11 Plus Exams Forum

Does anyone know what the highest result possible is? Just curious, as all this standardisation confuses me totally.

280 is the most marks which can be gained I believe (well according to the LEA office anyway ).

A lad in my daughter's class apparently scored 280. Blimey.

Hi,
I'm new to the forum, but have been using it for information since about Christmas, so thanks very much for that, it's been an absolutely invaluable source of help for me.
I'm the mother of the boy who did in fact score 280 on the Skipton test: it is correct too, I checked last Monday Morning with the LEA!
I'm posting, with a view to inspiring others to think about DIY. My son hasn't had any "professional/paid for" coaching at all, and he's been at it for less than a year. I'm certainly not time rich either (I work full time and have two other kids).
I did feel quite insecure about taking this option, but in the end, it couldn't have gone any better .
There are plenty of books and website information out there. You have to be completely organised and set time aside each week for "tuition". I did buy some materials which were useless, so there is an element of trial and error involved. Nevertheless, it's still a lot cheaper than £30 an hour !

Hi Lisa, Welcome to the forum

The reason we paid someone to tutor our daughter is she responds better to a "teacher" rather than us! I'm not even sure i want to teach her to drive...

Really, I'm not having a go at anyone for paying for a tutor, and sorry if I sounded smug, I didn't mean to come across like that. Lets be honest, without coaching or practice, I personally don't think this exam is "passable".
I could have afforded to pay for tuition this year, but then maybe not for my other two, which would be unfair.
I'd say it is harder work for the DIY parent, than it is for the child, since they have to learn an awful lot about the questions and the process, before they can even start imparting that knowledge. Given the choice, I would rather not have had the added stress.
As I said earlier, this website, especially the forum, has been completely invaluable helping me and no doubt many others, through a process which seems to be shrouded in secrecy, from the school gates to the LEA's offices.
It does take a degree of tenacity, to come through this process. The real unfairness lies in the fact that many children from poorer or less well informed families miss out.

Lisa D wrote:.
It does take a degree of tenacity, to come through this process. The real unfairness lies in the fact that many children from poorer or less well informed families miss out.

I agree about this to some extent and was impressed to see that one of the catchment schools, who have a very low rate of passing, started an "11 plus club" after school to help kids / parents prepare (think it was started by some parents as schools actually not allowed to coach) . Not sure if it made much difference though.

That's interesting, herman - do the various primaries have markedly different success rates? The pass rate at our village school seems to vary quite widely year on year - which (according to the head) is pretty much dependent on whether they have a "bright" year or not. Most (but not all) the kids live in the village so most are reasonably affluent, but not hugely so, so i wonder how much the socio-economic background has an impact. Greatwood was (i seem to recall) one of the schools mentioned in one of the adjudications as providing fewer than its fair share of children, but they certainly seem to be a very popular school now, with several kids travelling from well outside their normal area.

andy from embsay wrote:That's interesting, herman - do the various primaries have markedly different success rates? The pass rate at our village school seems to vary quite widely year on year - which (according to the head) is pretty much dependent on whether they have a "bright" year or not. Most (but not all) the kids live in the village so most are reasonably affluent, but not hugely so, so i wonder how much the socio-economic background has an impact. Greatwood was (i seem to recall) one of the schools mentioned in one of the adjudications as providing fewer than its fair share of children, but they certainly seem to be a very popular school now, with several kids travelling from well outside their normal area.

I think many of the schools are small and hence the rates will vary hugely year on year - yes some years are "brighter" than others - usually the mean get shifted a few points.
I think there is a big socio economic element to passing any entrance exam - intelligence is hereditary and the more intelligent the parent the more likely they are to be earning a higher salary - not always I know (there is the old chestnut of clergymen who earnt zilch but had university education and enough books to keep anyone happy).

One or two of the schools had so few passing that the parents of kids there would not have been eligible to vote in a GS ballot (c.f. Ripon) as they were not considered to be feeder schools