11 Plus Exams Forum

DD has just done a past paper from the NLCS website (2008), but I've no idea how to mark it or, indeed, what would constitute a decent mark.

Some of the questions are very tricky, requiring a level of algebraic manipulation that even DD1 in Yr8 at HBS would struggle with.

Also, some questions, although only one answer, seem to merit more than a simple bit of arithmetic. It'd be nice if the questions had the number of points they were worth...

Interesting that the examiners continue to use the word "dice" even in the singular. My assumption is that they're concerned that examinees wouldn't know what a "die" was and this is not an English paper!

Hi barnetdad,

I recall marking them from 1 Mark (or was it 3) for the easiest to 5 marks per question for the last few ones, the last 8 qs going for 8*5 40 marks,in such a way that the whole paper totals 100.will try to dig it out and let you know.the real marking scheme ,I hope, wasn't/isn't much different.

Sgcmum

Interesting, thanks. One thing that strikes me given McCabe's instance that
they "can tell" when a child has been tutored and "allow for it" is that many of these questions could not possibly be answered given instruction to standard KS2 syllabus. So do they assume that anyone who scores highly has been under the influence of a tutor and then mark them down? Seems absurd! My guess is that tutored (either by professional tutors or enthusiastic parents) pupils will simply do well - they just don't want to admit it!

Given that they shortlist girls for interview based on their marks, I don't see how they see thru 'tutoring'. Plus they don't ever see the scripts of girls who take their exam elsewhere. Any child sitting these exams will have had tutoring,it's only the extent that differs. It would be foolish to go to an exam without preparation and cruel on the child.
Probably what the head meant was that they could differentiate between a girl who has a very good grasp and someone on who they would have to spend a little more time and effort.

At the recent open day the head said only the top 170 girls are called back for an interview.Does anyone have any approx idea of how many girls actually apply?

Barnetdad,

Searched high and low for the papers. Only just realised that I gave it all away to a friend. Sorry.

Thingsbehindthesun,

Number of kids applying is not like 1200 as in the case of HBS. I would think more like 600 ish.

Sgcmum

sgcmum wrote: Thingsbehindthesun,
Number of kids applying is not like 1200 as in the case of HBS. I would think more like 600 ish.

Sgcmum

Thank you for posting! I knew there would be fewer girls applying but I just wanted a rough guide.

By the way, what's a decent score in these papers? I get the impression that these are designed to be very testing at the high end, such that it's very hard to get 100% - so harder than the DAO past papers. DD managed about 84% on the 2009 paper (based on my guess as to scoring) but I thought she did very well.

Hi BarnetDad!

Marking: Two years ago, I just gave more marks for the last few questions. I believed that nearly 100% on the early questions and, say, 85% on the middle ones would be sufficient to get an interview, unless the English Mark is very low. The last few questions are there to look for the special mathematical talents. Very few will get all of these right.

Tutoring: These last few questions cannot be tutored for, in general. Unfortunately, the earlier questions can be : my DD is living testament to that. ... I believe that a candidate who, at age 10, shows a real spark on these very hard investigative questions- in other words, proper Maths - may get an interview even if their combined English and Maths mark is not that high. ... I reckon that St Paul's Girls is especially good at spotting such talents through exam and interview.

WH

Yes, I think you're right. However, I suspect that the state schools are forbidden from exercising such judgement.