21 question type papers

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999 mum
Posts: 422
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:02 am

21 question type papers

Post by 999 mum »

Hi,

I have reached the point where my dc now needs to do some papers rather than the bond assessment papers. Could anyone please advise on which papers are 21 type rather than the 15 type papers.

I am considering:
CGP
SWOT
Barbara Walsh (would these be too hard?)
Letts (should I get the old set, new set or both?)
Bright Sparks
Bond
Premium?

How many of them should I get, I don't want to overload child, the exam is in November?

all advice gratefully received.
fm

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by fm »

My favourites to use for students, in order, are:


AFN (8papers a little too easy but good for honing timing issues)
IPS (10 papers --30 minute long so good for slotting in when you haven't 50 minutes spare)
Bright Sparks
NFER Papers (old)
NFER Papers (new)

I would slip in Walsh if more practice is needed in specific types after you have done Bright Sparks but don't get too concerned if scores slip as they are harder.

I have used in the past but gone off Swot and CGP as they are fairly unrepresentative of a typical NFER paper and I didn't think much of some of the questions--either too inexact or too obscure. I would not do the older Bond papers because they are not representative but possibly the newer edition is.

Hopefully someone from your area will come along and identify which are most appropriate as far as number of questions are concerned. I have always done 21 question ones. Indeed our NFER-written exam always had at least 7 anagrams which I don't believe are in any question type, and our local privates do a huge variety other than the 21.

Sorry, I mean GL Assessment/Lett's/or whatever they are called now, when I refer to NFER papers.
pheasantchick
Posts: 2439
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:28 pm

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by pheasantchick »

I hope you don't mind me asking, is your favourite on the list first, or last?

Thanks
fm

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by fm »

No, this is the order I used to do these papers with my pupils if they were doing an NFER- written verbal reasoning exam.

I would teach techniques using IPS (but the other poster has already done this using Bond Assessment).

I would use AFN to teach them in what order to do the questions and the speed for which they should aim when doing each particular type.

I would then use the rest as practice tests to ensure they were exam-ready.

After a child has perfected codes, word finding, series etc. sufficiently to do them at speed (and that's where the differing amount of practice for each child comes in, with my best pupils often doing half to quarter the practice tests the less able do), the only limitation to score is spelling and vocabulary which may not improve significantly by doing volume practice as NFER are very unlikely to use words in their real papers which have featured in their commercially available papers.
999 mum
Posts: 422
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:02 am

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by 999 mum »

thank you fm for the order in which to do the papers.

Are all these papers 21 question types or should I then practise HIKNOS separately?

(I will need to find out what type the Hiknos is, but that is the only way I have seen the missing types referred to!)

Just to clarify are the new nfer papers are harder than the old ones? (I thought I had read it was the other way around, but maybe it was nvr.)
fm

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by fm »

Sorry, I don't know which are harder because I have never used the new ones. I shall be trialling them this October for the first time.

If people are saying they are easier, however, swap the order round.

Also, a general tip. Try to resist doing any more tests immediately before the real test (I mean within a few days). Be prepared to lie if they do badly in any practice tests close to the exam as in say something like 'oh, I've heard this one was really difficult', otherwise you risk a lose of confidence at the very worst time.
committed
Posts: 139
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:46 pm

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by committed »

The new Letts VR papers are incredibly hard (imho). The vocabulary required is well beyond the grasp of most 10 year olds. Compound words such as mangrove and invoice amongst others are certainly difficult. :shock:

Instead of doing the whole test in one sitting we're doing some sections together to develop the vocabulary required and using other sections as normal.

However, the equivalent Maths and NVR papers we think are much easier....

I'd be interested to know what others who have done the new papers think.

C.
999 mum
Posts: 422
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:02 am

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by 999 mum »

hi committed,

I haven't seen the papers, I only commented on what was said on another thread (I wasn't even sure whether it was about vr or nvr).

Now how to get the children to read instead of playing on the DS :roll:
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by moved »

I have only used papers A and B so far from the new Letts series. Pupils seem to be getting similar scores to those that I would expect (70-90%). I leave Bright Sparks until September, for our November exam, and use the remaining Letts/GL nearer to the exam. As the Letts papers have 85 questions I have removed 5 questions from the papers.
chicko-mum
Posts: 294
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:19 pm

Re: 21 question type papers

Post by chicko-mum »

committed wrote:The new Letts VR papers are incredibly hard (imho). The vocabulary required is well beyond the grasp of most 10 year olds. Compound words such as mangrove and invoice amongst others are certainly difficult. :shock:

Instead of doing the whole test in one sitting we're doing some sections together to develop the vocabulary required and using other sections as normal.

However, the equivalent Maths and NVR papers we think are much easier....

I'd be interested to know what others who have done the new papers think.

C.
There was also an issue over the use of BODMAS (or lack of) in the new Letts VR papers so watch out for this - see http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =3&t=15371
NFER VR papers do use BODMAS for VR questions, or at least phrase the question so that it's mathematically correct even if you work left to right.
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