Panicking about next years test

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

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Tracy41
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:49 pm

Panicking about next years test

Post by Tracy41 »

Hi all,

My dd will sit the test next year 2016, but I'm panicking now as I have been reading, firstly the year she was born was a high birth rate year and also am confused as we would be applying for both Walsall and Bham test's, but have read they are making them into just 1 test instead of separate ones, is this true?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we are doing all the prep diy.

Which books are best, Bond or CGP?
kumarsAt42
Posts: 69
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:00 am

Re: Panicking about next years test

Post by kumarsAt42 »

Tracy41 wrote:Hi all,

My dd will sit the test next year 2016, but I'm panicking now as I have been reading, firstly the year she was born was a high birth rate year and also am confused as we would be applying for both Walsall and Bham test's, but have read they are making them into just 1 test instead of separate ones, is this true?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we are doing all the prep diy.

Which books are best, Bond or CGP?
Hi Tracy41,

There is a discussion going on for merging the 2 exams into one. Still there is no official confirmation. Pls check "http://www.qmgs.walsall.sch.uk/index.ph ... Itemid=216" for more information reg. admission for Sep'17.

Its highly likely that its going to be one exam.

Pls go thru CEM related threads. Timings and accuracy is going to be important. Ensure that your kid is comfortable shading the answers paper accurately and fast. This requires practice.
z-g
Posts: 127
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2013 2:59 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Panicking about next years test

Post by z-g »

This is something am worried about too, as my DS will be sitting the test next year.
At the moment we're going over what he's struggling on and also doing the bond books.
Zainab
Petitpois
Posts: 1440
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

Re: Panicking about next years test

Post by Petitpois »

oxford grammar dictionary is brilliant and about 10 quid. All the rule and simple examples, that will massively aid reading.
Build speed by doing manic multipliers
Read read read read and more reading.
Jealously guard TV and phone and tablet time
DD2 not doing hers till year after
OldTrout
Posts: 386
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 1:21 pm

Re: Panicking about next years test

Post by OldTrout »

Tracy41:

3 things:

1) Nothing ventured - nothing gained. The test is absolutely free, yes you may have to invest in some preparatory material - but there are lots of free resources and the stickies at the top of Walsall/ Birmingham sections do give some very useful tips on the kind of things needed.

2) ensuring sound skills is probably as important - so you want good calculation skills (so ability to handle long division, quick recall of multiplication facts including inverse multiplication facts [e.g. 36 dived by 4 is 9] and sound comprehension/ vocab skills.

3) there are so many free on-line games out there - but start with woodland Junior school maths/ literacy zones and have an explore. I used to find games to work those areas where little fish or small fry were struggling (e.g. fractions or converting m to km, etc...).

-----------------

For us useful books were
10 minute bonds - worked through in Y5 (9/10, 10/11 and summer before Y6 worked on 11/12)

Cloze books are useful (just used for small fry in 2015, weren't available in 2013) - these cloze style questions can be very tricky and having a bit of experience with things like 11 words, ten of which make a sentence and indicate which word should be left out or hangman style missing letters in a word is useful (I think it's less daunting on test day if you've seen that type of question before).

CEM style practice papers were very helpful this time around (we had older hand me down stuff for little fish in 2013, which I think were just too out of date). small fry said the test was quite similar - different questions entirely but same type of thing.

I absolutey swear by taking the time on marking. Don't just tick right/ wrong - but really get at what went wrong. Go over why the answer to the NVR rotation quesiton was b and not c and make sure they get it. It can seem like you're getting no where fast but going over mistakes and getting them to realise what to do next time was useful for both my fishes.

