The Kent test insert

[salsa]

Hi,

According to the familiarisation booklet:
"You may do any rough work in the test booklet."

Salsa

[PettswoodFiona]

DD says in Kent she remembers you were allowed to write in pencil on the question paper but you had to rub it out and had to do that before the time was up. She sat OOC and she could see faint line marks where the paper had been used before...she said she could tell a previous person had got quite a few wrong so be carefu not to follow those marks! Doesn't sound quite right to me but then DD says of the four tests she sat she remembers most from Kent as it was the first and it was so disorganised. She also remembers a friend who was upset as she only had a small rubber and was wasting what would otherwise be answering questions time rubbing out. I don't know how accurate this is and even if it were then it could all change, so as said before versatility of technique is more important than a rigid method.

[PurpleDuck]

DD says in Kent she remembers you were allowed to write in pencil on the question paper but you had to rub it out and had to do that before the time was up. She sat OOC and she could see faint line marks where the paper had been used before...she said she could tell a previous person had got quite a few wrong so be carefu not to follow those marks! Doesn't sound quite right to me but then DD says of the four tests she sat she remembers most from Kent as it was the first and it was so disorganised.

That doesn't sound right at all, I didn't realise this sort of thing was allowed...

[catherinesara71]

Omg that's wrong on all counts. Think I would have asked for the said paper back after it was examined.

[PettswoodFiona]

But the point here is the question paper is not examined or assigned to one student, only the answer paper is specific to one student. Having talked now to others apparently in Kent the question papers are well known to be re-used - hadn't thought of it before the questions and DD hadn't mentioned it before now.

[salsa]

That is very odd. It would rob a child of valuable minutes, especially in a timed pressured test.
I have asked KCC who have replied that the child can write on the paper. The sample paper also stipulates you can. So, unless things have changed, invigilators should not be asking children otherwise. I think that if you can manage the question paper, answer sheet and scrap paper, then great. If you miss your place, etc, then I would encourage children to scribble on the question paper.

I don't believe that being able to manage bits of paper is necessarily what is tested, so it should not act as a disadvantage to those children more on the "clumsy side", for want of a better word.

When my eldest took the test, there was a mock a week before at the same school they would take the test. During the Maths part, the invigilators finished early. Moreover, they put pressure on the children saying to signal if they had finished. Now, I had asked my son to use every minute and if he had finished that he should use the time to check. He was trying to do this, but on seeing that everyone had already finished, felt embarrassed and declared he'd finished too. I called the school to complain and was assured that it wouldn't happen in the real test. It was okay for my son and those I knew who were informed, but what about the other children? Would they have felt that they had to rush?

About reusing the question paper, I understand that there are some late takers, but would they need all 16,000 papers unmarked?

I think that your daughter was unnecessarily distracted by the fact that the test had been marked and rubbed out. By all means reuse those papers unmarked, but this is not fair for a more insecure child who may just go with what another child put.

Testing conditions should be the same for everyone.

Salsa

[PettswoodFiona]

KCC have two dates, one for the IC and one for OOC so I presume they have to apply the same rules of rubbing out for all if they are re-using the papers. There isn't any question I think about whether you can write on the paper, that is confirmed, it is more what happens with those writings and it can be a waste of valuable time if you have to rub it out. All interesting stuff! Glad it is all behind us so good luck to anyone taking the test this September.

[NotEnoughHours]

My son and his classmates, who took the test in September, were allowed to write notes on the question papers throughout, which he did, and at no point was he or anyone else ever told that they needed to rub them out!
Surely there should be sufficient numbers of papers for all children in and out of County as numbers registered are known months in advance?
If papers do need to be reused for any reason they should be clean copies. It is simply not fair on the children otherwise!

[mumsdarling2]

It seems that all centres were not run the same way on the day of the exam. DS's Kent centre ran everything very smoothly. DS said that the invigilators had extra white sheets of paper for the children who wanted them.