fact, many parents who talk about tutoring as some kind of stigma conveniently forget that they themselves are tutoring their children. Often from a young age, one to one basis, customised for their Dcs needs and more than the 'commercial' once a week frequency.

Good luck to all the DCs preparing for this year's exam. If you have any questions post on this forum. We will try and help you. You may have to get used to understanding my broken English though

[sonasona]

Some of the parents I know have admitted that they underestimated the exam and their able DDs were left out. They believed in all the 'Natural ability', 'Not heavily tutored', 'No additional preparation required' kind of stuff which was a big mistake. In fact, many parents who talk about tutoring as some kind of stigma conveniently forget that they themselves are tutoring their children. Often from a young age, one to one basis, customised for their Dcs needs and more than the 'commercial' once a week frequency.

Well said! Nothing at all wrong with using a tutor - just make sure its a good one and they have proven results.....you'd be surprised the bigger well-known tuition centres don't work for a lot of children!

Good luck to all the DCs preparing for this year's exam. If you have any questions post on this forum. We will try and help you

Definitely

You may have to get used to understanding my broken English though

Don't you believe a word of it! Its perfect

[berks_mum]

Thanks sonasona.

[millicent]

It's interesting the different views on tutoring. I also would have said a couple of years ago I fell into the "if they need tutoring to get in then it's not the right place for them" camp. However, as I learnt more about the system I realised that my DD would need coaching (whether by me or an external tutor) just so she was familiarised with the exam techniques required and had seen some examples of what was expected. Also, everyone else is doing it so I felt we had to as well to level the playing field.

Her first VR paper she scored around 50% and her first NVR around 60%. She is now happily in year 7 at Kendrick, and following parent's evening last week she is doing well and by no means struggling in any of the academic subjects (she can't sew though!) I firmly believe she would have had no chance of getting in without a tutor. She started in March until the exam which was in October for her year. The learning curve was rapid and huge so it's worth coaching even if only for a few weeks!

Of course, this is only my opinion, and perhaps other DCs have a natural instinct for the VR and NVR whereas my DD needed to be shown the tricks of the trade so to speak (like not leaving an answer blank and working faster for a start!)

Good luck to everyone, it's a stressful time....

Good luck also to those awaiting news of places next month.

[childrenanddogs]

Different strokes for different folks, but as I said, it's my personal choice not to tutor and I certainly wasn't having a go at those that do, or expecting to be told off for not doing it myself!

We don't have the money for a tutor, but I do have the time to sit with her on a Sunday morning while her brother's at rugby and do a paper, so that's our approach. I should perhaps add that if I'm really honest, it's my daughter that is far more keen on Kendrick than we are, and we've said we'll support her if she wants to try the exam. We're lucky enough to have excellent secondary schools where we are anyway (Wokingham Borough), so although Kendrick may be her first choice, our back ups are pretty good!

[sonasona]

Hi childrenanddogs,

Nobody gets told off here Like you said you know your Dd and what works for her.

I would like to point out though if you didn't know it already, competition for Kendrick is extremely tough and it's essential for CEM type exams that the right material is covered. If you can, I would suggest your Dd does some relevant mocks to see what's expected on the day. Some may say its too early for mocks but I believe if you don't know what to expect you can't properly be prepared for it!

I've spent a lot of time with Mock exams, both commercial and home-bred and believe me finding the right ones for CEM are not that easy!

Good luck to your Dd.

Sona

[childrenanddogs]

Hi childrenanddogs,

Nobody gets told off here Like you said you know your Dd and what works for her.

I would like to point out though if you didn't know it already, competition for Kendrick is extremely tough and it's essential for CEM type exams that the right material is covered. If you can, I would suggest your Dd does some relevant mocks to see what's expected on the day. Some may say its too early for mocks but I believe if you don't know what to expect you can't properly be prepared for it!

I've spent a lot of time with Mock exams, both commercial and home-bred and believe me finding the right ones for CEM are not that easy!

Good luck to your Dd.

Sona

Thanks Sona. The books I was looking at are the ones recommended on this website for CEM (by CGP I think?), which I'd just get from Amazon. Are there any others you'd recommend?

I think a mock exam is a good idea, mainly just to get her used to exam conditions, and that's something to consider too.

[millicent]

Hi children and dogs

I'm sorry if you feel you have "told off"- that certainly wasn't my intention and I did say that I was only expressing an opinion- just passing on my thoughts and what knowledge I gained from this forum which proved invaluable in my case.

I just think that some form of coaching is required, whether that be paying for a tutor or coaching your child yourself (we did a mixture of both.) There may be DDs in Kendrick who didn't do any practise whatsoever but neither my daughter nor I have heard of them! Again this is only an opinion and I am happy to be proved wrong!

Good luck to your DD and all others out there preparing or not for the exams!