Excuse me if I scream.......

[Kismet]

Here we are on the home stretch to 11+ 2016 and I need to avoid stressing my DD out any more than she is already so I thought I might seek solace with you lovely people.

DD may or may not get through but we know it's not lack of ability that would be the decider for her. If she goes to our (pretty good) local comp I'm sure she will be fine but after the build up to the exam I know it'll feel odd for a while until it turns around. And yet I also believe she would thrive in any of the girls grammars. I forgot to look around Stroud High in the melee that is and was the end of the summer term but have, thankfully, remembered to share results with the school. No doubt there will be a chance in October to visit.

Anyone else out there feeling the tension of these last few weeks?

[Jolem2000]

I too am feeling stressed for my DD! She fortunately seems quite relaxed but I will be very glad when this is all over. I'm not feeling very confident she is finding the maths really hard. My two DS did the old style tests and I found them much easier to cope with.
I'm sure SHS will have another open day or evening in October.
Good luck with keeping your stress levels in check!

[Kismet]

Thanks Jolem. I'm impressed that your DD is relaxed. I think half the pressure on my DD is self inflicted because she feels she won't do as well as DS, who is at Tommies. Every so often DS tells her so and that really doesn't help.

DD sat a mock recently and going through bits with her I could see that she did know a lot more than it appeared from her result. She said she spent lots of time worrying that she was going to run out of time. I think I'm going to sit with her and do short timed tests in the hope she can focus more on the questions and less on the clock.

[cazien]

I think half the pressure on my DD is self inflicted because she feels she won't do as well as DS, who is at Tommies. Every so often DS tells her so and that really doesn't help.

DD sat a mock recently and going through bits with her I could see that she did know a lot more than it appeared from her result. She said she spent lots of time worrying that she was going to run out of time. I think I'm going to sit with her and do short timed tests in the hope she can focus more on the questions and less on the clock.

Could you turn your DS's comments into a positive? Encourage her to "rise" to his challenge! My DD struggled with timings - so we told her not to spend too long on one question but move on and go back if she had time.

My DD didn't do very well in one of her mocks last year (48% I think), but she qualified and decided upon Ribston. Mocks can be a good baseline guide for where a DC needs help but I still remain sceptical as to whether they have a good relation to the actual test itself (unless a DC is storming them ).

Stroud High have an open evening on Thursday 13 October 2016 - 5.30 to 8pm. We didn't look at SHS as I looked into travel/transport first and decided it wouldn't be an easy journey for DD.

Good luck!