Results / Allocations 2010

[Bad Dad]

This is the information about the GS tests:

...
Essay: 30 minutes easy

Was there really a 30 minute essay this year! Gosh, that is a bit of a departure on last year. In what way was the essay easy? There is no problem to be solved or "right" answer, is there?

edit: Come to think of it, Sassie'sDad, your daughter did the test last year, the same as my eldest. He didn't mention an essay. I agree, this post is a tad confusing in that it is mixing together bits from different tests. Thanks anyway, though.

[Ed's mum]

Yes, well spotted Bad Dad. No essay for the new Warks 11+ test.

[Sassie'sDad]

Hi Bad Dad, You've got me wondering too now. You must bear in mind that I have never seen any of these exams and can only go by what I am told. I have to thank Ed's Mum for making my post clearer. I know there was no essay in the Rugby exams. There was an essay set in the previous format Warwickshire 11+ tests. It was used as a tie breaker I think. Dd's primary sent out a letter, because they got off on the wrong foot and later had to withdraw it, saying there would be an essay sat in school before the test.

Someone posted in a related thread that there was no VR in the current 11+ exam: not true but I agree three minutes worth is just the blink of an eye. I totally agree it's not worth tutoring for over months or years. I still reject the idea it is only the clever kids what pass. It's about time management, attitude and motivation which is why so many girls do so well. For the same age they have more maturity than boys.

My reason for including the Rugby stuff (and tbh when I got the red light from Ed's Mum I just cut and pasted from a private email as I was going out to eat) is that I understand Rugby's computerised test is an adaptation of the computerised base line test which has been available since 2004, it is the child of CEM. Here's the link
http://www.yellisproject.org/RenderPage ... D=11518002

Always ready to be corrected. The more you learn the more there is to know.

My last comment is about the 11+.Cannot resist making one last point . Children do not really fail this exam the pass mark is engineered to take exactly the number for whom places are available without altering school size. There is no comparable exam. All candidates should be treated as heroes irrespective of outcome!

IMHO Warwickshire L.E.A. should avoid putting yet more IT in schools and instead divert the technology to the 11+ testing. The amount of money being wasted on malfunctioning IT is eye watering and pupils are subverting the internet access to no 'educational' (in the formal sence) purpose.

Just discovered two new things, 1 dd got under age access to FB via her sister who acted as a parent! 2. Dd and her peers are conducting virtual relationships with their school gender oposites via FB. Has just bought a sweater emblazoned with "break the rules" Plus ca change!
What I want to know is why nobody has picked up my callenge about expanding Grammar school places! If everyone got together we cold force any political party to give us what we want.

I have voted Tory most of my life, but not next time. Cameron is Tony Blair Mark II in my book and his remarks about Grammar schools speaks volumes. He went to Eaton but if he had gone to the local comp we would never have heard from him again! Now I must watch my language or I will be gravitating to MN.

[Charlotte67]

This is what my son could remember of the tests:

1st paper: About 22 pages, 4 sections.

Comprehension - 2 passages, 'lots of questions' finished it all, didn't need to guess.

NVR - finished all, left out a couple, the odd guess - didn't say what they were though

Short maths: Enjoyed this! Lots of questions, missed out one or two.

Cloze test - "Fine"


2nd paper: 33 pages (!), 4 sections.

Long maths - this was what sent him into a tail spin. Missed out a 'whole page'. Thinks there were about 20 questions & he missed out about 5. However, was completely hazy about it. Other children have mentioned questions about Dollar/Euro/£ - my son can't remember this. I tried to find out more, "Was there a timetable? Questions about time?" "No." And "No" it was for anything I suggested.

VR - Lots and lots of questions, various types - Get from one word to another in 2 steps, Change 1 letter, etc. One he did remember, was something about having to give a one word answer meaning "not very long ago" - obviously was 'recently' (Cue wailing, "My mind went blank and I thought of the words after the time was up!")

Bear in mind that this is only one boy's memory of events and he was reluctant to talk about it at all. I quizzed gently and took mental notes but we didn't sit down & rehash the whole thing as he did not want to relive the experience! Shame it wasn't my daughter sitting this exam as she would have told me everything in great detail.

I have noticed that, compared with last year, there were the same number of NVR questions, fewer VR and more maths.

I disagree with SD's comment that there were 3 minutes of VR.

I also wonder why he thinks that more girls do well than boys The waiting list cut off scores would suggest otherwise...

