Sept 2011 - who's out there?

[vasu]

I have been looking for information on Judd's open evening on their website to no avail. Does anyone have information about the date and time? Much appreciated.

[vasu]

I have been looking for information on Judd's open evening on their website to no avail. Does anyone have information about the date and time? Much appreciated.

Please dont bother , found the info on their homepage. I am such a dufus .

[Muggle]

I understand now what people mean about the "11+ roller coaster ride". I lurch between feeling confident, worried, calm, panicky, nervous, stressed and many other emotions from day to day. I'm so looking forward to it being over and done with and getting my balance back again!

The worst thing is not knowing the outcome, I like to feel in control and plan ahead, so this process is torturous for me.

[katel]

The important thing to remember is that it doesn't really matter. they will do well wherever they go. Sure, it'd be a little easier, perhaps, at grammar school, but so what? A GCSE is a GCSE - wherever you get it!

[frangipani]

The important thing to remember is that it doesn't really matter. they will do well wherever they go. Sure, it'd be a little easier, perhaps, at grammar school, but so what? A GCSE is a GCSE - wherever you get it!

I agree. Even though I feel my DC's are prob all clever enough for GS, I don't want to push any of them. Just help and encourage them, if they want to give it a shot.
I'm hoping DD2 will pass but if she doesn't then I suppose GS is prob not for her. I would be concerned if she had to struggle to get in, she might struggle later on. My DS1 didn't make it and is doing really well at his school.

[Just1-2go]

DC3 is doing the test this September, I had hoped it would feel better having been through it before but it's worse!

Silly mistakes are his downfall at the moment! Grrrrrr!

[Chocolatey Mum]

Silly mistakes are his downfall at the moment! Grrrrrr! [/quote]


I really know where you're coming from because my DD is the same.

I have spent the last few months on speeding up. She now can finish most tests within time and her percentage is going up (her starting point was around 50% so there is plenty of scope to improve more). The thing that most frustrates me is silly mistakes.

If we go over the corrections she sees straight away where she has gone wrong on as many as 20%. I am thinking of some kind of insentive to improve accuracy.
Any suggestions?

Should I relax on the timing and work on the accuracy?

[mystery]

Yes that might be an idea. It might also work if you are always full of praise for the mark she could have got if she had not made the silly mistakes.

e.g. mark her work - not while she is watching. Then ask her to do the ones she got wrong - with you present so you can see what the stumbling blocks are - then any she gets right second time round ask her to see if she can work out what her mistake was first time around. Then on the other questions that she got wrong both times work out again whether it was a silly mistake, or a lack of understanding of the question, or some curriculum area that she needs more knowledge of.

Then get her to work out the percentage she got right first time round, and the percentage she would have got if she had not made the mistakes that were definitely just silly errors. Get her to keep a graph of both percentages so that as her accuracy improves she can see the two lines moving closer together. It's all about "wow, I could have got that percentage if I hadn't made silly errors I'm great at maths" rather than "dur, I keep making silly slips I'm rubbish at maths", and being proud of the percentage she could have got right on the graph, and seeing the actual percentage moving closer to it.

Just an idea; it worked for me with my stepson but I'm sure it'll be different when my time really comes.

Also worth remembering that a lot of children pull accuracy out of the bag during the real test, when it really matters, with a little bit of adrenaline too, and just prefer to slop along the rest of the time.

[vasu]

Silly mistakes are a bane in our life. When we started doing the papers a few months ago he was doing quite well and then just recently everything took a nose dive. Earlier I would get mad and shout at him for making ridiculous mistakes. Not proud of myself. But then I took a step back and thought of a strategy. After any paper I tell him the exact number of questions he got wrong and to check it again. I do not tell him which ones . Then it is like a quest for him to find those "wrong " ones. He usually finds all of them . I want to get to point where he does this rechecking on his own without me prompting him. With only a few months left, there is a huge amount of stress on their tiny shoulders. We should support them through their blunders rather than pointing it out all the time. Believe me they feel worst than us, over their silly mistakes even if they appear unconcerned.

[scarlett]

That's a really good idea, Vasu ! I found my DS would also make silly mistakes and it seems to be really common...not sure why..maybe they are rushing, or perhaps just not reading the questions properly...I have to re read them a few times myself and of course there are the trick ones too ! I also found it difficult not to keep shouting " Dim boy !" at him constantly and I've noticed with my next son who I'm working with now, he will put down a maths answer and for example put down 11 when the answer is 12, so I think just needs to recheck.I shall try out your system with him !