Just browsing and waiting for post

[king001]

Morning All

Just seen some of the scores and its pretty scary the standard.

I do have one questions, how many board members DD or DS had tutoring? A few children at my DSs primary school had tutors for the 11+, and had them for over a year to prepare themselves for the exam.

Also I have noticed how one mark could be the difference. Well in my DSs case 4 marks from a low 340 to mid 350.

[Nikkibeak]

Morning All

Just seen some of the scores and its pretty scary the standard.

I do have one questions, how many board members DD or DS had tutoring? A few children at my DSs primary school had tutors for the 11+, and had them for over a year to prepare themselves for the exam.

Also I have noticed how one mark could be the difference. Well in my DSs case 4 marks from a low 340 to mid 350.

Yes same for my son, 2 marks less on English and 2 marks less on maths gave him 347.89s rather than 358ish. It's tru that 1 mark on the papers really can make all the difference

[fausto]

My DS scored 370.855 last year and did not have a tutor, is first born and a June birth. However many others did, and the 11+ should be compared to "Fight Club".. the first rule is not to talk about it ! Since DS1 has started at CRGS I have discovered just how many had an awful lot of help.

and King001 I think you mean "forum members" not "board members" but perhaps you are just looking to the future for your DC !

[king001]

I find all this 11+ tests very weird, I understand that every parent wants the best for their kids, but putting your kid through months or even years of tutoring, coaching to make the grade for a school.

So your DCs get tutoring and coached for the 11+, punch well above their weight, get into their 1st choice, just means you either have keep tutoring them whilst they are at school or they will be left well behind the rest, the rest being the kids who dont need coaching to get in.

I know that one school left CSSE due to that fact that you can be coached to get great results, this test being conducted by someone at Cambridge Uni and apparently can weed out the gifted and talented from the coached.

My DS did ok, 343 without coaching, I believe he underachieved, having got in the mid 50s for maths and high 30s for english.

[ToadMum]

DS1 - 2008 entry - mid-340s

DD - 2012 entry - 290, having done something very unfortunate with her VR paper, but did very well in year 7 at her 'non-ranked allocation' comprehensive and subsequently got in to SHSG where she seems to be doing well. Had the places not come up at SHSG, or had she not got one of them on the retest, she would still be doing well where she was, but as we had put her name on the CI list, it seemed only reasonable for her to have a go when the occasion arose.

DS2 - 2014 entry - 378.962

None of ours saw hide nor hair of a professional tutor, but were occasionally pushed in the direction of a practice paper in the months leading up to their exams. DS1 I signed up for 3 months of online practice, but I'm not sure that I actually get my money's worth of usage of it out of him.

People have commented that what we did was every bit as much 'tutoring' as those whose DC were treated to paid help for hours a week for months or even years in advance of the exams. To this I have said before, if they would like to pay me what they paid their tutors, to do as little with their DC as I did with ours, I wouldn't say no .

[Dotty12345]

Agree

My DD got 345 Never done this before no tutor, no other person at her school took the exam. my take on this was if she wants to go to a GS she needs to get in on her own merit, she downloaded practice papers and did self directed learning. Would have been happy whatever the outcome.. Son at local comp as no desire to go to GS and would have not been right for him. Looks like she may well get to GS. Proud mum of both my DC's

[Mrs Sinatra]

My DD self tutored herself from July-September. She had a professional tutor (for maths) for the last two weeks, because she was struggling a bit. She got 293. But, we're still very proud of her. I still think that's a good score, just not enough for the school she wanted. We always said we'd want her to go to GS on her own merit (virtually) or not at all. And it's the latter. But we are really thrilled cos the process was fun (largely!) and we think this is the right outcome for us.

I think if she'd had more tutoring she would have got in, but that's not the path we chose to take. I have heard of children who have got incredible scores with no tutoring. I can't verify if it's true but I take it at face value.

Bright comes in many forms.

[motion]

Is it more about, If you fail to prepare; prepare to fail.

There is an element of natural ability also required to pass some of these tests not just over tutoring.

One thing to remeber is that these GSs are highly over subscribed and anyone who doesn't make it to one is not a failure. Grades can be improved in later schooling. You can get good results in many other schools even a failing school.

[dez]

Is it more about, If you fail to prepare; prepare to fail.

There is an element of natural ability also required to pass some of these tests not just over tutoring.

One thing to remeber is that these GSs are highly over subscribed and anyone who doesn't make it to one is not a failure. Grades can be improved in later schooling. You can get good results in many other schools even a failing school.

I agree. Why not just celebrate when someone got a good score rather than speculating whether they are over tutored and so on? If some DCs got good or qualified scores without tutoring than that's good for them. Any DCs who are better prepared will performed to their full potential. If a DC is not naturally bright he/she would not achieve fantastic score even with years of tutoring or coaching.

[MmeOgg]

It seems strange to me that children with sporting and performance talents are coached in order to fulfill their potential and ensure they get into the elite stage schools, football academies, swimming clubs etc. but we are much more ambivalent about children being coached to fulfill their academic potential.