11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi All,

Long time lurker on this excellent forum.

My child took the first 11+ paper on Tuesday and said it was very hard - harder than the practise papers. It appears from talking to other parents that the concensus was that it was quite a hard paper and many children struggled to complete all questions?

I'm just wondering if any parents could ngive some feedback from their childrens experiences this week?

Thanks

DD found 2 sections especially hard. Hoping next week paper is better...

My DS found the paper hard. He has been routinely getting 73-80/80 on practise papers and says he had to guess 5 and missed out 5. Very upset when he came out. I've spoken to quite a few parents whose children were are in a similar and worse position. Fingers crossed the next paper isn't so tough, I really feel for them.

My DD also missed out some questions which we are really concerned about. She normally scores 70-72 range consistently on the practise papers. From what we can gather there seem to have been a few stinkers in this paper that some kids dwelled on (despite being coached not to!!). Frustrating. Feel sick. But what more can ou do about it?

At the end of the day the scores are standardised so we shouldnt be complaining. I just wish my DD had at least completed all the questions before running out of time.

Evening all, our first experience of 11+ even though I work in education. General feeling amongst contacts and entrants was that this was a difficult paper.

Possible reasons? With some GS's oversubscribed for the first time in ages last year and the increasing popularity of the 11+ on Wirral, it is much easier to be in a position where you can offer places to highest marks rather than disappoint a large number who achieve what has traditionally been considered a pass mark.

Imagine the chaos if loads of students scored >90% and there were not enough places? Appeals and loads of heartbroken students.

My son thought that the paper was ok but a few other children that I asked thought it was very hard .

Can anyone explain next steps (someone said that Head Teachers have a chance to input in January) - we are out of area - does that still apply? Not sure whether our Head would get involved. Wonder whether we would need to prompt.
Good Luck everyone for tomorrow!

Jellycat, I believe that the heads to get the chance to have some input in January but not sure if heads generally do recommend people for grammar schools if they have not passed the 11+ . Our head gave the impression that he would only put forward a recommendation if there were special circumstances. Not sure how it would work out of area, I guess you should ask someone in the education dept?

Those that I have spoken to today think that today's paper was easier .

Our DD also thought todays paper was easier as did the other children.

Thanks for your response lily - will investigate.

Today's paper much better so fingers crossed.

It's gonna be a long couple of months till March