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Buck VR Alphabetical Ordering and tutor?

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 9:55 am
by lexym
Would just like to check with those more experienced than I – Bucks VR test, does it contain questions on alphabetical ordering or require specialist knowledge of alphabetical positions? It doesn’t look to me as if it does as they don’t appear in the IPS parent book. That does cover all the different types that are likely to appear doesn’t it? I’m basing all my knowledge on this site and the IPS books – but just want some reassurance that that’s a sensible approach – does the tutor know something that I don’t?

I ask because we have recently started with a tutor for DD – a personality clash (well rather a personality similarity) between DD and previous ‘tutor’ i.e. me made us think a tutor would be a better option – had difficulty finding anyone local that tutored and was recommended someone through a friend of a friend. DD has been for 3 sessions now and they still haven’t finished going through the ‘assessment’ paper. Yesterday they showed me a question they had been working on and it was about identifying the word that would appear 3rd if they were ordered alphabetically. I said that I was surprised as I didn’t think it was one of the 21 types – she looked blank. Am I unnecessarily concerned? I’m not really sure what to do next. I think that without a tutor DD and I will not manage, however if I find myself needing to find someone else (I know I’m jumping ahead there) I’m not sure what to do. There is no-one within a reasonable distance of us listed as a tutor through this site. How will I go about it (this late in the day).

Any advice most appreciated.

Re: Buck VR Alphabetical Ordering and tutor?

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 12:40 pm
by Y
There are no alphabetical ordering questions in the Bucks test. It sounds like your tutor is not familiar with the Bucks 11+. The IPS papers give an accurate representation of the relevant 21 types. Your tutor is teaching the wrong material.

Re: Buck VR Alphabetical Ordering and tutor?

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 1:33 pm
by Sally-Anne
lexym wrote:DD has been for 3 sessions now and they still haven’t finished going through the ‘assessment’ paper.
It could be that the tutor is using the assessment paper to teach the methodology for each type, in which case it might take a while. On balance though, covering fewer than 80 questions in 3 hours doesn't sound good ...
Yesterday they showed me a question they had been working on and it was about identifying the word that would appear 3rd if they were ordered alphabetically. I said that I was surprised as I didn’t think it was one of the 21 types – she looked blank. Am I unnecessarily concerned?
... and nor does that. You and Y are of course both correct that the IPS book covers all the types for Bucks.

Do you know which books she is using? It could be that she is using Susan Daughtrey's Books 1 - 4. Some tutors fall into that trap because they know that Susan has a big tutoring operation for the Bucks 11+, and therefore they assume that her all her materials must be appropriate for the test.

Hopefully someone will be able to PM you with the name of an alternative tutor. Otherwise I am afraid that it may have to be either DIY, or show the tutor the IPS book and ask her to teach only those question types. I have known parents who have done that, and the tutors have recognised the error of their ways, but this one sounds terribly slow as well. I know that Patricia covers all 21 types comprehensively in around 6 lessons!

Good luck with it all.

S-A

Re: Buck VR Alphabetical Ordering and tutor?

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 4:01 pm
by Marylou
I never cease to be :shock: at the number of tutors who don't take the trouble to find out what types of questions are actually included in the exam. It's not exactly classified information!

Re: Buck VR Alphabetical Ordering and tutor?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:32 pm
by alberta
I was thinking the same about some of the questions that were asked about Verbal reasoning tests for Bucks as kept thinking these weren't in the IPS books?? I am going to just go by tutoring material that is recommended by this website. Just one question, the tutors VR papers 1-12, are these still recommended? I know the papers are out of print but can we still download them?

thanks.

Re: Buck VR Alphabetical Ordering and tutor?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:57 pm
by Sally-Anne
They are the first 12 items on this page - for download: http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/epaper ... =f&c=1&p=6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;