VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

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jojo2305
Posts: 88
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:45 pm

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by jojo2305 »

I am feeling the same about VR, good scores in pp and mocks. I asked my aunt to ring CSSE(I am a sobbing wreck and feel had I rang them, they would have hung up on this neurotic mother!!!) She was told that they did not remark papers but that we are to write to the school where my DD sat the test and ask them to check for any clerical errors. She was also told that they have had quite a few parents ring this morning saying the same thing "my dc's maths and english were what we expected but VR was well below what was predicted." I don't know if this info will help anyone but I for one am not giving up hope yet!
mikedellfarm
Posts: 269
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:26 am

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by mikedellfarm »

Hi Jim's Dad - I think it was they needed to practice on masses of variety. We stuck with GL but then read some posts and suddenly realised we needed to be doing Walsh, Susan Daughtrey, edited by moderator and so on. DS HATED them but we just kept trying... we learnt mirror codes and all the other horrors together.

The other thing, already pointed out, is vocab.. some of the word VR questions are vicious.. and I would even consider slightly "tricking" the DC. I gave up trying to cram 3,000 + words into my son's head and hoped for the best.

DS school did nothing, we DIY'd it... and really did it over 9 months following the GL guide to a timetable. In the summer we did 2.5 hours x 5 days a week, 1 day off and 1 day 1 hour. He was then horribly poorly and nearly lost it.. I am amazed at his result.
pinkrabbit38
Posts: 568
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 3:20 pm

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by pinkrabbit38 »

W.D.K.Y.M.Y.S wrote:I acknowledge the "meltdown" reasons albeit for me, my DD has been so consistent all the way through and is pretty level headed. She went in and came out pretty calm. Id get it more if she had said it was really difficult etc (she did say it was more time pressured) but meltdown would have happened in maths or english.
Not making excuses, just really sad for her, and intrigued as to where it may have gone wrong. Not expecting there to be a mistake in the marking.

Fingers crossed for CCHS CEM. But we were never confident from the start on this one anyway given the volume of girls taking it etc !!!
My DS is the same...doesn't get stressed, he's very laid back. Came out saying it had gone well.
W.D.K.Y.M.Y.S
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2013 5:11 pm

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by W.D.K.Y.M.Y.S »

jojo2305 wrote:I am feeling the same about VR, good scores in pp and mocks. I asked my aunt to ring CSSE(I am a sobbing wreck and feel had I rang them, they would have hung up on this neurotic mother!!!) She was told that they did not remark papers but that we are to write to the school where my DD sat the test and ask them to check for any clerical errors. She was also told that they have had quite a few parents ring this morning saying the same thing "my dc's maths and english were what we expected but VR was well below what was predicted." I don't know if this info will help anyone but I for one am not giving up hope yet!
What do they mean by "ask them to check for any clerical errors"?

Does this mean it is the schools where they sat that marked the papers?

Doesnt feel right to me. Surely should be going via CSSE?
jojo2305
Posts: 88
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:45 pm

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by jojo2305 »

W.D.K.Y.M.Y.S wrote:
jojo2305 wrote:I am feeling the same about VR, good scores in pp and mocks. I asked my aunt to ring CSSE(I am a sobbing wreck and feel had I rang them, they would have hung up on this neurotic mother!!!) She was told that they did not remark papers but that we are to write to the school where my DD sat the test and ask them to check for any clerical errors. She was also told that they have had quite a few parents ring this morning saying the same thing "my dc's maths and english were what we expected but VR was well below what was predicted." I don't know if this info will help anyone but I for one am not giving up hope yet!
What do they mean by "ask them to check for any clerical errors"?

Does this mean it is the schools where they sat that marked the papers?