[saram]

My son also missed a section of the maths out - he said it had a new heading and he thought he shouldn't do it yet, but then that section was closed off- has anyone else come across this? Thankfully, he didn't mention this until after he'd been accepted! I tried to gather some info from him at the time, but it was all very hazy; the gist of it was there were hundreds of questions and he couldn't answer all of them, but it had been drummed into him that he wouldn't be able to and just had to keep going. It worked, thankfully.

[Charlotte67]

FYI - A post on the Birmingham forum about the 2009 11+ tests, which are also devised by CEM...

Paper 1

Synonyms - approx. 30 questions in 7 minutes - words included antiquity, pigment, gregarious

Antonyms - approx. 22 questions in 5 minutes - words included deliberate, din

Long Maths
1. Question about tiling a room - 120 tiles long, one tile 30 cm x 30 cm - what was length of room in cm and m? If tiles were 40p each how much would it cost to tile the room. (3 questions)
2. 3 passengers on bus at stop 1 - different stops, some got off, some got on - how many people on bus at stop 5 (only 1 question)
3. Bar chart of school clubs - 64 children in year, max 2 clubs each, 7 children don't go to a club, how many children went to 2 clubs (5 questions)
4. Table of 6 children - ticks for who has brothers, sisters, pets - how many have at least 1 brother and 1 sister; which statement is true (2 questions)
5. Mini olympics - large confusing grid with gaps - how many points each performance - gave total scores - fill in grid (4 questions to fill in grid, further 5 or 6 about the grid)

-----

Paper 2

Missing words in 2 passages (about 14 in each); 10 minutes - first easy - about plane landing in Hudson River, example words tr---r (trader), damage, extinguisher, through, weapons. Second one hard - about Viking travellers from Norway - example Denmark.

2 Comprehensions - explorer went to Antarctica and saw red sky and amazing views - quite easy eg. what colour sky - 10-12 multiple choice questions
Classroom in Winter - gave you where people sat, some people stuck in snow - 10-12 multiple choice questions - very easy - questions like which statement must be true, why was blackboard tilted diagonally, why were socks hanging from fire.

Quick maths - 30 questions in 10 minutes eg. ordering fractions, lots of algebra

3D shapes - about 21 questions in 10 minutes - questions about shapes from different angles and rotated round

This could well have been the same as or very similar to the Warwickshire test - there is a high probablilty that my son 'remembered' things incorrectly!

[Sassie'sDad]

Hi C67, Your last post looks very like a much more interesting version of what Rugby High School put in their Admissions Policy for 2010.

The CEM Centre tests will be set in a morning session in test centres on a Saturday during the first half of the Autumn Term, 3rd October 2009. If a second date is required it will be Saturday 10th October.

Verbal Reasoning involves the manipulation of verbal representations and the solving of verbally presented problems. Orthographic, syntactic and semantic abilities, as well as logic and problem solving skills are needed in verbal reasoning.

Each test will be of 45 minutes duration:

Paper 1 will include:
20 minutes verbal reasoning
10 minutes short maths questions
15 minutes comprehension

Paper 2 will include:
15 minutes longer maths questions
10 minutes data processing questions
10 minutes non verbal reasoning
10 minutes missing words in paragraph test (‘clozed test’)

Comprehension tests the ability to make inferences as to meaning within and between phrases, sentences and paragraphs; to derive the ‘gist’ of the meaning from a text; understand the vocabulary, and extract interpretations of the written language.

Non-Verbal reasoning tests eliminate cultural bias in intelligence testing and the possible bias against individuals who lack experience of a particular language or have difficulties with verbal elements.

The ‘Cloze Test’ consists of several short passages of prose. It needs an overall understanding of the passage, but it requires a closer attention to the grammatical and syntactic elements of written language than in the comprehension test. The candidate selects the most appropriate word from a choice of three at various points in the passage so as to make sense of the phrase and/or sentence.

Short mathematical questions will test ability in mental arithmetic and recognition of mathematical patterns. They will involve a rigorous test of working memory skills and a speed element. It is expected that not all candidates will finish the section.

Longer mathematics questions explore numerical problem solving requiring more stages of processing with a greater verbal element involved than in the short maths questions.

Girls do seem to be doing better at school on balance. There are some pretty unreadable academic studies. Here are just two readable explanations.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1892

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... ion-gender

[concerto]

Charlotte67,

Many congratulations to your son.


Concerto

[Ed's mum]

Dear all,

This post is really intended for anyone with children sitting the test in 2010. My son, who is a bright boy; top tables, all 5s at end yr5, etc., came out of the exam in a terrible state. He had never encountered anything as hard and it threw him completely. He was convinced that he had failed and remained so until we got the results.

