Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

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

Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by KenR »

Thought it useful to start documenting a few useful tips that parents have found useful over the years. This is my first TIP. Please feel free to create new items. If parents find it useful we might even collate and put in a new section.


TIP - Make sure your child knows and understands the meaning and context of all of the vocab words used in synonyms and antonyms sections of previous B/Ham papers. In particular quiz them on the meaning - if they are unclear get them to check the dictionary meaning and explain it to you or jointly go through the dictionary definition. Also get them to give examples of the use of the words in particular sentences

see - http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=14423

RATIONALE - Most of the words appear year after year - it an easy task to at least make sure they know the meaning of those words. This may result in say up to 11 extra correct answers on one paper which could be add up to about 20 points on the total score
MamaBear
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Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:17 pm

Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by MamaBear »

great tip KenR

my tip is read, read and read some more!

Also encourage your child unpick questions quickly. The exam technique is really important.
FunkyMonkey
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Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:03 am

Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by FunkyMonkey »

I agree with MamaBear, reading is the single most important element.
I think go beyond books into newspapers. Not Daily Mail as it could be corrupting, stick to Times, Independent, or Guardian. Even the sports section, or arts, whatever your child is interested in.
JamesDean
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Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:03 pm

Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by JamesDean »

Prepare them for the very tight timing of the different sections. Reassure them that they probably won't finish some and that this is absolutely fine - many others won't either and it doesn't mean they've automatically 'failed'.

JD
southbucks3
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Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by southbucks3 »

Not Daily Mail as it could be corrupting,
:lol: Poor old "daily fascist" the Saturday weekly telly guide is the best out there...just bin the paper, or use it to line the rabbit hutch...they cannot read. :lol:

Being really,really,really lazy here but has anyone collated all the synonym and antonym past paper words, and is feeling generous enough to share, pretty please?

Well if you don't ask...You don't ever get :oops:
UmSusu
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Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:42 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by UmSusu »

sb3, there is a sticky at the top for previous years' exam content. The vocabulary for each year is there.

I agree with suggestions about reading, especially newspapers. I found the 'i news' to be good as the vocabulary was just as complex but the articles were briefer. I used to tell my kids they could either do a comprehension paper or read a selected article, then verbally explain the content and answer questions about - they always picked the latter! I would get them to read it out to me (I had stopped listening to them read by now but it was helpful to hear them and correct mistakes) and select 3-5 new words they didn't know the meaning of too.

With NVR, nearer to the exam I used the Bond/GLA Practice Papers as mocks: I cut out the sections and gave them 24 questions to do in 8 minutes. Although they had generally got good marks in the assessment papers, the stricter timing resulted in a significant drop in scores. In fact, their average score under these stricter timings was the same score they got in their exam.
UmSusu
kenyancowgirl
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Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by kenyancowgirl »

My two tips for knowledge are:
1) Reading avidly and checking understanding of individual words, gist and content. (In the two CEM papers my boys took the synonym/antonym words weren't repeated, so don't rely on this - remember CEM is so called "untutorable" and in Warks at least, they don't want to go down the road of having the same paper year after year, after what happened historically!)
2) Solid and quick recall of times tables and general maths principles.

There are no short cuts. If your Dc can do the two above they will do well if:
My two tips for preparation are:
1) Work fast and accurately - practice tight timing.
2) Be aware that the majority of CEM have far too many questions for the "average" child to complete. Prepare your child for this and prepare them to face the unexpected, without getting thrown. (In CEM they WILL face things they have never seen before - if they are the sort of child to throw their hands up and stamp their feet with the "I can't do this" attitude, by the time they have brought themselves out of it, the timed section will be over. They have to learn to have the confidence to have a bash and move on, if they feel they can't progress with the question.)
sonasona
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Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by sonasona »

kenyancowgirl wrote:Be aware that the majority of CEM have far too many questions for the "average" child to complete
Can you please advise roughly how many questions there are in each paper? Somebody asked me but I don't know much about CEM timings. For Kendrick which I do know about it used to be 100 questions in 50 mins for VR section and similar timings for NVR. Having said that at Kendrick you'd write/underline/circle the answer on the actual question paper and no doubt this saves time.......I think having the question paper on one side and then having to mark the answers on a separate answer sheet may throw the child a little if to doubt they've been doing mostly Standard papers :(
kenyancowgirl
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Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by kenyancowgirl »

I asked my dc this and they genuinely found it hard to answer - the paper is split into lots of mini sections, all individually timed and it was different for each son - ds1 did finish all the papers - ds2 finished all bar the NVR where he had about 7 questions to complete and only 1 minute to do it so he had to use a guess method - I think the shortest was about 5 minutes and some are more like 10/15 minutes. They can go back to the beginning of each mini section within that time, but cannot go back to any other section. I believe that it works out about 20-25 seconds per question ish. The idea is that they don't get into a VR or NVR zone, but chop and change. Fundamentally speed and accuracy are key! Not rocket science, I know, but that is what it comes down to!
sonasona
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Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:51 am

Re: Tricks of the Trade - CEM preparation TIP#1

Post by sonasona »

Excellent advice -Thank you :)
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