Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
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Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
How was Day 2 - any comments ? Where they harder than the practice papers?
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
DS felt it was hard. More difficult that the practice papers... and this is supposed to be his strongest subject 
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
My DS said the same, has been doing really well on practice tests lately since we sorted out the careless errors. He said the first half wasn't too bad, but sounds like he guessed about 2/3 of the second half! Did finish it all though and did put an answer for every question.
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
DS said last year the last part of maths was really hard and he had to guess some of it...he scored 132 which was 70% in raw scores .
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
Can someone just remind me that this is meant to be a reflection of what they're learning at school!! My DS is top maths group, scored 141 in CAT test and really struggled today. 
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frustrated
- Posts: 299
- Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:28 am
- Location: kent
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
As you can see, I'm not getting much sense out of my DS right now
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
JLT...DS found it really hard too and he left primary on a level 6.Probably all the children struggled on some of the questions and the ones who didn't are the child geniuses !
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Chocolatey Mum
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- Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:49 pm
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
DD said it was 'ok'.
She guessed a few at the end because she ran out of time and had a few educated guesses throughout the paper.
She did say with pride 'I made sure all my lines were straight in the box' which appears to have taken place on the 5 minute warning instead of carrying on answering the rest of the questions. Isn't it funny what they perceive to be the important things. I don't even remember commenting on the straightness of the lines. I am wondering if she didn't like the look of the last few questions so found something better to do.
I did ask her which of the papers she found hardest but she didn't think any were harder than the others.
From the few comments she has made I have deduced that:
She guessed the most on the VR
Used the most educated guesses in the Maths.
She ran out of time on all papers.
My prediction: ???? Could go either way.
She guessed a few at the end because she ran out of time and had a few educated guesses throughout the paper.
She did say with pride 'I made sure all my lines were straight in the box' which appears to have taken place on the 5 minute warning instead of carrying on answering the rest of the questions. Isn't it funny what they perceive to be the important things. I don't even remember commenting on the straightness of the lines. I am wondering if she didn't like the look of the last few questions so found something better to do.
I did ask her which of the papers she found hardest but she didn't think any were harder than the others.
From the few comments she has made I have deduced that:
She guessed the most on the VR
Used the most educated guesses in the Maths.
She ran out of time on all papers.
My prediction: ???? Could go either way.
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Frustratedmum
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:42 am
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
Well that's the Kent test done, one down, Medway to go!
DD felt that all the tests were easier than her practise papers which equates to far more worry from me as, the easier she thought her practise ones were, the more she got wrong!!!
Oh well, que sera sera
Best of luck to everyone!
DD felt that all the tests were easier than her practise papers which equates to far more worry from me as, the easier she thought her practise ones were, the more she got wrong!!!
Oh well, que sera sera
Best of luck to everyone!
Re: Day 2 Maths and Writing Exercise
JLT, I think you are looking at this test the wrong way round. If everyone who was capable of getting a level 5 in maths found this paper easy, it would be of no use to man nor beast. It's a test which is there to discriminate. It needs to (as accurately as is possible) work out who are the top 25% of the population, and it also needs to be useful to the superselectives in siphoning off the top few.
In some schools in West Kent approx 70% of children get level 5 in maths - look through the performance tables on the department of education website. This tells you that if children are thoroughly taught, the overwhelming majority can get a level 5. So the 11+ needs to take a different tack from just testing school maths in a school maths way.
If many children are finding these papers are "harder than they expected" and this is bothering them badly (not parents, the children), then some different messages need to be given to children before they take the test. They need to understand that they will not get all the questions right, unlike in their SATs at school possibly, that they can in fact get approx 50% wrong and still pass. They need to understand that it is still the top 25% of children who pass, no matter how hard the paper is, so a hard paper is no disadvantage. They also need to know that some children think they got everything right when they got it all wrong, and vice versa, and that in the heat of an exam things can seem much easier, or much harder, than they did at home.
If they're 11+ candidates, I'm sure they'll understand this. And then they can calm their parents down afterwards, who clearly don't understand. Is anyone on this thread actually thinking about the facts, or about what Scarlett has said etc etc?
In some schools in West Kent approx 70% of children get level 5 in maths - look through the performance tables on the department of education website. This tells you that if children are thoroughly taught, the overwhelming majority can get a level 5. So the 11+ needs to take a different tack from just testing school maths in a school maths way.
If many children are finding these papers are "harder than they expected" and this is bothering them badly (not parents, the children), then some different messages need to be given to children before they take the test. They need to understand that they will not get all the questions right, unlike in their SATs at school possibly, that they can in fact get approx 50% wrong and still pass. They need to understand that it is still the top 25% of children who pass, no matter how hard the paper is, so a hard paper is no disadvantage. They also need to know that some children think they got everything right when they got it all wrong, and vice versa, and that in the heat of an exam things can seem much easier, or much harder, than they did at home.
If they're 11+ candidates, I'm sure they'll understand this. And then they can calm their parents down afterwards, who clearly don't understand. Is anyone on this thread actually thinking about the facts, or about what Scarlett has said etc etc?
