CEM test format/timings

[neveragain!]

I am interested to know more about the format of the CEM test. Is it 100% multiple choice ie even for the cloze exercises where missing letters from words have to be identified? In other words will these letters need to be chosen from a given list of possible letters (which counts as multiple choice) or will the children have to fill in a missing box in their own handwriting (which does not count as multiple choice)? Likewise for the maths, will they have to write their own numbers into blank boxes or will they choose from a column of digits (or both)? I am just wondering because if they have to write into blank boxes then the quality of their writing is going to be important. I don't know what other people think but I think the children should be told this kind of information about the format of the test as this is the sort of thing that can really disadvantage certain children, however bright they are.

The other question I have is about time warnings - do we know from last year what the children were told about the time remaining for each section during the course of the test? Were they told when half the time had passed and were they told when they had five/two/one minute left, for example? Or did it depend on the length of the section as they can vary quite a lot in length?

If anyone could shed any light on these two queries I would be very grateful.

[Marylou]

You can download the familiarisation booklet http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/1303024 ... -14513.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which gives an idea of the layout. For some of the maths questions the children have to fill in numbers, but these are also selected using digit columns. It makes sense for the cloze tests to be based on missing words rather than letters - after all, the answers are read by machine and it's probably not feasible to rely on handwriting for such a large number of entries. Not sure about the time warnings - will ask DD later.

[neveragain!]

Thanks Marylou for the link, that is very helpful. What are other people doing re cloze - sticking to practising multiple choice or doing partial words as well, just in case? CGP seems to give equal weight to both types in their CEM practice material but does anyone know what was actually used in the Bucks test last year?

[MamaBear]

Hi

check out these past threads re cloze in the Bucks forum. There is a lot of information there re strategy, timings and word lists.

[kenyancowgirl]

ds2 took CEM this year - he said that on the longer sections it did give a time warning part way through (he couldn't remember if it was like a 5 minute warning or a minute) but on some of the shorter sections (one was only 2.5 mins) it gave no time warning, which was a bit of a shock to him on the first shorter section! Time is the biggest issue, without a doubt. We did suggest, if he was short of time with questions to go, it was worth taking a punt by guessing the multiple choice!

[patricia]

Happy to report the children were given the time for each of the sections, together with the middle time and one minute left.

Although on one section which was only 3 minutes long, they only gave the one minute to go ( would be a bit silly to put in a minute and half warning)

Cloze with missing letters will probably not come up as it does not lend itself to multiple choice.

Take a look at the familiarisation sheet for the lay out of the answer sheet.

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/1303024 ... -14513.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Patricia

[neveragain!]

Thank you everyone for your replies, and particularly to Patricia for your answer re time warnings given, that is really helpful to know.