Doesnt feel right to me. Surely should be going via CSSE?
From the what my aunt told me its a long shot because the lady at the CSSE said they haven't had any errors before with the computer marking the results, but to ask at the school where they sat the exam to check for clerical errors(we presumed this to be the feeding of the paper, or the correct marks being picked up). I don't want to create any sort of frenzy but after reading comments on here about the vr paper I know that I would like to make sure that I have checked and made sure that my dd's vr was absolutely correct x
sleeplessinhalstead
Posts: 119
Joined: Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:42 am

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by sleeplessinhalstead »

In the case of my DD, it was all 3 papers and most especially her maths that are completely out of line with her performance in any mock or practice papers. I also was told that you could have a clerical check, but not a remark as the papers have already been marked/checked twice. When I spoke to DD's teacher today he also said he was really shocked by her results especially the maths and asked if a remark is possible... He said she is on target for solid level 6 SATS.

I did notice on the appeals section that someone from Essex said they had been able to request a remark of one paper. Perhaps this has now changed.

As for VR, my eldest DD had the same thing two years ago, surprisingly low VR mark, but luckily the other papers were good and she made it.

In terms of appeals, does anyone know if you need to put the GS on your CAF even if you know the mark is too low if you might consider an appeal. I presume you would need to otherwise you haven't any in/out decision to appeal against, just a score. By not putting it on the CAF would it mean you accept the score is too low.... (our score is 321.804, we wanted Colchs).
talea51
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Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by talea51 »

My dd's VR was the worst she's ever had too by about 20 marks! She has consistently scored around between 75/80 and 80/80 for VR practice papers. We did GL, Walsh and Daughtrey. She once got 68/80 for a Daughtrey paper but that's it. I can't understand what happened and was also going to ask for a remark. I would have thought that if dd had a meltdown she'd have noticed. She came out the exam calm and happy.

She also has done lots of mock exams, she did 3 external ones and in the summer we did one every week at home. So she knew what it was like to be tired at the end of a long exam. I can only imagine that somehow she messed up the answer sheet. Perhaps by not erasing her mistakes fully enough or by not making a definite enough line.

Sleeplessinhalstead, you should put ColCHS on your CAF in any case, you never know you might get in off the waiting list. Good luck!
jojo2305
Posts: 88
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:45 pm

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by jojo2305 »

talea51 wrote:My dd's VR was the worst she's ever had too by about 20 marks! She has consistently scored around between 75/80 and 80/80 for VR practice papers. We did GL, Walsh and Daughtrey. She once got 68/80 for a Daughtrey paper but that's it. I can't understand what happened and was also going to ask for a remark. I would have thought that if dd had a meltdown she'd have noticed. She came out the exam calm and happy.

She also has done lots of mock exams, she did 3 external ones and in the summer we did one every week at home. So she knew what it was like to be tired at the end of a long exam. I can only imagine that somehow she messed up the answer sheet. Perhaps by not erasing her mistakes fully enough or by not making a definite enough line.

Sleeplessinhalstead, you should put ColCHS on your CAF in any case, you never know you might get in off the waiting list. Good luck!
I am thankful that I am not the only who feels that the vr score doesn't add up. I am writing my email tonight to get my dd's checked x
mikedellfarm
Posts: 269
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:26 am

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by mikedellfarm »

Apologies Bravado and thank you for "moderating" me.. it was a name not a swear word BTW ! SORRY.
Finally
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:29 am

Re: VR - why did my DS struggle with this ?

Post by Finally »

Also baffled by DD's VR paper. She did loads of VR (we focused on VR more than anything), and always got about 80%. The papers she did I am not allowed to mention on here, but I do know that they are supposed to be equal in difficulty to the 11 plus ones. We also did SD Bright Sparks which were around the same level.

I have spoken to DD's tutor company today and was told that they have had loads of calls in the last 24 hours with people saying the same thing - that their children found it easy yet scored really low. The company has been going for years and if they haven;t had this before then there must be something different about this year's papers. DD came out saying that she found it fine and expected to do really well in it - she got 50/80.

Again, DD did not have a meltdown, she went in smiling and came out smiling, she wasn't unwell or tired as she was used to doing the papers. It could have been that she also did not mark them off properly but she did enough papers and knows how to draw a line! She said there was not loads of vocab in the papers either.

It does seem bizarre that we are never allowed to see a past VR paper yet the Maths and English are published.

I am going to phone CSSE in the morning.
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