11 Plus Exams Forum

For those of you with children taking the exam tomorrow ( ) I hope that everything goes really well for you!
Not long to go now

Just a reminder to all parents/children and website users that they should not divulge the contents of the exam openly on this forum or anywhere else.
If you receive a 'friendly' pm, or questions in the playground, please be wary.
Late exams for children unable to take tomorrow's exam (e.g. due to illness) will take place next week and later this term.
Late exams do actually take place throughout next year, for people moving into the area.

We would certainly appreciate feedback to moderators (KenR, myself or any other local moderator) and we can assure you that this feedback will not be given to anyone but will be kept safe until next September, when it will be published here for the benefit of parents who are supporting their children through the 11 Plus.

I discovered the other day that a number of DS's friends who registered to take the test through Warwickshire rather than Birmingham are taking the exam on Sunday morning rather than Saturday morning.

I think we will actually be glad to have it out of the way tomorrow rather than having another 24 hours of anxiousness - without the distraction of school - and to be fair, DS's main concern is that the celebratory post 11+ Nerf battle he's been planning with said friends can' t now take place until Sunday afternoon!

I knew the test remains the same for those taking it later for the reasons Um has given above but I hadn't appreciated at all that the main cohort would be taking it at different times.

Good luck everyone!

So Warwickshire has chosen to do their main sitting one day later than Birmingham?

Does any other county use the same paper or just those two? DG

Daogroupie wrote:So Warwickshire has chosen to do their main sitting one day later than Birmingham?

Does any other county use the same paper or just those two? DG

Looking at their website, the main date for Warwickshire is tomorrow (Saturday 10th).

Is Sunday the date for those whose religious leaders dosage then to take exams on a Saturday?

That makes much more sense that it is the backup date not the main day.

So SW Herts still are the only people to offer the same paper as their main exam at a later date.

I am hoping this will be a one off. DG

From the individuals I know to be sitting on Sunday, religion isn't a factor.

I did wonder if it is because the traffic in Stratford is a nightmare anyway on a Saturday, even before the influx of a shedload of 11+ candidates!

ps sorry Um, I didn't mean to hijack your thread - just to endorse the point about keeping mum about the exam content!

You can't choose to sit the paper on a Sunday because of traffic!

They must have had a compelling reason that has convinced admissions that they can't possibly sit with everyone else on the Saturday.

It is strange that it is all of his friends.

Our local selective manages to keep those sitting on the backup date down to single figures. This is out of thousands of applicants. You have to have a really good reason which would not have anything to do with traffic.

Are you saying that it is possibly a capacity issue?

Walsall had massive capacity issues last year and had to get more locations but still managed to offer everyone July 1st. DG

This is very odd and is the first I've heard about it.

Last year, I know some children were asked to attend the (same) Walsall exam later because they had special requirements (e.g. sight impairment).
I do not know if this is a factor in your son's friends' case.
It's also the first I have ever heard of an 11 Plus exam being held on a Sunday.

The traffic comment was tongue in cheek, I didn't mean they had given it as a reason for not doing the exam on Saturday

The parents I am aware of haven't made special application for a Sunday sitting, they have just been given it. In fact one presumed her DS was sitting on Saturday until another mum mentioned that hers was sitting on Sunday so the first one went back and checked her letter.

Unless of course they have all got together and are winding me up because we applied through Birmingham rather than Warwickshire...