Kes birmingham

thelight · Post by **thelight** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:03 am

hi i am new to this! my son sat Kes birmingham on saturday and just wanted to know if anyone can tell me if their son sat the test if so how did he find the test i am a bit worried as he said that he missed a few questions and ran out of time in the comprehension which is not his strongest subject! i am also bit worried as he found the maths difficult and couldnt answer a few questions on the last section.

fm · Post by fm » Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:03 am

The maths section is divided into a, b and c. If your son managed a and b well, then he should be fine. The questions on the last section are what are probably used to distinguish the scholarship/bursary candidates from the rest. I have had many pupils pass KES without managing any of the last five in the paper. Indeed, if I feel a child is not going to manage the last five, then it is actually much better to take care on sections a and b.

As to the comprehension, his not finishing it may mean he was more careful with the questions he did answer. If a child is weak at comprehension, there is no point in their bombing through the comprehension in order to finish as they are more likely to write rubbish.

I would not try to second guess the outcome from your child's comments. Believe me, unless a child is highly bright, the child is unlikely to be able to judge his own performance. And even the highly bright can mislead parents by dwelling on the ones they could not do, if that is their nature.

JaneEyre · Post by **JaneEyre** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:40 pm

fm wrote:
As to the comprehension, his not finishing it may mean he was more careful with the questions he did answer. If a child is weak at comprehension, there is no point in their bombing through the comprehension in order to finish as they are more likely to write rubbish.

I just tell a little story

to confirm what fm has just explained. My DS is only in year 5. At his last comprehension test day in November at school, I was rather unhappy when he told me he didn't have the time to finish his test. He was telling me, that few of the chidlren in the class did finish it... Well, you never know what that means, do you?

that could be half the class, or a quarter , or four out of 30?
But my DS, for having done his best , had missed out at least two of the last pages!!!

Well, the day of the results came and it turned out that my DS has been in the same band as the ones who had finished (except one): so he did indeed do his best and marked as well as the ones who had rushed to finish!

I hope it lessen your worries...

For the maths at kes, as fm explained, the last questions are very though: the headmaster explained at the open day that he himself wouldn't be able to answer them. I was surprised by such a staement, but interpreted it as a way to stress the high level of complexity of these quesrions. These are here just to find out the happy winner(s?) for the scholarship.

narshad1 · Post by **narshad1** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:43 pm

My DS sat KES last saturday too and found it 'easy' (!!). Therefore I am a bit concerned as many on this forum sometimes advise that those that find exams hard, pass, and those that find an exam easy, fail. This is of course a generalisation.

Phones should start ringing this week for those DC's that did well enough to get called back for interview at KES.

thelight · Post by **thelight** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:47 pm

thank you fm and jane eyre for your reply feel bit better now! fingers crossed he gets in.

thelight · Post by **thelight** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:51 pm

hi narshad1 thanks for you reply will kes e calling this week or next week as the letter they gave out said they will be calling from 24th jan i hate waiting for the results.....

Dibble · Post by **Dibble** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:25 pm

thelight wrote:hi narshad1 thanks for you reply will kes e calling this week or next week as the letter they gave out said they will be calling from 24th jan i hate waiting for the results.....

Phone calls to interview begin this Thursday, though not all will be asked to attend. Borderline candidates are, I'm told, called towards the end of the process - Bursary/Scholarship candidates towards the beginning - others, quite possibly, not at all.

no_ball · Post by **no_ball** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 6:43 pm

The letter states they will call, just make sure they have your number they can reach you on.

The rest is in the hands of the markers...nothing can be done now to influence the outcome. I wonder how many sat the test last saturday, seemed quite a few.

fm · Post by fm » Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:53 pm

It's usually about 600, I think.

While they theoretically wish to interview all boys, in practice this does not tend to happen. First batch are scholarship/bursary possibilities. Second batch bursary only. Next batch borderline. Historically they do not get round to interviewing those children who passed well enough not to need a borderline but were not good enough or eligible for financial assistance. Thus, if you do not hear at all until offer letter goes out, your child has either passed or failed.

KenR · Post by **KenR** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:05 pm

For the scholarship/Bursary interviews they do tell you when they call that's it's for a scholarship - just to put you mind at rest.

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