How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

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Sanna
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:34 pm

How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by Sanna »

I wanted to ask how other tutors are generally responding to the new Bucks test?

My DS is due to start group sessions soon in Verbal Reasoning and the tutor's response to the new test information is to create an additional maths course, and additional non-verbal reasoning course to run on top of the VR, with extra comprehension and Cloze homework i.e. 3+ hours of tuition per week with extra homework on top.

My concerns are:

1) It sounds like far too much work for any child who's already performing very well, but perhaps this is a normal response for the first year of such a wide test? There does seem to be a trend in other regions to start preparations even in year 4.

2) How much value the VR sessions will give for the new style test? Could they still be a good grounding in thinking skills and speed or not?

Obviously at this point it would be hard to move to a different tutor who could provide more tailored experience, and while it's possible for us we the DIY route it's not an easy route!

Again, any thoughts welcome!
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by Sally-Anne »

Sanna wrote:I wanted to ask how other tutors are generally responding to the new Bucks test?

My DS is due to start group sessions soon in Verbal Reasoning and the tutor's response to the new test information is to create an additional maths course, and additional non-verbal reasoning course to run on top of the VR, with extra comprehension and Cloze homework i.e. 3+ hours of tuition per week with extra homework on top.
The holiday home will be theirs in no time. :roll:

The VR course is a complete waste of time because CEM does not include traditional VR. The rest is completely OTT, and it is this sort of exponential growth in tutoring that has been my most serious concern about the CEM.

If my children were going through the test this year I would be keeping a very close eye on their levels in English and maths, making up some Cloze tests so they know what one looks like and buying a few NVR books. (And I mean a few, not dozens.) Bond are probably the best starting point, and anyway, NVR does tend to be something you can either do or you can't. 30+ hours of tuition is not going to change that.

Beyond that it is read, read, read, especially more challenging non-fiction.

I would never subject my child to the sort of regime this tutor is proposing. You could DIY in well under half the time it will take you to run your child back and forth to lessons and supervise 3 hours or more of homework!
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by Marylou »

SA - do you think some Type Z questions might actually be useful for maths problems? Yesterday I found an similar one involving working out someone's age in one of the Warwickshire sample papers. The interesting thing was that the Warwickshire one was actually easier than the similar question in the IPS paper! :shock:

That said, synonyms and antonyms are expected to play a bigger role in the new test. These were covered in the old system but I get the impression that the focus in the new test will be on using much harder words with the expectation that even the most able children are unlikely to complete most of the questions. This is fine for sorting out the high achievers but I'm not sure what it's going to do for confidence levels in general... :( .
Last edited by Marylou on Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Marylou
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by Marylou »

Found it - it's in IPS 2. Names changed to protect the innocent!

Derek is twice as old as Rodney was last year. Cassandra is 8. Rodney is three years older than Cassandra was last year.
How old is Derek?


Here's the CEM question:

Derek is five years older than Rodney, and Rodney is 2 years younger than Cassandra. If Derek is 14, then
- how old is Cassandra?
- how old is Rodney?


There is clearly a lower level of reasoning involved in the CEM question. Perhaps it's just an example of the difference between VR and Maths? :?
Marylou
Sanna
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:34 pm

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by Sanna »

I'm now laughing! Yes Sally-Anne, you sum up very neatly my reaction!!! I just wanted to check I'm not going mad with thinking it's over the top!!
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by patricia »

Hi Marylou

I think the old Zs could be useful together with similar/opposite/double meaning words (types D H and S) - but that is about it from GL Assessment style papers.

Any tutors still teaching the 21 types should be "fired"

Patricia
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by Marylou »

patricia wrote:Any tutors still teaching the 21 types should be "fired"
Guilty as charged...or at least until the announcement was made, as we didn't know for certain! :lol: Just making the transition now. There's so much to cover that there's no point wasting time on stuff that clearly isn't going to be any use! :|

Looking on the bright side...at least we don't have to bother with those time-consuming Type C codes any more! :roll:
Marylou
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by patricia »

I start my new cohort this evening, will be starting on some easy cloze, NVR a little Maths (to see where they are) and VOCABULARY

Patricia
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by KenR »

Don't forget to teach them simple algebra - the Long Maths sections often include this

teach them the basics and there are some very easy scores available
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: How are tutors responding to the new Bucks test?

Post by Marylou »

KenR wrote:Don't forget to teach them simple algebra - the Long Maths sections often include this

teach them the basics and there are some very easy scores available
Given that in theory these children are not supposed to be tutored, is it fair for the test to include material such as specific maths methods that may not yet have been covered in the curriculum? Especially as the test is going to be held in September. IMO anything curriculum-related should go no higher than Y5. If questions relating to the Year 6 curriculum are included then presumably the only children able to answer them will have been prepared either by tutoring or fast-tracking at an independent school. This doesn't make much sense!

Just my two penn'th... :?
Marylou
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