Good luck to all, for the up-coming Indie exams

[pepys74a]

With regard to the 65% pass rate at 13+ selective schools, the selectivity is done at 11+ as previously stated, the schools will tell you that the CE is generally a formality and that if your child has been selected at the pretest then there will be no problem with them achieving 65% at CE. The Headmaster at KCS told us recently that although their pass mark is 65%, the average pass mark achieved is actually 78%. Bear in mind that these schools expect Level 3 papers in Maths and Latin and level 2's in English and the languages.

[Catseye]

the average pass mark achieved is actually 78%.

even that's not very high for a bright 13 yr old from a feeder Prep SchoolS who are trained from day 1 for these exams!

and if you want to do anecdotal I can do that too, most of us in my profession run rings around most Etonians and Paulines !

it's a running joke with my colleagues "educated beyond their natural intelligence"




see, anecdotal adds nothing to a balanced argument, it just adds unnecessary emotion with no gain to either side.

[Lotsafun]

If the children simply had to focus on Maths and English (maybe a big of reasoning too) then the pass mark required for each subject would naturally be much higher.

why? just because there are more subjects so your reasoning/inference is one can dumb down the 2 most important subjects? doesn't make sense!

there is a huge difference between 11 year olds and 13 year olds in terms of retentive/working memory, I could show you the evidence if you wish to pursue this line of argument.

What doesn't make sense? If you have to prepare for 10 different subjects, and get an AVERAGE of at least 65% across all the exams taken, you obviously cannot focus purely on Maths and English like you can for the 11+. Even if you get 100% in the maths papers and score very highly on the English papers, you won't get through if you neglect the other subjects. The processes are SO different, it's absolutely ridiculous to compare to two. Nothing to do with dumbing it down, it just comes down to the enormous volume of subject matter at Common Entrance.

[Catseye]

get an AVERAGE of at least 65% across all the exams taken,

ok I see you wanted to emphasise average


"St Paul's. Last year, its high master wrote to schools advising them that the pass rate was 65 per cent in all examined subjects"

the answer to the rest of your ripost is already contained in the second part of my replay so will not bore you.

so lets follow your logic , given that 16yr olds(state and private) do on average 9-10 gcse's therefore we should make them p--- easy for the poor souls especially for those who have had the privilege of feeder prep schools?? you are talking about 13-14 yr olds not 10-11 yr olds even state schools do all these subjects at 13 yrs old and tested on them and no compensation is made for them! whats the big deal with doing 10 subjects at 13 it's whats everyone else does at that age?


btw I have children in both sectors

[Lotsafun]

No, the children are actually 12/13 years old.

[firefox]

get an AVERAGE of at least 65% across all the exams taken,

ok I see you wanted to emphasise average


"St Paul's. Last year, its high master wrote to schools advising them that the pass rate was 65 per cent in all examined subjects"

the answer to the rest of your ripost is already contained in the second part of my replay so will not bore you.

so lets follow your logic , given that 16yr olds(state and private) do on average 9-10 gcse's therefore we should make them p--- easy for the poor souls especially for those who have had the privilege of feeder prep schools?? you are talking about 13-14 yr olds not 10-11 yr olds even state schools do all these subjects at 13 yrs old and tested on them and no compensation is made for them! whats the big deal with doing 10 subjects at 13 it's whats everyone else does at that age?


btw I have children in both sectors

This thread is called "Good luck to all, for the up-coming Indie exams". #justsayin

[Catseye]

I stand corrected- but my statements stands

sorry I have only just noticed that it's only your 3rd post here so it must be an important issue to you ?

anyway welcome I'm a relative newbie myself, for a moment ,I must thought I was locking horns with g55

sorry firefox I crossed posted with you, i keep doing it for some reason you are of course spot one

[Lotsafun]

Not important as such, just something I've had 1st hand experience of - both 11+ and Common Entrance - I therefore feel qualified to comment on both systems. My statements still stand too - it's impossible to compare the two set of results.

Anyway, back to the thread and good luck to all doing exams at the moment - whatever they may be!

[susan40]

DD is so nervous and does not know what to do with herself. It is a tasking thing to do at that age i feel, they do feel the pressure.

Any advice what to say just before she goes in?

I was just going with a good luck and inform her of some last minute tips tonight.

[LostInTheShuffle]

Susan40: My sense with my own DD is that DCs want assurance that their parents think they are okay irrespective of the outcome. On each occasion, I have reminded my DD how much she has progressed (which I believe would be true for most/all DCs), that I am really proud of her efforts, and that everything will be fine whatever the result (I think that's all parents can say given that we have no control over the outcome).

Best wishes to your DD.