Feedback on Nov 2007 Exams

Eleven Plus (11+) in Warwickshire

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Optimist

Feedback on Nov 2007 Exams

Post by Optimist »

Hi there
The Warks forum is always too quiet. Quick question to Ed's Mum and others. Were the NFER papers this year considered harder than the Moray papers of recent years.

Can anyone recommend any good prep schools in the Kenilworth and Warwick areas that will practice NFER papers in school, in preparation for Grammar School entrance exams.
Charlotte67
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Post by Charlotte67 »

Dear Optimist, (lovely name by the way - such a long time until March, much better to be optimistic than worried).

Your question is difficult to answer for both Ed'smum & me as this is our first experience 0f 11+. However, I can give you my impression....

I understand (and I may be wrong) that the Moray House papers contained 100 questions and many more question types than the NFER - possibly as many as 34 v 15. Obviously this need not affect the level of difficulty but it does make preparation a great deal easier! The practice papers used for the Moray House (Bond & Athey) seem to be of a similar level to the NFER / IPS used for this year's preparation; my daughter scored about the same on both types. I suppose it's fairly irrelevant anyway as the same number of children will 'pass'?? Having said that, if a test is 'easier' then the more accurate (rather than more 'intelligent') children will come out on top???

I am not in your area, so don't have knowledge of your local prep schools but I can say that - in my opinion - prep school preparation for 11+ is not all it's cracked up to be. 1 hour per week wasted in the case of many children and certainly not worth paying prep school fees purely for 11+. Of course people have many other reasons for sending their children to prep schools. Just to warn that I know of parents who have moved their children (to the children's distress) in an attempt to get them in to grammars. And wasted their money. :cry:

Good to see another Warwickshire parent, from reading your post I imagine your children will be sitting the exam in a few years time?
Optimist

Post by Optimist »

Hi Charlotte67

Thanks for replying. I take it that the NFER testswere both VR. Do you have any guidance as to what the 15 types are. I know there are 21 NFER types in total, but what are the 15, please? Any advice is appreciated.

PS we checked out a prep school, they only do the Bond Books for each age group, not too sure if Bond is of a streching level. I could be wrong though.
Ed's mum
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Location: Warwickshire.

Post by Ed's mum »

:wink: I agree with Charlotte and cannot really answer your other questions. We are both Newbies and have limited experience. Good to have you on the forum. Please post your findings when you have had your questions answered. The more info, the better!
Optimist

Post by Optimist »

Hi Ed's Mum

I will certainly post info as soon as I can get it. I think the Warks forum needs to be information-rich as the Bgham one.
Ed's mum
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Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:47 am
Location: Warwickshire.

Post by Ed's mum »

Great, why not register? That way we can send PMs if we need to.
Charlotte67
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Location: Cloud 9

Post by Charlotte67 »

Optimist, whilst Bond does have some of the same types of questions, it isn't particularly good preparation for the NFER 11+. I'm sure that the local prep schools will catch up soon, but they've been doing Bond for such a long time now that they might be resistant to change! Just goes to show that parents tend to be more on the ball.... Thank goodness for this forum!

Yes, both papers are VR, although I think the title verbal reasoning can be deceptive as a lot of the questions are maths/logic based. The question types are frequently discussed here, particularly in the VR section, but basically it's the 21 IPS question types without H, I, K, N, O & S. In the paper this year there were also no Cs, much to my daughter's disgust as they're her favourites & her friends seemed to find them hardest!
Warks mum

Post by Warks mum »

I only know the schools in Kenilworth and I can't say I could recommend a prep school - but then my daughter and all her friends go to brilliant state schools in the town, so perhaps I'm biased!

This year lots of people were caught out with the preparation. We bought the only Standard Version NFER Verbal Reasoning Papers - and there were four papers inside. Warwickshire then sent us one of those papers as a "practise paper". We weren't impressed!

A friend's daughter went to a tutor who didn't realise the papers had changed and was doing Bond papers (I think). The daughter seemed to find the NFER paper a little more difficult than the ones she had practised.

According to my daughter, the types of questions in the exam were exactly the same as the types in the practise papers which we bought from Waterstones.

Several children in my daughter's class had a tutor for a year or so before the exam - probably a cheaper alternative to a prep school - and they had all the advantages of the great state schools in Kenilworth!
Charlotte67
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Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:59 am
Location: Cloud 9

Post by Charlotte67 »

Hi Wark's Mum, how nice to 'see' you! And not puffing & panting this time; you must have been to the gym a lot since your last visit! As you can see I haven't been as I've been chained to my PC on forum duty in Warwickshire. Being in Kenilworth did you put Rugby High down as well as South Warks schools? Why don't you register? Then you can come & play with us in REHAB.
Bad Dad
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Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:42 am
Location: South Warwickshire

Post by Bad Dad »

Charlotte67 and Ed's Mum, thanks for your comments. At your test centres were there any restrictions on doing workings on the the question paper? Some people have said this is not allowed, but i was thinking I couldn't see that rule applying to standard format. Also were they allowed to wear a watch?
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