CEM - working out on question paper?

[Marylou]

General question about CEM tests - please can someone tell me whether candidates are allowed to write on the question paper for working-out purposes, or are they given rough paper?

[Okanagan]

No rough paper - just working out on the answer booklet wherever they can find a space to do it (but it has to be space in the section they're working on as not allowed to go on ahead, or go back to completed sections).

[Marylou]

OK, thanks Okanagan! Just wondering as the old Bucks tests used to have plenty of room for working out (on the question booklet), which would probably have been only just sufficient for DD who seems to need acres of paper to work out a few sums!

Interesting that you mentioned the answer booklet - does this mean that the children do not have a separate answer sheet? I only ask because the papers in Bucks are optically marked (all 6,000+ of them!) and this would presumably be more cost-effective for a large number of single sheets rather than booklets.

[Okanagan]

Certainly here in Warwickshire it is answers in the question booklet. But then part of it (the maths, some of the English) is standard format here - this is a sample of the layout style used in the Warwickshire/Birmingham/Wolverhampton tests. However as it has been stated that Bucks will be all multiple choice perhaps the format will inevitably be a bit different so it could mean they'll still use separate answer sheets there.

[Marylou]

Thanks for the info. The Bucks system is "opt-out" rather than "opt-in" so I'm guessing CEM will adapt its approach to that scenario in terms of numbers. Though I do think having just one booklet for questions and answers is always preferable, especially as mistakes are often made on separate answer sheets when the "correct" answer ends up being marked in the wrong place!