Medway test content and tutoring

Eleven Plus (11+) in Medway

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Freesia14
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:11 pm

Medway test content and tutoring

Post by Freesia14 »

Hi from a Newbie,
ds is in yr 5 and has a tutor who covers both Medway and Kent tests.
as the intention is only to enter ds for medway, do you think we should ask his tutor to stop covering NVR and maybe practise more writing skills??

Is it guaranteed that Medway are only covering maths/ VR and extended writing or might i be burning my bridges if we stop the NVR??

DS dislikes writing :? , and esp. doesnt like writing more than the bare minimum :cry: . So now i'm worried this will put him off wanting to enter the test.
Currently he's quite up for it, but neither of us realised the english element is 'extended writing' and i havent told him yet as want to do it in the right way that doesn't 'freak' him out!

what has taken the egde off is that's its only Feb and we have a few months to figure it out.

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts/ comments and experiences
medwaymum
Posts: 827
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:45 pm
Location: Medway & Kent

Post by medwaymum »

Hi Freesia14 and Welcome to the forum.

Firstly, a lot of boys dislike writing (some girls too), and although it is one exam out of three, it is double weighted along with the math (the verbal is single weighted) therefore very important to stick with and pursue. I agree it is probably not good to push push push with the writing if your child dislikes it, but there is plenty of other things you could do verbally....inventing characters, scenes, settings, stories. Look at different types of writing...newspaper reports, letters, leaflets etc. You could do this at home without actually asking your child to write much (save this for school and the tutor!).

As for the NVR I wouldn't pursue this if it is not part of the exam your child is taking. It is precious time you could spend on verbal, math or writing. As far as I know, non verbal has not been suggested so far at all for the Medway test.

Just my opinion, but good luck with it. :)
reddebs
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:21 pm
Location: Medway/Kent

Post by reddebs »

Hi Freesia14
If you are not sitting the Kent test do not continue on NVR. Your tutor should have checked with you first what exam you were aiming for and then adjust his lessons accordingly.
The extended writing is a challenge but it may not be a story, it could be a letter, play script etc.
With my students I try to put my early learning focus in producing a plan template that will cover all the writing types. Once this is in focus we cover stories, playscripts etc as many as we can before the day.
Try to alternate literacy with maths as this allows them to enjoy the tutoring more if you support his strengths and don't forget the maths coverage in the test is more tuned to a year 6 standard so it is easy to assume they will be okay.
Hope this helps - good luck!
red_debs
Freesia14
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:11 pm

Post by Freesia14 »

Thanks for your replies and apologies for taking as long time to get back to you. x

when he started with tutor we didn't know much about the details, and what we wanted to do!! have learnt lots since haha!
Now though, i think we should only enter ds for medway, as we dont intend to send him to a kent school. however dh thinks we should enter him for both. which is pointless imo.
hence the tutor covering all eventualities, and i think she is slightly more geared to kent test, so i have been pushing her towards more writing.
and her response was along the lines of 'well i usually focus more on the writing in the summer'. however i believe this will be too late for ds.
it is difficult cos she is the 'expert' but she should also be giving us what we 'need' as we are paying. a fine line i think between being overly pushy parents, and making sure we get the best outcome.
i will however try a more non-writing approach to the writing aspect!!

thanks again.
xx
tiredmum
Posts: 1161
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

Post by tiredmum »

My dd1 is in year 10 now- she hated writing and seemed to take ages on getting anything down on paper. She had a great imagination in play but couldnt seem to transfer it on to paper. We devised two charaters that i even got her to draw, she knew their characters inside out and could use them in story writing, diary entries etc. When it came to the test she only did averagly on the writing but got a good score on her verbal resoning paper. Because in the medway test all scores are added together she acheived a pass. So dont worry too much, if your ds is good at the maths and VR they can afford to drop a bit on the writing.

One thing about taking both the kent and Medway tests - this year they are only a week or two apart, they are very gruelling, if the kent test comes first, which i think it may, it will take alot out of your ds - personally i wouldnt do it. Good luck with it all though :)
Gman
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:23 am

Post by Gman »

As the Kent test is before Medway, it could be a way of settling the nerves by doing both.
tiredmum
Posts: 1161
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

Post by tiredmum »

The schools should do a practice medway test to help familiarise the children with the test :)
jokiebe
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:51 pm

Post by jokiebe »

my ds school did a practice test for the children taking the 11+ they even went so far as to set the hall up with the tables and chairs - i think it helped - none of them seemed too phased on the day.
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