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csse 2008 entry english- the destructors by graham greene

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:18 pm
by chelmsford dad
my son just did this as part of a mock exam and got 32/50 (64%) which is quite a bit lower than his usual scores though i appreciate this is the real paper.
when i had a look myself i thought it was very tough and although english was not my strength i just wondered if anyone else considered that a hard paper or pretty much par for the course?

Re: csse 2008 entry english- the destructors by graham green

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:27 pm
by essex-mum18
chelmsford dad wrote:my son just did this as part of a mock exam and got 32/50 (64%) which is quite a bit lower than his usual scores though i appreciate this is the real paper.
when i had a look myself i thought it was very tough and although english was not my strength i just wondered if anyone else considered that a hard paper or pretty much par for the course?
Hi

The English paper for the 11+ in Essex is always required at a very high standard. The texts are mainly extracted form the good old classic, 19th century may be. I will honestly say that the Destructors is not particularly hard compared to some English papers in the past e.g Tess of the D'ubervilles. As an adult, I was rather stunned to see the level of text at the first time.

Most children will find it quite shocking/ horrid when they first looked at the paper. But with more practices, it will get better.

It seems that your son is well prepared for the exam with the Mock going on. Not for long now. Good luck.

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:08 pm
by moved
Have you looked on the no scores thread.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... php?t=5746

I think an average of about 70% on the day would have been just good enough for 2008 KEGS entrants. English and maths being worth 25% each and VR 50%.

Hope this helps.