K*** Mock

Eleven Plus (11+) in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin

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Bob1892
Posts: 1186
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:14 am

K*** Mock

Post by Bob1892 »

Hi
Anyone had any mock experience with this tuition company based in Shirley?
We had the July mock results yesterday and ds did ok. They claim anyone over 62% more or less gains a GS place going by their past years' results. Other assertion that they made is that for eg to get CHB you need a score around 80% in their mock- that's quite a tall order I reckon.
Apparently this mock is supposedly slightly harder than the KE test??
518 kids took the test - that's over 10% of the entire cohort who'll be doing the test this September- so I suppose their mock scores and rankings are fairly valid?
Any feedback or views would be appreciated. :)
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: K*** Mock

Post by kenyancowgirl »

How can they possibly know their test is harder than the real thing? What a ridiculous assertion! If you don't know the answer then of course the test is hard! And there is far too much 11+ tourism for mocks to be able to say that those that took the test make up 10% of the entire cohort who will take the test in Sept. People come from all over the country to take mock tests but have no intention of sitting the actual test in this area. Tuition companies have a vested interest in giving children a mock test and then persuading parents that they ought to sign up with them, if the results are not as high as hoped...just remember that!
Turtlegirl
Posts: 521
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:54 pm

Re: K*** Mock

Post by Turtlegirl »

I have had three kids take mocks with this company. I've not been told whether it's easier or harder than the real thing. I've always assumed easier tbh. However, I think the exam is a good help to work out where children need to focus. My first child was just above borderline in the mocks and gained a place at KEVIHS, the next was below the borderline in the first mock, had lots of maths help, borderline in the next couple of mocks and then gained places at QMGS (our first choice grammar) and KES. He completely bombed the KE consortium exam but we'd had a very mellow summer!

My third child is taking the 11+ this season. He is much brighter than the other two (a comfortable level 6 in maths already, level 5s in English) so we were unsurprised that he scored comfortably in the mocks he took in March and May. I was told that they were good Camp Hill scores. I think the company is very professional and holds good records so can make pretty good predictions. Of course things can always go wrong on the day. Or better than expected. It's helpful to pin point any areas of weakness and to give realistic expectations. It's a useful way to prepare I think.
nervousmom
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:38 am
Location: Warwickshire

Re: K*** Mock

Post by nervousmom »

Kenyan, I'm assuming you have never had any dealings with this company from the comments you made.

Yes, ultimately it is a business and they want to make money. However they are very professional in what they do and Anita, one of the directors, is always a bag of nerves when the 11+ results letters are sent out.

Last year 78% of their students obtained one of their chosen schools.

They have been doing this for a number of years now and have a fairly good idea on the actual exam complexity, from feedback received from children who have taken it (also their own children have also sat 11+ and all three have gained places at Camp Hill)

My own DS sat 11+ 3 years ago and is now at KEFW. The mock exams were an excellent experience for him. Each one progressively getting harder.

My DD is sitting 11+ this year and once again we have found the mock exams very useful.

A very stressful few weeks await us!
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: K*** Mock

Post by kenyancowgirl »

No I haven't - and neither of my boys did any mock tests - neither do a huge number of children every year and they still get into the Grammar Schools up and down the country. My concern is that threads like this can appear to me to be pure advertising - I have no idea who any of you are - for all I know you could all work for the tutor company, and of course you would then say they are brilliant and professional. If you think this tutor company is great - that is fine, however, I will always try and give the balance to these arguments.

I am very wary of statistics bandied about by tutor companies because they are not regulated AT ALL, there is absolutely NO way of knowing if these are true or not and whether they are statistically relevant for the numbers they deal with. I sometimes think that if all the statistics were to be believed, the GS would be filled 20 times over!! (There - there is a statistic that I have no way of proving...!)

For the benefit of the wider forum members and those coming beyond, it is right and proper to point out that tutor companies, no matter how professional, are there to make money, pure and simple. Any nervousness around the 11+ test is fundamentally because, for those children who get in, the parents will advertise their company as being the go to place - this facilitates new business for them year in year out. They can dress it up however they want but that is the business - and parents need to recognise that.

