Help! Feeling overwhelmed for sept 2016 test!

[crashtestdummy]

Don't panic - my two kids were by no means gifted but got through. My daughter passed quite well in the end - both Bexley and Kent test 2015 batch) although she gave us sleepless nights as her performance was inconsistent. Speed was the biggest problem and making silly errors and throwing away marks. I think it is important not to overdo the workload as you want them to try and enjoy it and not see practice as a dreaded burden. We had two hours a week tuition from a tutor who made it as fun as possible, lots of variety, and in the final six months a full mock test once a month at an exam centre. Practice was limited to an hour max (on days without tutor) doing Bonds books etc. with lots of rewards and encouragement. She wanted to pass so she could go to the same gramnar school as her brother but we always said we only expected her to do her best and the exam was for her not us. She said the mock exams really helped her become familiar so she was pretty fearless by the time of the real exam. It was important in the holidays to keep up practice as we found her speed and performance dropped off if she missed a week of practice. Little and often is the key. Good luck!

[Mayfair321]

Thanks crashtestdummy - That's reassuring.

[sobz70]

Hi there, am feeling the stress too here, my daughter is still quite slow in doing the papers on GL assessment - she is just getting 65-75% and I dont think this is good enough.
The main issue is speed here as she knows most of the stuff. She is really slow on verbal codes and maths- any tips?
Thanks!

[mumsdarling2]

I am reading lots of threads where parents have mentioned that they have done or are doing GL papers now. GL papers are not easy. Why is everyone doing them so soon? You still have some months to go. DS gave the tests last year and we did not go anywhere near the practice papers until the start of June. I did panic before then as I thought he was weak in some concepts. He went for some mocks purely to know his weaknesses. We started practice papers in June. It was very wobbly at first and we spent many days worrying. By the beginning of July he picked up speed as that was the only thing he needed to work on. The results were fantastic in every single exam that he took. Now I do understand that we all adopt different approaches. But if your DC is not doing too well and is finding some concepts difficult, focus on those and resume the practice papers after a little break. (This is not a criticism of anyone's approach...just my two cents. That's all.)

[sobz70]

Thanks for the suggestion - I agree however it was her tutor who suggested it. I do like the approach of starting the papers later. I think I will give her a break and then revisit the papers later.

[grgygirl]

Personally, I have found doing the GL papers now quite enlightening (ds on pack 5). A clear pattern of what he needs to work on in maths is emerging and the same for NVR. I have found that he is better at the 'factual' comprehensions than fictional ones (where he needs good inference skills). The other thing I'm finding useful about them is the timing element - just practising 30 second NVR questions has been an eye-opener and I wouldn't have wanted to leave that until the summer. Finally, practising transferring the answer to the answer sheet has also been invaluable experience at this stage - at first ds was all over the place with this but it has improved. I'm hoping this will be good practise for the Sutton/St Olaves mocks taking place from mid-May.

We will probably repeat the harder papers/questions ds got wrong, around June once we've worked a bit more on the concepts and had more comp practise.

[dwisdom]

I can only speak for bexley and kent as we did both last year.....at this stage we were getting around 50 % in the gl papers.
My kid was not on the top set but we passed bexley with around 230ish....so with 5 months to go if you are getting 65 % you are well on the way
(This does not apply to st olavs or newsted)....

[sobz70]

Thanks so much- this is very very reassuring! In a way I do see that it is good to know her weaknesses now by practising the exam papers. I have found out that her problem is timing, technique and not reading the question properly! Hopefully we can iron these out in the next few months!

[dwisdom]

By the way - we didn't find GL papers useful for the bexley test - it was more akin to Kent test; but much shorter and easier

[sobz70]

What approach do you all recommend for the Newstead wood exams?
My daughters strong point is non verbal- she is getting mid 70's% in GL papers, but verbal is still in the 60's %- any tips? This is the school she really wants to go to.