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Bond tests - harder than Nfer

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:10 pm
by Here we go again
Hi,

My daughter has been working through the Bond 'More Fourth' books and I gave her a couple of Bond Mock test papers. She scored 80% but with silly mistakes which I'm sure can be rectified over the coming months before she takes Nfer type test end of November. I'm going to start working through IPS maths and give her a Nfer maths to do each week.
My question is, has anyone else found the Bond tests more difficult than the Nfers? Most questions look to be a similar level but the Bonds do seem to have a higher number of 'tricky' question types.

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:05 pm
by perplexed
When I went through the Bond assessment papers, and the NFER maths practice papers with my stepson, I personally thought the nfer practice papers were harder. I suppose difficulty is in the brain of the doer if you see what I mean. But it is the NFER papers that define the "syllabus" for the NFER 11+ areas. The NFER practice papers are not each supposed to be a typical test, but to demonstrate the sorts of question that could crop up.

You say you are going to do one NFER paper per week - there are only four in each subject i.e. four maths only.

Good luck.

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:56 pm
by vetgal
yes definatly :D

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:56 pm
by vetgal
sorry i spelt that wrong i have had a hard day

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:55 pm
by perplexed
ooops never mind, and I meant to say that there were three NFER practice papers in each subject, so it would be hard to do one per week in an area of the country where the 11+ is a long time off.

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:35 pm
by yoyo123
surely there are 4?

11A, 11B, 11C, 11D

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:49 pm
by dadofkent
perplexed wrote:ooops never mind, and I meant to say that there were three NFER practice papers in each subject, so it would be hard to do one per week in an area of the country where the 11+ is a long time off.
I will have a pint of whatever she's drinking. :roll:

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 11:06 pm
by fm
All of my pupils have found Bond harder. A child scoring 43 in NFER would typically score 38 in Bond.
The real NFER exams appear to be easier than the practice tests. Typically my pupils scored 3 or 4 points more in the real exam than they did in my house.

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 7:59 pm
by perplexed
that's interesting. Which Bond papers are you talking about?

Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:31 am
by dadofkent
Whilst on the subject of Bond papers , I ahve currently a mix of various older Bond Assessment papers, for when DS did test previously, and newer papers, recently purchased from this site, for DD in 2009. For all subjects, the older papers suggest that level 5, or fifth, are intended to be 11+ level questions, and lower levels are for working towards the 11+. However, I note the newer series indicate that fourth papers are said to be 11+ standard, and the fifth papers are for advanced practice. Does anyone know what the position is. Have the papers been realigned, and fourth made more difficult. Has the content of the fifth papers been changed, and are the current (older) fifth papers I have different to the newer fifth?