Their tests can be convoluted, easy or somewhere in between but how a child does in them is no guarantee of how they will do on the day. Some people swear by mock tests, just as many don't - for families on low income, I don't think they are essential and too many posts on here imply that if you don't do one, your child has no chance - that simply isn't true. I haven't yet met a child in either of my boys classes that did mock tests.

I am glad you had a great experience of them - and I hope your younger children are equally successful - I stand by the fact that for every "professional" company, there are lots more that aren't and feed on parents fears to drum up business.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: K*** Mock

Post by southbucks3 »

518 test takers at how ££££££ each????
Wowser, forget running summer music festivals run mock test festivals instead.

Good luck to your child, it is a stressful time but try not to over analyse his result, my eldest son sat a few, very small, locally run but nationally peer compared mock tests, he did terribly on both, but passed his 11+with a v high score. I didn't bother with mocks for the next two, I found the whole thing dented his confidence rather than helped and they were a very highly regarded company too.
I suppose it depends upon your child, but if they are confident and obviously smart cookies anyway, why bother and if they are not confident there are better ways to recognise and improve both their academic weaknesses and their confidence. The only benefit I can see is getting them used to a big hall, lots of shuffling and an exam atmosphere, the result is therefore incidental.
Bob1892
Posts: 1186
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:14 am

Re: K*** Mock

Post by Bob1892 »

518x£50=£26k plus £15 for a follow up report.
I'm obviously in the wrong business.
guest201
Posts: 484
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:04 pm

Re: K*** Mock

Post by guest201 »

My DD did a mock exam with this company in May two years ago, she was borderline too. It spurred her on to put in a bit of extra work in the summer and she comfortably achieved her first choice grammar school, yes it cost £50 but it was in my opinion money well spent. Also it is a business that is there to make money but does that necessarily mean that they can't do a good job, can't the two things go hand in hand?
Stroller
Posts: 1546
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 9:39 am

Re: K*** Mock

Post by Stroller »

kenyancowgirl wrote: For the benefit of the wider forum members and those coming beyond, it is right and proper to point out that tutor companies, no matter how professional, are there to make money, pure and simple. Any nervousness around the 11+ test is fundamentally because, for those children who get in, the parents will advertise their company as being the go to place - this facilitates new business for them year in year out. They can dress it up however they want but that is the business - and parents need to recognise that.

Their tests can be convoluted, easy or somewhere in between but how a child does in them is no guarantee of how they will do on the day. Some people swear by mock tests, just as many don't - for families on low income, I don't think they are essential and too many posts on here imply that if you don't do one, your child has no chance - that simply isn't true.
Good points, well made. We had no external tutor and I'll always remember the kids in DD's class who - in full knowledge that she didn't have a tutor - announced to her in school the day before the TGS exam that it wasn't possible to get into Tiffin without a tutor. Some of those kids had three or four separate tutors for different specialisms (e.g. one for VR, another for maths, etc). I thought it was such a mean-spirited attempt to affect their competition by trying to shake her confidence. Guess who has a place though? Versus a majority of the tutored who didn't get in. I'll be honest, I didn't have a lot of sympathy to spare for the nasties...

As for mocks, I'm certain that they are optional, although we did do a single very inexpensive mock organised by the Sutton PSA [London area] and found it useful because of the experience of sitting a test in a big hall and because it confirmed which area was stronger/weaker. There was no individual feedback, but it wasn't hard to figure out that spending more time covering ground in the weaker area would be wise. And at least the money was going to a school.
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mum1115
Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:05 pm

Re: K*** Mock

Post by mum1115 »

my child didn't have a tutor but he did do some of these mocks as exam atmosphere practice. I was concerned that up until the mocks he hadn't experienced any exam or exam conditions and I didn't want that to be a source of worry for him on 11+ day. It gave him experience of timing issues, noises, distractions etc. He found them helpful, on 11+ day there were children crying in his allocated class room, he managed his timings well finishing each section etc.
As i understool it the may test with this company was set at their understanding of 11+ standard whereas the july test was slightly above so that children could come out of the 11+ and say it was ok.
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