He passed easily - I'm not going to post his exact score and rank as it may give away our identities - roughly though, his standardised score was mid 340s, his rank higher than 80 and his birthday more than a month before Christmas. The break down of his standardised score shows that he was pretty consistent across the 3 areas, but just a little (6 & 7 marks) better at VR.

I have just phoned for his raw scores and was totally shocked! No wonder he was upset! What a huge amount of seriously difficult questions there must have been.

Scores were:

VR 81/125 - 65%
Num 33/83 - 40% !!!
NVR 22/37 - 60%

Food for thought? My son did panic when he couldn't get things finished in time or just found things too hard. It was awful to see him so distressed after the test, he felt that he had let himself down and that he could have done so much better. Parents please take note: this test is HARD - your children will leave out huge chunks of questions. Prepare them for this!! We had warned our son that this would be the case, but obviously not enough.

I thought I should reiterate what C67 has stated. It's a tough test and, as a result, does not require exceptionally high scores to ensure a qualifying score. You child will almost certainly leave lots out. I 'phoned for my daughter's results today (raw scores):

VR: 89/125 - 71%
Maths: 34/83 - 40%
NVR: 31/37 - 83%

She told me that she left out about half the maths questions due to the amount they were expected to answer within the time. She was convinced that she had done extremely badly throughout the wait from October to March.

We had done no tutoring. No idea why actually - spent too much time on here methinks! She reads all the time and is on top tables for num and lit. Despite the low maths score, she is G & T in this subject and is working at 5a level. Hopefully this illustrates what this section of the test is like (or was this year anyway).

Hope this helps.

[KenR]

The following is the advance notice of the 2010 test:

[quote]
Arrangements for the tests for 2011 entry

Children whose parents have registered for the tests will attend the test centres to complete the test papers. Normally, each child will attend only one session. Details of the test centre are sent to the parent following registration, normally in August or September. Parents of children living in Warwickshire with difficulties in transporting their child to a test centre can raise their individual case with the Admissions Service.

The tests will be set in a morning session in test centres on 3rd October 2010. If a second date is required it will be Saturday, 10th October 2010.

The tests will comprise two standard format papers (bespoke papers available only to Warwickshire County Council).

Each test will be of 45 minutes duration.

Paper 1 will include:

20 minutes verbal reasoning
10 minutes short maths questions
15 minutes comprehension

Paper 2 will include:

15 minutes longer maths questions
10 minutes data processing questions
10 minutes non verbal reasoning
10 minutes missing words in paragraph test (‘cloze test’)

Verbal reasoning involves the manipulation of verbal representations and the solving of verbally presented problems. Orthographic, syntactic and semantic abilities, as well as logic and other problem solving skills are needed in verbal reasoning.

Comprehension tests the ability to make inferences as to meaning within and between phrases, sentences and paragraphs; to derive the ‘gist’ of the meaning from a text; understand the vocabulary, and extract accurate interpretations of the written language.


Non-Verbal

Non-verbal reasoning tests eliminate cultural bias in intelligence testing and the possible bias against individuals who lack experience of a particular language or have difficulties with verbal elements.

The ‘Cloze Test’ consists of several short passages of prose. It needs an overall understanding of the passage, but it requires closer attention to the grammatical and syntactic elements of written language than in the comprehension test. The candidate selects the most appropriate word from a choice of three at various points in the passage so as to make sense of the phrase and/or sentence.


Mathematical Sections:

Short mathematical questions will test ability in mental arithmetic and recognition of mathematical patterns (as curriculum free as possible). A rigorous test of working memory skills with a speed element to this section. Not all the candidates will be expected to finish.

Longer mathematics problems explore numerical problem solving requiring more stages of processing with a greater verbal element involved than in the short maths questions.

One familiarisation paper will be issued to each candidate registered for the tests with the notice of allocation to a particular Test Centre.

A single testing session will include:
Test Paper 1 (45 minutes)
Short Break
Test paper 2 (45 minutes)

Supplementary tests will be held on 20th October 2010. These will only be available for those who provide proof of illness on the day of the original tests (doctor’s note) or who are able to provide evidence of special circumstances such as religious grounds or previously booked engagements prior to the date of the original tests. Late applications from parents moving into the priority area will be included in this group.


Children not resident in South Warwickshire can be considered for a place at King Edward VI School. However, the first round of offers will only be made to those living within the school’s priority circle, as described in the Local Authority booklet “Secondary Schools in South Warwickshireâ€