NFER and Bexley pass mark for guranteed place?
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Re: NFER and Bexley pass mark for guranteed place?
Practice, practice and more practice... little and often.
We started by revising the syllabus and made sure she knew how to work things out. One new topic every week + revising topics done previously. We found it important to keep going over things covered in previous weeks to keep it all fresh so she would not "forget". Even when we were out in the car, we would sometimes ask questions such as how would you calculate the area of a circle, percentage, etc... We made up a lot of our own questions & encouraged her to read questions carefully,
We also used Bond + Nfer for Maths and Bond & IPS for VR but we only started doing the Nfer practice papers during the 2nd half of August. However, we used loads of different publishers and free sample papers whilst revising. I think it is important to practice all topics as widely as you can and not to stick to only one or two publishers... Nfer is the exam board in Bexley however DD said that the Kent test was more like the Nfer practice paper than the Bexley test.
Last but not least... we always tried to end on a positive note and/or something she was really good AND stay calm whatever happens... A lot easier said than done, especially when explaining something for the 9th time and the child looks at you as if you have 3 heads...
We started by revising the syllabus and made sure she knew how to work things out. One new topic every week + revising topics done previously. We found it important to keep going over things covered in previous weeks to keep it all fresh so she would not "forget". Even when we were out in the car, we would sometimes ask questions such as how would you calculate the area of a circle, percentage, etc... We made up a lot of our own questions & encouraged her to read questions carefully,
We also used Bond + Nfer for Maths and Bond & IPS for VR but we only started doing the Nfer practice papers during the 2nd half of August. However, we used loads of different publishers and free sample papers whilst revising. I think it is important to practice all topics as widely as you can and not to stick to only one or two publishers... Nfer is the exam board in Bexley however DD said that the Kent test was more like the Nfer practice paper than the Bexley test.
Last but not least... we always tried to end on a positive note and/or something she was really good AND stay calm whatever happens... A lot easier said than done, especially when explaining something for the 9th time and the child looks at you as if you have 3 heads...
Re: NFER and Bexley pass mark for guranteed place?
Thanks dani*.
We are revising for the 2011 test.
Can I ask what you refer to as 'little and often'
.
30 mins per day, per subject?
We are revising for the 2011 test.
Can I ask what you refer to as 'little and often'
.30 mins per day, per subject?
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Bexley Mum 2
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Re: NFER and Bexley pass mark for guranteed place?
It really is impossible to say how much preparation you should do for the 11+. It depends entirely on the ability of the child; the quality of their teaching at school; and the willingness of a child to practice.
I think preparation serves two benefits. One, it identifies any problem areas and so enables you to work on these with your child and no doubt gains them extra marks in the test; two, it helps them understand what is required and what speed they will need to work at in order to finish each test.
You need to try and get a feel for your child's ability and decide yourself how much preparation to do. I think the law of diminishing returns applies to the 11+ and, once you've done a reasonable amount of preparation, further practice isn't going to make a huge difference. I shudder when I read of people trying to daily practice. We only ever did once or twice a week and held off completely the week before tests.
My 3 children all passed the Bexley test in recent years. The eldest wouldn't have passed if he hadn't practiced NVR as he didn't really get what he was expected to do at first (they don't do NVR in Bexley now); the second had really low confidence in his ability and being prepared for what to expect made a huge difference to him. We went through the motions with the third, but he may well have passed without much, if any practice.
Maths we never really spent a great deal of time on - other than to identify any problem areas from practice papers. Practicing wordy type maths questions for the Bexley test is good as I believe children often can do the maths involved but end up with the wrong answer because they've misread the question.
To answer the OP, my youngest seemed to have a default mark of 84% on all the Nfer maths papers, but was a top 180 scorer in the exam (2009) with 128 on the maths paper (raw score 45 out of 50). But his verbal reasoning is very good which I think would have helped him understand wordier questions. Interestingly, in the Kent test he got 138 for maths, which equated to 41 out of 50. Given that the Kent test is meant to be more like the Nfer papers this would tie in with the not such high marks in the Nfer practice papers.
Of course it's difficult to set too much store by practice marks as children often don't try as hard when it's not the real thing.
I'm so glad it's all behind me - believe me, I now how stressful it can be!
I think preparation serves two benefits. One, it identifies any problem areas and so enables you to work on these with your child and no doubt gains them extra marks in the test; two, it helps them understand what is required and what speed they will need to work at in order to finish each test.
You need to try and get a feel for your child's ability and decide yourself how much preparation to do. I think the law of diminishing returns applies to the 11+ and, once you've done a reasonable amount of preparation, further practice isn't going to make a huge difference. I shudder when I read of people trying to daily practice. We only ever did once or twice a week and held off completely the week before tests.
My 3 children all passed the Bexley test in recent years. The eldest wouldn't have passed if he hadn't practiced NVR as he didn't really get what he was expected to do at first (they don't do NVR in Bexley now); the second had really low confidence in his ability and being prepared for what to expect made a huge difference to him. We went through the motions with the third, but he may well have passed without much, if any practice.
Maths we never really spent a great deal of time on - other than to identify any problem areas from practice papers. Practicing wordy type maths questions for the Bexley test is good as I believe children often can do the maths involved but end up with the wrong answer because they've misread the question.
To answer the OP, my youngest seemed to have a default mark of 84% on all the Nfer maths papers, but was a top 180 scorer in the exam (2009) with 128 on the maths paper (raw score 45 out of 50). But his verbal reasoning is very good which I think would have helped him understand wordier questions. Interestingly, in the Kent test he got 138 for maths, which equated to 41 out of 50. Given that the Kent test is meant to be more like the Nfer papers this would tie in with the not such high marks in the Nfer practice papers.
Of course it's difficult to set too much store by practice marks as children often don't try as hard when it's not the real thing.
I'm so glad it's all behind me - believe me, I now how stressful it can be!
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when the process will end
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Re: NFER and Bexley pass mark for guranteed place?
If it helps.
Last year my DS(March born) got 45/50 in Maths to get 130 and 70/75 in VR to get 130. A total of 260 to be in the top 180. The cut-off for top 180 was 251.
I would hazard a guess that if one scores 90% or more in the actual exam there is a good chance to be on top 180.
Last year my DS(March born) got 45/50 in Maths to get 130 and 70/75 in VR to get 130. A total of 260 to be in the top 180. The cut-off for top 180 was 251.
I would hazard a guess that if one scores 90% or more in the actual exam there is a good chance to be on top 180.
