2013 exam takers-Are we OK?

[Jini]

Hope all of you coping

Tutoring for DD by moi is over- we are practicing exam papers. we do one or two papers a week under exam condition (timed) depending on how we feel.

On good days DD is getting over 85%, sometimes hitting 100% and on a bad day 64 % - we are going on summer holiday and will be away for 5 weeks and we do not intend to do any studying. We've earned the break

Not boasting but I am from the tropics and we are going there to get some sunshine (UK weather is getting me so down!!!) and 11+ will have to take a back seat as I am not denying DD her summer holiday. When we come back we will do two serious revision sessions and 1 practice Test paper per subject before the actually exams...Whatever the results in October we know we've tried our best!!!

For all of you out there working hard with your DDs and DSs good luck.

I cannot believe I will have to do it all over again in a years time as my DS will be taking his in 2015!!!!

[TestingTimes]

Where is everyone? With only weeks to go, I can't believe the 2013 takers are so quiet!

DS is doing ok, he's been getting very high scores on the GL Assessment pack 1 papers but did a pack 2 NVR paper yesterday and found it much harder.

[MadMum.com]

Eek my dd is not doing so good, results in maths have been around 48-60% of late. We also have the dreaded hormones to contend with atm in a huge way. It's not looking good but dd is still wanting to try, we are just going to have to go over areas and hope for the best in the day!

[Ladymuck]

I thought we were doing ok until I fed the result of ds2's first past the post maths test - 26th% centile. I'm holding out a bit of hope that those docs who have taken the test so far are exceptionally well prepared! However it does highlight the areas he needs to do more work very clearly.

We're OOC so looking at SS and I suspect that ds is marginal on a good day.

[mystery]

Do you think the test is like the real one your child will do? And do you know what 26 centile means? Was it based on everyone who sat the test that day or something else?

[Ladymuck]

You enter the exam results online. The peer group is everyone in ds's year group who has bought that pack and registered the result. The questions seemed to be similar to NFER. For the questions be got wrong you can see what percentage of the peer group got the same question wrong. Certainly it has highlighted his weak areas. He got 78%, so not great, but 74% of the peer group scored higher.

[theonly1]

Hello all,
I know sometimes parctice test results or even mock results atimes might not meet up to our expectations, however, it is an opportunity to work on weak areas highlighted. I used this last year to coach my little one and he did exceedingly well in the real exam. I also used pep talk to put him in the right frame of mind for the exam. I have observed that sometimes the mood of a child or little distractions can affect performance on the day. So please also have motivational chats with your children leading up to the exam. I pray you have sweet stories to tell at the end of the day. Also the pain does fade!

[Blakesmum]

Hi all.

I've been lurking in the background for a bit so thought I'd let you all know the situation. Firstly, I think I should change my name as Blake took the test a few years back.

Secondly, I can't believe DS2 is just weeks away from taking the dreaded test. Having been through the process with DS1, who is happy at his chosen school, I felt prepared for the stress- but 2 is sooo different from 1!!!
Since DS2 took his test I have graduated as a teacher so felt slightly more prepared this time round
Although we've had bond books on the go since Yr3, we started really focusing on the test a lot later than planned due to my uni work (trying not to feel guilty). DS2 has mild Tourettes and some OCD traits- which is exacerbated through stress so can not be 'pushed'.
I am trying not to worry as he is Level 4a/4b and his Yr 5 CATs were in the 120's except for Maths which was 114.

Could do with another 6 months to tighten his maths up I think!!!

[MadHatter]

It's panic stations here in wonderland. DS was scoring well across the board but everything's just slipped back, especially the maths. Down to the 50% - 60% mark on GL/Letts papers. The most frustrating thing is his sloppiness, especially with maths. There's little if anything in any of the papers that he can't do, he's just not engaging his brain – misreading questions, jumping to conclusions and making stupid mistakes on things like basic subtraction and multiplication. I feel like I want to put the papers away and go back to basics but there's no time and in any case it's really exam technique rather than knowledge that's missing. All thoughts of SS now out of the window - a straightforward pass would be a miracle, and with non-selective options around us a write-off the pressure is well and truly on. I'm not sure whether I want to transport myself to October when it'll all be over (let's not even touch on appeals…!) or stop the clock while we try to sort out the mess...

[mystery]

Oh don't lose hope. Choose his freshest time of day and just give him some basic calculations to practise? If you look through the 8 GL assessment practice maths papers the actual arithmetic load is not that high is it?

Just do the 8 maths papers again and again (maybe change the numbers?) until his accuracy is improved?

Remember though that the raw score for a superselective is not as high as you think.

If he's a bit laid back (which sounds like the case) he'll probably perform better on the day with a bit of adrenaline whereas there'll be other normally accurate children dropping marks on the day because it is a test situation.