Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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Daogroupie
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Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by Daogroupie »

Writing considered to be more straightforward than Group Two.

In my opinion those who did both had a distinct advantage.

Let's see how the results pan out. It was a lot easier than Habs apparently.

I like the new format but more to juggle timewise. DG
bubbly74
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by bubbly74 »

DD sat the St Albans test today. The maths was much easier than the English, she found the english very tight on time. She missed out one question. Would like to hear how the others did?
avidskier
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by avidskier »

DD2 sat it yesterday having done NLCS and Habs. English is her strength and she found Habs and NLCS fairly straight forward but failed to finish the comprehension in the Consortium paper unfortunately. Maths there was one tricky question with multiple parts where she ended up just guessing. :(
Spoke to the school at pick up. Apparently there were around 300 applying for STAHS this year (incl internal) - so fingers crossed we make the interview..
ams77
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by ams77 »

bubbly74 wrote:DD sat the St Albans test today. The maths was much easier than the English, she found the english very tight on time. She missed out one question. Would like to hear how the others did?
Agree on 'Maths easier than English this year'. I know few girls who struggled to complete the english comprehension so looks like everyone is in same boat :wink:
best of luck for the results
Daogroupie
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by Daogroupie »

Not all dds struggled with the comprehension. Those who prepared for state selectives like DAO where the comprehension was 3 pages of Jamaica Inn this year (exactly the same text as Execel English IGSE June 2015 but 3 times as long) and Jane Eyre last year, found it straightforward.

It is all a question of what you are used to. This is why Bond books are not sufficient preparation for this level of comprehension.

So there will have been a percentage who did not struggle but it likely that many did. DG
PurpleDuck
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by PurpleDuck »

Daogroupie wrote:Not all dds struggled with the comprehension. Those who prepared for state selectives like DAO where the comprehension was 3 pages of Jamaica Inn this year (exactly the same text as Execel English IGSE June 2015 but 3 times as long) and Jane Eyre last year, found it straightforward.

It is all a question of what you are used to. This is why Bond books are not sufficient preparation for this level of comprehension.

So there will have been a percentage who did not struggle but it likely that many did. DG
I've always known that state grammars' 11+ exams are pitched above the KS2 curriculum (contrary to their official 'party line' declared during open evenings etc) but IGCSE-level text for English comprehension for 10 year olds? Is it how you have to prepare for these exams now - cover half of a secondary school English and maths curriculum just to get into the said secondary school? I am so glad we are done with all our 11+ exams...
It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)
ToadMum
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by ToadMum »

My first experience of reading Jane Eyre was when we did it in class in what we now call year 6. It's not the book itself which precisely defines the level - for example, when DS2 took the 11+ here two years ago, the book used for the comprehension was The Hound of the Baskervilles and for the reserve date, Lord of the Flies. Neither of them written as children's books, but perfectly possible to choose from them passages suitable for ten- and eleven-year-olds. What mainly determines the level of difficulty is the questions that are set. e.g. 'Find an example of indirect speech' / 'At what time of the year did this happen? Give two examples from the text' / 'In your own words, explain why character X is described as being...' etc
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Daogroupie
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by Daogroupie »

No, 10 year olds just have to be reading challenging texts where you will encounter this level of vocabulary. Stop letting your dcs read Jackie Wilson and David Walliams and buy them something that will be able to deal with text at this level. The main literary devices in these texts are all part of KS2 and have been "taught" but just not applied enough.

You don't have to decipher the text in the same way as a 16 year old. The grade boundary on the IGCSE was 76% and very few of the DAO candidates would have got anywhere near 76% on the comprehension paper. A mark in the 60's was a great mark this year.

This issue for all 11 plus English papers is the level of the competition. Are there other 10 year olds who will be able to understand this level of comprehension? Yes there is. So they will get the marks and push the pass mark up and those who have not been reading at this level will slide down the rankings in the English paper.

The students I know of did not find the Consortium Group One Comprehension paper hard because they had been doing White Fang, the Call of the Wild, The War of the Worlds, The Red Pony, David Copperfield, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Kidnapped, Treasure Island etc.

But it is likely these students will take Habs, City, St Pauls and NLCS so a lower mark in Consortium Group One could well yield an interview and an offer. DG
Daogroupie
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by Daogroupie »

Yes the explicit references can be straightforward as you say. All you need to do is find them in the text. It is the implicit references that will have caused the issues. Many students come out of English papers thinking it was really easy but this is because they completely missed the deeper meanings.

I find no students ever see through Uncle Victor in the last Train to Paris Consortium sample paper and how many students can see how the taxi is being described in Rakesh and his secret girlfriend? As for Arlington Rise do they know what that is really about and why does the Tramp steal the horse and what is his problem with doors and what is really happening to Jamie in Never Trust a Parrot? Anyone got ten years old who could understand the clues in these texts? DG
PurpleDuck
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Re: Consortium Group One Feedback from this morning

Post by PurpleDuck »

ToadMum wrote:It's not the book itself which precisely defines the level - for example, when DS2 took the 11+ here two years ago, the book used for the comprehension was The Hound of the Baskervilles and for the reserve date, Lord of the Flies. Neither of them written as children's books, but perfectly possible to choose from them passages suitable for ten- and eleven-year-olds. What mainly determines the level of difficulty is the questions that are set.
Agreed, ToadMum, that makes sense. I remember my older DS had Lord of the Flies for one of his comprehension tests, too (that was 4 years ago in his case :) ). I just still find it frustrating that, as a rule, state primaries will not give you any guidance as to at what level a child needs to read to get through the 11+ ('It's not our job to prepare children for 11+', I was told once) and state grammars insist that all they test on is KS2 up to year 5 (I stopped believing that a long time ago.) As parents, we end up being left to our own devices... I'm lucky my both DSs love reading; that definitely was a very important factor in passing their 11+ exams. And I really am relieved I will not have to go through it ever again as the bar seems to go up every year and it's all becoming ridiculously stressful.
It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)
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