Woohoo, it's over!! Sort of

[patricia]

My understanding is that many children were flagging by the end of the second test.

Patricia

[Desperate_Parents]

And to think these are only 10/11 year old children who should be enjoying the summer holidays but instead had to work hard to pass the exams.

200 questions is quite a lot by any standards!

Still hats off to our children and the parents for working so hard in securing a good future for our children.

My DD has still one more exam on 21st so it is still go for us.

We are out of area but planning to move to Burnham before the deadline for completing the CAF forms. Hence all the questions on schools on Burnham

[Mono Wheel]

My child attended the 'out of county' test session at BGS 2-4.45pm. Found it more difficult than the practice session, and didn’t know the meaning of several of the words. Next test is the Slough 11+ next week - so as not to have all our eggs in one basket so to speak... Good luck everyone.

[Desperate_Parents]

Hi Mono Wheel

I agree with you about "all eggs in one basket" and our DD is also doing the Herschel 11+ exam on 21st

All the best

[FLG]

Hi, my DC slept like a log too! The was the first asleep. He said they said on the CD when there was one minute remaining he finished the question he was on and guessed the remaining so an attempt at a lucky answer. A few of his friends also had been advised this by tutors/parents in the morning so not sure how many will have left anything unmarked. It will certainly be very interesting. He is also doing Herschel test!

[Tinkus-Pinkus]

The number of questions and the length of time our poor DC's were expected to work for was vicious. Only time will tell the results but I noticed that almost all children were leaving the central location my DD took a test at in tears or looking disconsolate. Only one or two were smiling. The children that I really feel sorry for are the totally untutored ones, the poor children who are at the lower end of the learning spectrum. DD said that there was no way she could have done the exam at all without having been taught speed techniques, NVR techniques, how to do the cloze and jumbled words etc. she reckoned that most of the children in her class would not even have got through a quarter of the questions. I too hope that this does not lead to a super selective county with most children travelling from outside. One thing is for sure. My top of the class in all subjects, predicted level 6 maths child who reads prolifically and is in a top performing school ie. 100% level 5 SATS year on year found the test very hard - not the questions but the time pressure and the length of the tests with such a short break. She was on her knees by the end and apparently messed up the last section as a result. She is only just 10 for gods sake. Why do that to children? I think the People who devised this test should be brought up in front of the court of human rights. There must be a better way to select the brightest children

[FLG]

Untutored children aren't always at the lower end of the spectrum, I take that remark very personally. We did the work with materials, at home...on test day DC came out cheerful and had managed to complete the rest of his school day. We as parents knew the length of the tests beforehand.

[Desperate_Parents]

Untutored children aren't always at the lower end of the spectrum, I take that remark very personally. We did the work with materials, at home...on test day DC came out cheerful and had managed to complete the rest of his school day. We as parents knew the length of the tests beforehand.

I agree with you FLG as my DD was not tutored as well. I don't think Tinkus Pinkus meant it in a bad way though. But even though my DD was not tutored, she too came out cheerful and went to school after her exam. She did say that some of her friends who had been tutored found the exam very difficult?

[mystery]

There is no one on the c e m board of directors with the kind of background I would expect for an ability test designer. Maybe they have them further down the organisation.

How many minutes were there for 203 questions? Were children told they could pass without doing every question? An iq test would make it clear you were not expected to o them all.

At least it was split into chunks so children would have a bash at each area of the paper. Otherwise you could have children passing who had only attempted a few areas of the test.

Why is there a risk of bucks becoming top scorers who live a long way away - are the academy admission policies based on score?

[mystery]

My understanding is that many children were flagging by the end of the second test.

Patricia

Did the afternoon ones look worse than the morning ones?