CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

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imranb
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Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:56 pm

CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by imranb »

DS just attempted a mock exam from a CGP Practice Paper, which resulted in a lot of tears. One of the main issue that DS raised was that the amount of time given for each section was much less (5-6 minutes per section), as compared to the Mock Exam he attempted at Shirley in Jan, where he had scored much better. DS thinks the format of the Shirley mock test gave more time per section (15 mins per section)

Having no access to the Shirley mock paper, and also hardly any information about the actual format of the real exam, I am struggling to help DS reconcile and regain confidence that the real exam won’t be as bad as this one.

Any help/advice/suggestion would be highly appreciated.
Petitpois
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Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by Petitpois »

imranb wrote:DS just attempted a mock exam from a CGP Practice Paper, which resulted in a lot of tears.
Any help/advice/suggestion would be highly appreciated.
Keep going Imranb - you have learned a very very valuable lesson early about the KE exam.

1) In terms of tears, reassure your DS in the best way you know how and praise her for trying.
2) Rome was not built in a day. Agree the goal and work towards it. Don't be afraid to do the same exam again under slightly less demanding time conditions. If you have ever had to do psychometric testing as an adult for a job, then you will you will know how that feels, if done without practice.
3) One of the reasons I could have done significantly better (although we still got 360, and 223), was my failure to understand the speed factor properly, when the answer was staring me in the face. These books like CGP and Bond, do mimic the KE test very very well, but you don't have to be able to to do 25 questions in 6 minutes (12s a question or so), from day one.

4) Regroup and focus on the speed element as part of the overall exam techniques and training, that you need to build between now and July. Remember burn out, but your aiming to peak around mid to late August. So when you do exams, follow the rules, but start by adding 2 mins to each section. As she gets more confident, reduce to 1 min extra. Keep a record of progress, so she can see she is getting better and better, faster and faster

5) Set some interim major milestones and then do a "worked hard" treat for all the hard work, e.g. pizza or whatever floats her boat.

Above all, emphasise that its about working hard and there is no pass or fail as far as you concerned, only giving it your best shot. This needed constant reinforcement for my DD1's campaign, which is just about coming to its Zenith.

pp
OldTrout
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Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by OldTrout »

Hi imranb

Agree with what petitpois said but would add

1) make sure your child understands that in the real exam it is likely that there will be sections they don't finish - so expect not to complete

2) knowing that - box clever. A) skim your section - if there are lots of word problems but the end of the section is straightforward multiplications/ divisions/ calculations - skip long problems and do simple problems first. Or you hit a antonym question where you don't know what the word means - skip to the one you do or guess and come back later. You will find most answers are equally weighted - i.e. Same points for 5 cubed as long winded word problem.

I think kids in the stress of the exam - and certainly my little fish in 2014 - got stressed if they couldn't finish a section and then let it affect their confidence in the next section. So first off - don't worry about completing sections. It's normal not to.

Kids can persevere with a tricky question instead of swiftly cutting their losses and moving on... Learn to estimate how much time you have or use a watch...but basically cut your losses if a question is taking too long - the next one might be easier. Learn to save tricky questions for last.

Finally use practise tests/ papers as a learning exercise and spend time going through wrong answers and helping your child understand why they got it wrong and how to get it right next time. It can feel like you aren't getting anywhere fast but having done this twice now - it's worth the time and does improve your child's knowledge/ skills. If your approach is positive...along the lines of 'Oh I'm glad we've found out that you don't know the meaning of triskaidekaphobia now - it's a great word and that reminds me about Greek number words anyway which we can review now....' Kind of thing.

Mistakes/ wrong answers are learning opportunities!
thirdtimemum
Posts: 386
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:21 am

Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by thirdtimemum »

I would also emphasise that they do not and will not get 100% in the exam! Here are our raw scores :
VR: 17/28, 16/25, 16/25, 10/18 and 8/14

NVR: 15/21 and 23/32

Maths: 17/20 and 13/24

This scored a total of 222 which gives you an idea of how many they need to get right. My DS was pulling his hair out at not getting them all right until I told him that he needs to only be aiming at about 65% right for his first choice school.
It's so tough for them at this age, dreading having to go through all of this again over the next few years!
Petitpois
Posts: 1440
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by Petitpois »

Also: for what it is worth

Walsall 1/7/15, WSC CEM, very few questions missed, time to check in most sections (score 360)

B'ham 12/9/15, King Edwards, melt down 30 questions missed (score 223), could not handle the speed element - particularly on the first two VR sections, I think words and comprehension.

Bham 26/1/16, KEHS, virtually no practice, all sections completed easily within time, to allow double checks, and still time. (place offered).

She panicked on the King Edwards for sure. I don't know why, but she did. I think sections 1&2 on this years test were almost deliberately designed to throw kids. Hitting the ground running with those first two sections was a major thing. I think DD lost between 15-20 of those. She tells me she was panicking because of the amount of time per question, and then had an internal conversation with herself to get a grip and, get back on track, which she largely did, but the damage was done in the space of those first 15 minutes, hence the 223.

I suppose the take away, is building resilience. It is gutting that even if she had randomly answered 2/3rds of those question she missed, she might have got a 230+ score. But that's not what were focussed on, I thought it was good that she recognised she was crumbling under the pressure and had the conversation with herself, that allowed her to salvage the 223.

In short I think I am trying to say, what does not kill you make you stronger and it is no bad thing that kids get exposed to situations and scenario's where they cannot cope
MSD
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Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by MSD »

We made this mistake with our son on NVR. I believe we were always concerned about how accurate he was rather than how many he was completing in the set time. I think the key is to encourage your child to go through the NVR at a good pace rather than be painstakingly accurate but slow.

Out boy is pretty good in NVR and scored 110 in Walsall test as he missed one and half sheets due to time. But in the Birminghsm he learnt from his mistakes and achieved 130.
Petitpois
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Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by Petitpois »

Firsttimemum wrote: dreading having to go through all of this again over the next few years!
DD2 lacks confidence and is scared to get it wrong. One of my major battle plans is to get her okay, with individual wrong answers and focus on winning the war, rather than every battle.

PP
MSD
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Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by MSD »

PP - 'Scared to get it wrong' really comes down to unnecessary parental expectation and child being nervous. You must work on removing these two blockers as that will make a huge difference to the end result.
Petitpois
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Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by Petitpois »

MSD wrote:PP - 'Scared to get it wrong' really comes down to unnecessary parental expectation and child being nervous. You must work on removing these two blockers as that will make a huge difference to the end result.
Part of it is living in the shadow of DD1. Nervous for sure. DD1 is perceived as successful, by DD2. DD1 can be domineering on DD2. We have sent her on confidence building activities this week, so hopefully they will help unblock. Still £400 not a cheap unblocker :shock: :shock:
tiredmama
Posts: 154
Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2015 11:27 am

Re: CGP Practice Exam - Help Please

Post by tiredmama »

My dd scored 55% and 60% ON CGP CEM mock pack 3, I think there were 2 mock tests in that pack. She got 211 on the actual KE 11+.
"To show me is far better than to lecture everyday.
To lead me is far greater than to just point out the way.
So if you tell me everything then I shall understand,
But rapid streams of words cannot compete with deed of hand[...]"
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