Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

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khanp
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:13 pm

Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by khanp »

Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

http://www.stratford-herald.com/local-n ... -fire.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Interesting article. Comments and thoughts everyone.
JamesDean
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Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:03 pm

Re: Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by JamesDean »

What if your child is genuinely ill? They almost certainly won't have recovered by the following day - I can't believe this is the case in Birmingham???

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

Re: Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by southbucks3 »

I cannot believe that 16% of children who sat the warks test were poorly or had exceptional circumstances on the first test date. That is one big smelly rat!

I wonder what the sick note stats are for bucks, here you sit the test as soon as you feel better! There are definitely some shocking cheaters and tutors known locally, but it is impossible to prove.
khanp
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:13 pm

Re: Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by khanp »

JamesDean wrote:What if your child is genuinely ill? They almost certainly won't have recovered by the following day - I can't believe this is the case in Birmingham???

JD
JD I agree with your point.

Last year a total of 2,056 students in Warwickshire sat the test—1,729 took it on the first day and 327 took the same paper on the two later dates. In Birmingham, approximately 4,700 pupils sat the test and only 25 of these took it on the Sunday.

The above facts are a little bit concerning that the number of students is substantially higher in Warwickshire than in Birmingham for taking the test later. Why are warwickshire setting two late dates for the same paper. Why not set a different paper altogether which use to happen when I was at school and took my 'O' levels under the Joint Matriculation Board and if anyone who missed the exam on the basis of illness sat a completely different paper. Maybe this is what is required for late sitters - a complete change of paper.
Fatnorville
Posts: 302
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:09 pm

Re: Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by Fatnorville »

I hope this is just an absolute coincidence but there is an Amit Matalia who was previously accused by the University of Durham CEM of "...attempting to discover the confidential contents of test papers..."

The details of the National Arbitration Forum report which found against Mr Matalia can be found here:- http://www.udrpsearch.com/naf/1529420" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There appears to be many ways to try and compromise the integrity of these tests.
ToadMum
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Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by ToadMum »

For the CSSE test and for the new test for Chelmsford County High School last year, the reserve date is about a week or so after the original (a weekday vs a Saturday, for those whose religion didn't allow them to sit on the main date) and, at least for the CSSE, the papers are a completely new set of comparable difficulty. (Cannot speak for the CCHS CEM test on the latter point, as we live 20 miles from Chelmsford and our third and last to take the test last September was a boy :lol: ).

As for taking more than one 11+ exam, this would seem okay where one lives either in catchment for, or at least easy travelling distance from, more than one school? There are girls living in Colchester, I would think, who could get to CCHS by train quicker than some on the outer fringes of the new catchment area could by bus, and doesn't the South Warwickshire area cover part of Birmingham? Putting children in for exams in every area of the country which would possibly give a place based solely on score, with the intention of parachuting the family into wherever, I do find slightly weird. Our kids have been brought up with the mantra that "strangers are just friends you haven't met yet" (to quote someone I cannot remember), but personally I wouldn't particularly want to put this to the test along with starting a new school miles from all my DCs' contacts unless I really, really needed to).
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Okanagan
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Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by Okanagan »

khanp wrote:Last year a total of 2,056 students in Warwickshire sat the test—1,729 took it on the first day and 327 took the same paper on the two later dates. In Birmingham, approximately 4,700 pupils sat the test and only 25 of these took it on the Sunday.

The above facts are a little bit concerning that the number of students is substantially higher in Warwickshire than in Birmingham for taking the test later.
This is largely because for quite a few people (e.g. those around the Solihull area) both Warwickshire and Birmingham are valid options. But both areas have set their tests on the same date for the last couple of years, and obviously the children can't do both at the same time (unless perhaps one or the other moved the exam to the afternoon, but that would make it a very hard day), so have to do one before the other. Birmingham only have an alternative date for very restrictive reasons (e.g. for Jewish children who will sit the test on the Sunday instead of the Saturday) so the majority of the Warwickshire late sitters will be those who are also taking the Brimingham exam, and the system dictates that they have to take them in that order since only Warwickshire has an alternative date.

Over the last couple of years we've seen first the dates of the two exams moved to the same day (Birmingham used to be before Warwickshire), and then the marking scheme in Warwickshire changed to have the same weightings as Birmingham. What odds that these are steps on a path towards convergence, and before long there will only be one exam to cover both areas anyway?
gideon
Posts: 154
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:54 pm

Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by gideon »

Fatnorville wrote:I hope this is just an absolute coincidence but there is an Amit Matalia who was previously accused by the University of Durham CEM of "...attempting to discover the confidential contents of test papers..."

The details of the National Arbitration Forum report which found against Mr Matalia can be found here:- http://www.udrpsearch.com/naf/1529420" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There appears to be many ways to try and compromise the integrity of these tests.
I think it is an uncommon name and it's probably the same person. The udrp search is interesting...
The University claimed sitting mocks compromising the testing process. Really? This is not what the Hearald article implies. How can a test that is supposed to be resistant to prepping be compromised? Why does the University object to the legal right to sit tests outside catchment? Birmingham schools do not have catchments. I think around half of Walsall grammar children live outside catchments.

There is no way he he could find out content, unless it was from children who sat the test, yet WCC and the University refused to accept children remember content, and from the Herald this seems to still be the case.

I cannot see the logic of not holding the supplmentary dates on a Sunday. With SATs children have tests daily. Why cannot children sit two 11+ tests on two consecutive dates. It is not too much, it's just a 90 min test taking 2 hours to administer. Children do more than 2 hours school work a day.

Many of the children who sat tests late used the Bham tests as free mocks. I know a certain tuition centre recreated questions and passed them on to late sitters. I know of late sitters who knew content.

I am afraid I agree with what Mr Matalia says. It makes perfect sense. Yet WCC publically denies there is an issue. I think Durham and the Council are guilty of double standards. Think about why Sats, GCSEs and A level tests are not held on seperate days. If you miss a Sats tests, you cannot take it on another day.
Daogroupie
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Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by Daogroupie »

All those who sit Level 6 SATS have to sit it the afternoon of the morning they sat Level 5.

Some schools like St M's hold 11 plus exams all day. So there cannot be any problem with consecutive days. There is clearly fraud going on here if you look at the huge amount of late sittings. Have some of these people paid money for access to the questions and deliberately gone for a late sitting? The numbers have to point to something odd. DG
southbucks3
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Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Multiple 11-plus exam sittings come under fire.

Post by southbucks3 »

Okanagan has explained that the majority of the late sitters were doing the Birmingham test on the original day of the warwks test, so needed an alternative date for the warwks test.

There will always be some element of fraud with late sitting in any area though, until there is a separate paper for second sittings, and very tight restrictions on subsequent individual sittings.

Financially and to prevent fraud it would make sense if cem produced one paper and it was sat on one day with different passmarks for different areas or schools depending on their allocations. With the merging of slough consortium and reading, and potentially brum and warwks it looks as though things are heading this way. A second and third paper could then be produced for subsequent sittings, again on the same day.

Bucks leave themselves wide open for fraud, as children sit the late test over the following few weeks, officially at the very earliest date as soon as they are better, of course as the child is officially ill it gives parents and tutors ample time to grill them on any dubiously acquired test content whilst they are off school. Some families are so blatant about it that they pull the same trick with subsequent children, doctors certificates are very easy to acquire if you are friendly with a doctor. The saddest thing is that genuinely poorly children can be tarred with the same brush, when in fact for them sitting the test late is very stressful.
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