---------------------------

Other than that Tracy41 my one piece of advice is to not worry too much about passing/ failing - but to focus on the fact that what you're doing here is trying to help your child work to the highest possible standard (this is truly top 5% of pupils territory). Little Fish just missed out in 2013 (scoring 213 when she needed 218 or 219 I think) - but boy has doing the 11+ paid dividends. She did amazingly well come KS2 SATs - scoring NC L6 on one paper. She had excellent results on CAT testing (in house ability tests) at her secondary school - done on moving up day late Y6 and in first weeks of Y7. She also started secondary determined to do well to try again for King Edwards for sixth form - which is an attitude that has really helped with the transition from a primary with no homework and few writing opportunitites, to a secondary school with nightly homework (quite a shock and required a lot of help from me - especially organisationally).

I hope small fry has done enough this year to get into Camp Hill (it's what she's set her heart on) - but if she doesn't - having been there and done that - I know it will be fine. We're fortunate, our comprehensive is quite good and having seen what a great Y7 little fish has had, I know that if it is the local comp my small fry will also be well placed to get off to a flying start in this secondary school.

Finally - and I know this sounds bizarre - but I really enjoyed Y5/ summer before Y6 one to one tutoring with both my fishes. It was a pleasure to see their strengths as students, their resilience as individuals and their optimism. It wasn't always easy. Certianly it could be very painful (sometimes unbearable) to see them struggle with some concepts and to explain it over and over again, seemingly achieving very little each time. And yes, when little fish realised her friends were going to Camp Hill and she wasn't - well she was crushed at first and that was very hard. But life is funny - what was awful last week or month, does get put behind you and you move on. Little fish is absolutely convinced she's at the right school for her and I'm convinced the reason she's a high flyer there is that we went through this 11+ process.

Wishing you all the best of luck in your journey....

and in the words of Dori the fish (from Saving Nemo) - Just Keep Swimming!
nervousmom
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:38 am
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Panicking about next years test

Post by nervousmom »

Read, read, read, then read some more.

Start her reading now. Keep a little note book to hand and get her to write in and words she comes across that she doesn't understand. When she's finished reading, look up the word/words in a dictionary and then get her to write a sentence using said words.

My daughter attended the Shirley based masterclass throughout year 5. Each week the were given a list of 5 words and their meaning to learn. After 8 weeks they were given a 'definitions' test based on these 40 words, so needed to know meaning and spelling. Overall there were approx 150 words she learnt. Not much in the scheme of things, but still extra words she didnt know before.

So maybe, with the words she writes down, you could collate them on the above way and test her on them occasionally.

Here are some of the books my daughter read over the last few months - sorry dont know authors on most of them!

Mallory Towers series - 6 books - Enid Blyton - plus a further 6 follow on books written by some else writing as Enid Blyton.
St Claire's series - Enid Blyton
Various Jaqueline Wilson books
Charlotte's Webb
The Borrowers
The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe - C S Lewis
The Secret Garden
Tom's Midnight Garden
Danny Champion of the World - Roald Dahl
Matilda - Roald Dahl

Other suggested books that she didnt get round to reading

Holes
Harry potter & the philosophers stone
Wind in the willows
Goodnight Mr Tom

Can't think of any more at the moment, but hopefully this will help.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Panicking about next years test

Post by Daogroupie »

Great post old trout, really enjoyed reading it and delighted to hear your elder dd is happy in her school.

Which CEM papers did you use? DG
OldTrout
Posts: 386
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 1:21 pm

Re: Panicking about next years test

Post by OldTrout »

set of 3 CGP CEM 11+ practise tests - but know there are others which may be as good.

My advice is if you're y5, ask some parents of y6 kids at your school what they used - you may get some hand me downs.

I've just spent the interval between taking the test and the result erasing small fry's answers so her younger friend (y5 taking exam for 2016 entry) could use our practise books.

Also agree with nervous mom (a regular with great advice) reading regularly and a variety of things helps.
Tracy41
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:49 pm

Re: Panicking about next years test

Post by Tracy41 »

Thank you all for your replys,

Thankfully she is an avid reader already, and was a level 5C reading and literacy at the end of year 4,

The reading lists are really helpful and we shall start practicing the timings :D
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