Wallington Exam

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mumzone
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:56 pm

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by mumzone »

I am total agreement with you Loopylou. I am also upset that my DS had this as his first experience of one of the real exams. A great deal of hard work has gone into the preparation of these exams and you really want the exam process to be managed well.

Interestingly, the Wilson's information letter regarding their test next week specifically asks for you to bring a snack and it is much clearer with its instructions regarding drop off and collection. All the best if your DS is sitting that one next!

Anyway, I can't wait for all of this to be over. It is incredibly stressful!
menagerie
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 9:37 pm

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by menagerie »

I'm pretty shocked at what you've all said. Wallington have run these exams for years. They must know what is required to make them go smoothly. I feel really sorry for the boys stuck in there for hours with little water and no snack. It'll be interesting to see if the results favour the earlier sitting.
loopylou
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:08 am

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by loopylou »

I don't know if the results will favour those candidates who weren't made to sit the tests in the Sports Hall (both the early and late sessions in this venue had problems).
Time will tell but I suspect there will be a lot of appeals or at least complaints if boys from the Sport's Hall sessions miss a place by only a mark or two purely because there is no doubt, in the minds of many of their parents, that they were disadvantaged and unduly fatigued by the long waits and problems.

Lots and lots of the parents were commenting that what happened amounted to an unfair test because the boys in other venues had not endured such long delays or difficult conditions - those boys were scampering around the school field and getting snacks an hour before the exhausted boys in the Sports Hall emerged. This despite all boys having been admitted to the school together at 1pm. I’m not implying that the differences led to a huge impact on marks, but even one or two points lost due to tiredness and hunger as it neared the 5 hour mark is enough to lose a place at a school where many apply and every mark counts.
Clapham mum
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:42 pm

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by Clapham mum »

I am not sure that the other venues were quite the utopia you imagine. My son complained of long waits for the loo and had to go during an exam as there wasnt time in the break. They likewise had no snacks, could only sit at what my son said were very squashed desks and my son came out of the main hall at 6pm, again a 5 hour stint.
loopylou
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:08 am

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by loopylou »

That seems very bad as well Clapham. The Sports Hall parents were standing on the field for collection so we couldn't see other parents waiting for their boys but we could see lots of boys getting snacks and having a run around on the field after their exams had finished. They were easy to spot by the empty water bottles and book tucked under one arm :)
I wonder where the boys who came out early had all sat their tests? I guess they were dotted about all over the school and some locations ran more smoothly than others then?

Perhaps I have an unrealistic view of what to expect from these tests as I honestly thought the day was much more arduous and more daunting than I had imagined it would be. The website says "the entire test takes no longer than about 2 hours 15 minutes, although boys will be here for longer because we include a short break which includes an opportunity to use the toilet." I hadn't thought it would run to more than double that.

Anyway, nothing can be gained by worrying about it now but I do think it might be nice if they can improve things for the boys taking it next year. The numbers of applicants has been going up steadily and, whilst an extra 100 boys every two years out of 1600 isn't that many on the face of it, it is still an extra 100 desks to squeeze in, an extra 100 sets of papers to prepare and hand out and 100 extra boys in the queues for the toilets and the halls which must have an impact on timing.
Cheesedad
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:50 pm

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by Cheesedad »

Clapham mum wrote:I am not sure that the other venues were quite the utopia you imagine. My son complained of long waits for the loo and had to go during an exam as there wasnt time in the break. They likewise had no snacks, could only sit at what my son said were very squashed desks and my son came out of the main hall at 6pm, again a 5 hour stint.
Agreed re the other locations. My son was quite drained after his morning session over ran - i should have given him a snack to keep his energy up. Will do so for wilsons.
ThreeKids
Posts: 199
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:16 pm

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by ThreeKids »

I know that you probably feel that if you 'complain' about the exam process if might blight your sons chances of getting into the school, but truly it won't. I mentioned I was aware there had been issues and was encouraged to write in. I don't feel I can as it's all second hand, however the school would be very keen to know. Either write directly to the school, or if you feel you would like to do it anon then PM me your comments and I will forward them on your behalf, unchanged.
chukli
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:10 pm

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by chukli »

I was wondering if anyone knows if Wallington will be offering 'guaranteed places' in October to some candidates who did exceptionally well in the September 2011 exams or will they be posting on 7 October just a basic pass / fail notification? Looking at their website it is not clear at all.

Many thanks.
loopylou
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:08 am

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by loopylou »

Apparently a few years ago, Wallington would send out pass / fail letters giving an indication of scores and stating whether a place was likely or guaranteed. They haven't done this in recent years though and, as far as I know, won't do it this year either. The pass / fail letters are useful to a point but with so many more boys passing the exams than they can physically accommodate, it is far from certain whether a "pass" letter translates into a place.
ThreeKids
Posts: 199
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:16 pm

Re: Wallington Exam

Post by ThreeKids »

Indeed - 2 years ago you would have received a letter telling you the mark and the rank order and indicating whether or not a place was 'guaranteed'. This caused super confusion and I think a rather huge mess and headache in the end for all the Grammars. The wording of WCGS letter seemed pretty clear to me, but evidently it confused many, and they no longer give out that information. Now you just get a pass or fail, which is a great help to the 60-75% of people who will get the fail letter, but not as useful as the old system was to the pass group.

The 'Guaranteed place' bit is a misnomer really. What they said is that if you put WCGS first on your form you would be guaranteed (top 150 or so I think) to get a place, or likely if the rank order was lower but above about 350/360. Below that you got a 'you've passed but are unlikely to get a place' letter. This was true. If you live on the doorstep of your local school, and put that first on your application form then you will get that school even if you came first at WCGS. Whilst if you really wanted WCGS then you need to put it first. Unfortunatly people ended up putting WCGS first when they really wanted (say) Wilson's, then did well enough to get Wilson's but because they had put Wally first they got allocated that.

Shame really. It was great information, made life heaps easier and was ultimately abandoned because peeps can't get their heads around the 'you tell us which order you prefer the schools - we won't let the schools know your preference order' concept.
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