Mike to Patricia

Advice on 11 Plus VR papers and problems

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Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

Hello

Early flight, hence me looking as if I sit up all night on this site, not that sad, yet!!!

With regard to HIKNOS, we are currently writing our fifth paper of ten, that are NFER standard format, for a course that we are running with thirty-five students.

We are looking to write possibly 100 of each type of question including HIKNOS in the new year.

This may be of use to parents, or tutors, with children sitting 11+ verbal reasoning next year, rather than this.

It is probable also that a sample, perhaps 20 of each, of the full range of questions may appear on this site in the free download section in the new year or earlier as an on-going project if we can manage our time.

We appreciate that this site was set up initially to assist one student and thereafter to provide free information for parents. Although my business is run on a profit basis, I do agree with the sites ethos of providing free advice and free resources.

I have to be careful that I am stating what I am doing rather than promoting what I am doing.

Please feel free to ask me a question about our quality controls!!!
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Look forward to seeing your 'h i k n o s' section

I am surprised that there has been no response from parents/tutors out there concerning the FACT that many publishers DO NOT mirror the NFER verbal reasoning tests that our children are sitting!!

And your quality controls are....

Patricia
Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

Dear Patricia

The content of some material claiming to be verbal reasoning practice papers is a slightly delect subject at the moment.

Thank you for enquiring about our quality controls.

1. NFER papers are mapped into IPS type questions.
2. Questions are written by myself and partner.
3. We standardise the questions to NFER content to ensure that they are as close to the real thing.
4. Question papers, answer sheets and marking schemes are written.
5. All are proof-read by ourselves before being photocopied.
6. Papers are given to thirty-five of our students on a Saturday morning, it is amazing how ten and eleven year olds can pick up any errors we have overlooked.
7. Papers are seen by a another thirty students and further reviewed by the first thirty-five as they complete their corrections.
8. All errors that have been identified are corrected.
9. The papers are forwarded to the site for inclusion in the E-papers section.

The answer sheet that is downloaded is a slightly different format to the one we use ourselves as the download information needs to be included in the footer of the pages. Hence there is a closure of spaces to allow for this.

Neither ourselves or our system are infallible, I am sure that there may be a few questions that contain ambiguity, but so far no one has pointed any out.

Regards

Mike
Guest

Post by Guest »

Hi Mike,

Interesting to read your reasons for coming out with practice papers that match Nfer format. You are absolutely correct. I am coaching my son for the exams this year and have practice papers from more than 6 different publishers. One or two match the Nfer format and the rest are on a different track.

Back to your papres. I downlaoded Verbal Reasoning Paper 3 and there is a slight mismatch in question 68. This question has 'food' as one of the words, whereas the answer sheet has 'foot'. Though this does not affect/influence picking the correct answerI thought of just bringing it your attention. Thanks goes to my son who actually spotted it.

Regards,
SB
Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

Thank you for the feedback.

It is nice to get some recognition for the close match of our papers, in comparison to other "practice papers" available, to NFER standards.

Parents in Bucks need to be aware that the papers do not contain types H,I,K,N,O and S questions (based on IPS types). Patricia, who is more familiar with the Bucks system than myself, could probably recommend were to get the top-up type questions for Bucks i.e. definitely IPS and possibly Daughtery.

The papers are also 80 questions in 50 minutes, so although they may be a useful practice resource they will need to be supplemented with additional questions for LEA areas that set 100 questions in 45 minutes.

We are grateful for any comment on the content and identification of errors such as the one spotted by your son which will help us to create as near perfect papers as we can get, before considering them for publication.

Regards

Mike Edwards
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Mike [and possible Bucks guest]

The only publishers that mirror the 'real' nfer tests in Buckinghamshire are...

IPS, AFN and Susan Daughtrey, not her books 1-7 far too many irrelevant types. Only use her Bright Sparks series.
jimmy

i do not get it but i think i should hint please

Post by jimmy »

Mike Edwards wrote:Dear Patricia

Just been watching John Peel Night with partners twenty-five year old son, enjoyed Thin Lizzy's Whiskey in a Jar'o.

Yes, we "get it", but how many "amateur parents" do?

With the exception of NFER there isn't another publisher who provides VR papers close to the real thing, either authors live in the past or live in Bucks!!, the exception is ips minus hiknos.

Lost!!

yours intuition

Mike
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

I have suggested to this website [twice] that the forum should be given a new layout, at the moment its a bit hit and miss, go to a topic named results and eventually you get a reply concerning 'hot chocolate!'

Suggested it is split into different areas of the country

Still keep a general topics/ v/r //maths/nvr - perhaps add a section on independent schools

What do you think?

Have yet to receive a reply!

Patricia
forumadmin
Site Admin
Posts: 1188
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:31 pm

New Sections in the chat forum

Post by forumadmin »

Dear Patricia,

New sections will be added in this forum as per your specifications by the end of this week.

We will add all 11 plus regions:

Berkshire
Birmingham
Buckinghamshire
Devon
Dorset
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater Manchester
Kent
Lancaster
Lincolnshire
Medway
Northern Ireland
North Yorkshire
Trafford
Wiltshire
Wirral

Plus a section for Independent Schools.

Any other suggestions always welcome.
Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

Dear Patricia

"Normal", me?? That probably means psychotic. paranoid, compulsive and obsessive to other people!!

The problem with most forums where there is freedom to post is that threads tend to go off topic after five or six postings. Unfortunately, I don't think that we can expect the administrator on this site to censor all non-relevant or off topic postings.

I tend to read new postings on the VR, Tutors, Exams and General Topic sections on a daily basis. The problem with this is keeping track when one topic becomes three or four. So I might end up not responding to a message that has been directed to me.

I think the LEA section of the site is a good starting point for parents because most of their posted questions can be answered in that section, if of course there is information there, as is the case with Bucks. However, in the case of Wirral there is no information on that section yet. Once the tests have been completed in the next two weeks I will probably post some information there.

It might be a good idea to have a topic titled "Parents" so that parents can share their individual experiences with each other thereby not blocking or diverting topics. I also think it would be a good idea if parents could have a link to individual question types, method, technique, test preparation and counselling. As far as VR is concerned we are considering preparing material for this to be placed on the free download section in the new year.

Currently living parallel lives. Here we are busy with the 11+, writing papers, preparing the kids, pacifying the parents etc. Whereas in Spain there is a man on a tractor pulling a picador doing some ground maintenance for us. Haven't seen HP yet!!!
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