Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Eleven Plus (11+) in Dorset

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Bomoboy
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:55 pm

Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by Bomoboy »

Hi,

I am trying to prepare my son for his 11+ for Bournemouth School in September 2014. After reading through some old posts relating to this exam I have a few questions. Not sure if anyone can help?

The results that pupils got last year seem to range from 290s to 370s. What is this out of? Are Maths, English and Verbal reasoning given equal weighting? Where does the essay feature in these results?

If I go through all the GL papers for these subjects with my son, do some creative writing practice and set papers in timed conditions to get his speed up. Should this be enough preparation?

Thanks in advance for your advice.
BournemouthDad
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:15 am

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by BournemouthDad »

Bomoboy wrote:Hi,

I am trying to prepare my son for his 11+ for Bournemouth School in September 2014. After reading through some old posts relating to this exam I have a few questions. Not sure if anyone can help?

The results that pupils got last year seem to range from 290s to 370s. What is this out of? Are Maths, English and Verbal reasoning given equal weighting? Where does the essay feature in these results?

If I go through all the GL papers for these subjects with my son, do some creative writing practice and set papers in timed conditions to get his speed up. Should this be enough preparation?

Thanks in advance for your advice.
Join the club. :)

My son is sitting this September too. The scores are almost impossible to work out without knowing the weighting and the actual scores? We are using GL test papers and really have no idea where his current results would leave him against the cut off point.
Bomoboy
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:55 pm

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by Bomoboy »

Great, glad that someone else's son is applying too! The marking is all a bit of a mystery isn't it?
BournemouthDad
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:15 am

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by BournemouthDad »

Bomoboy wrote:Great, glad that someone else's son is applying too! The marking is all a bit of a mystery isn't it?
Personally I'd prefer is no one else applied! :lol:

They certainly don't make it clear do they. How are you supposed to know they even stand a chance if you can't compare them to clear marks?

Hopefully we'll chuckle about this on the first parents evening :wink:
Bourne Mum
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 12:50 pm

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by Bourne Mum »

Hiya. My son passed the exam & is due to start this september depending on whether he is allocated BS or Poole. It's very hard to get info out of BS but you won't get a seperate score for the essay. They add the essay marks to the English paper but they won't say what the essay is out of.
BournemouthDad
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:15 am

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by BournemouthDad »

Thanks BM and congrats.

Did you do the GL test papers? Can I ask what sort of % he was getting? I have no idea what is poor/good/excellent so I have no idea if he's on target.
Bourne Mum
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 12:50 pm

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by Bourne Mum »

BournemouthDad wrote:Thanks BM and congrats.

Did you do the GL test papers? Can I ask what sort of % he was getting? I have no idea what is poor/good/excellent so I have no idea if he's on target.
Thank you.

He was getting anything from 69% to late 80s when he started. We did some bond tests to start with to see where he was. What was affecting him was that 11+ includes high school level work which they wouldn't have covered in school. He improved a lot when we got him the bond 'how to' books for each subject. We started light work February half term in year 5 & only did work during holidays. Nothing term time coz of homework e.t.c

We then started proper intensive work summer holidays but that was mainly him doing the books by himself. We then got him GL papers at the end of summer. By the end he was averaging late 80s & earlt 90s. In the actual tests he got 83% English, 90% Maths, 92% VR & 96% NVR for PGS. I cant work out the actual % for BS as the papers are weighted differently but he got 325 % the average for the intake was 290 something...hope that helps :)
BournemouthDad
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:15 am

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by BournemouthDad »

Bourne Mum wrote:
BournemouthDad wrote:Thanks BM and congrats.

Did you do the GL test papers? Can I ask what sort of % he was getting? I have no idea what is poor/good/excellent so I have no idea if he's on target.
Thank you.

He was getting anything from 69% to late 80s when he started. We did some bond tests to start with to see where he was. What was affecting him was that 11+ includes high school level work which they wouldn't have covered in school. He improved a lot when we got him the bond 'how to' books for each subject. We started light work February half term in year 5 & only did work during holidays. Nothing term time coz of homework e.t.c

We then started proper intensive work summer holidays but that was mainly him doing the books by himself. We then got him GL papers at the end of summer. By the end he was averaging late 80s & earlt 90s. In the actual tests he got 83% English, 90% Maths, 92% VR & 96% NVR for PGS. I cant work out the actual % for BS as the papers are weighted differently but he got 325 % the average for the intake was 290 something...hope that helps :)
Great, thanks for the info. Sounds similar to my son so hopefully with a bit of work he'll be ok.
Bourne Mum
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 12:50 pm

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by Bourne Mum »

Also, the Grammars say a good indicator is that the child should be at least a level 5 at school by the time they sit the test.
BournemouthDad
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:15 am

Re: Applying to Bournemouth School (Boys)

Post by BournemouthDad »

Bourne Mum wrote:Also, the Grammars say a good indicator is that the child should be at least a level 5 at school by the time they sit the test.
Thats the thing, is that really a good indicator? Our son made level 5a/6 in maths at around the end of year 3 and had a test run by a secondary school maths teacher in class last week and made 6a. He's also 5s for English and Science but I think his last "written" at the end of year 4 was 4a? But is higher on reading and something else...sorry, not sure of the English side of things, I was never good at that myself ;) Thats why I'm more worried about this big unknown English test than the GL papers.

So based on his levels now he's 9, I would say that he "should" go to BS but its down to a few hours of tests and not years of school information. :?
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