CSSE English -best way of practising

[kbodh]

Got few old csse papers but still need bit more practice.

Met another mum recently at mockup, she said the comprehension is not going to be the old style classics as test pattern has changed from 2015.
2015 and 2016 English papers are not old classics.

I got Oliver Twist, Jane Eyer, Animal Farm, more Charles's Dickens's books at home. We are reading few chapters and discussing it.

Any idea what period range classics we should be looking.

[SlighlyStressedMum]

Hi. We read a range of books (some together, some on his own). We read Dickens but we also read more 'modern' stuff like The Railway Children and Carrie's War. We discussed them as we read . My ds went to Explore Learning so did do some comprehension practice there, however the other thing I did was scour the Web for free familiarisation or past papers that were similar in format to the csse exam. Can't remember where now but some were from grammar schools in other counties, some from Independents. Easy to find, just a bit of Googling required. Most of them were just the papers, no answers, but I marked them best I could myself!

[Minesatea]

I'm sorry but I do not think you should assume that all comprehensions from now on will not be old classic texts just because the last two years haven't been. When my eldest sat the exam (about 8 years ago) it was a modern nonfiction text, but they then went back to I think Dickens the next year. There is no pattern to it as they dont want it to be predictable.
Standard advise: encourage reading of a wide range of books fiction and non fiction.

[moved]

It was Graham Greene in the past too.

[ToadMum]

It was Graham Greene in the past too.

The 2012 entry main date passage was either specifically written for the exam, or from an unpublished novel, I seem to remember? If they are still rotating the writing of the papers , it may depend on the preferences of the teachers involved.

Whoever set the 2014 entry paper obviously had a sense of humour (The Hound of the Baskervilles for the main date and Lord of the Flies for the back-up ).

[Daogroupie]

Last year was Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee and the back up was Silas Marner by George Elliot.

So I am interested to know where your contact got the idea that they were not "old classics" DG

[SlighlyStressedMum]

I agree, I wouldn't discount older classics either. The main reason we read a wide range of stuff was to make sure that my ds would be equally at home reading (and understanding) Dickens or Hardy for example, as he would with Laurie Lee or Nesbit.

[Minesatea]

Out of interest I have just looked at the dates of publication of the texts my three got and we obviously missed all the older classics but DS2 who sat last year had the oldest book of the three of them.
Ds1 (2009) - Longitutude pub 1995
Dd (2011) - Captain Corelli's Mandolin pub 1994
Ds2 (2016) - Cider with Rosie pub 1959

DD would have preferred a "classic" her text was dreadful for a 10 year old!

[pushymother]

Out of interest I have just looked at the dates of publication of the texts my three got and we obviously missed all the older classics but DS2 who sat last year had the oldest book of the three of them.
Ds1 (2009) - Longitutude pub 1995
Dd (2011) - Captain Corelli's Mandolin pub 1994
Ds2 (2016) - Cider with Rosie pub 1959

DD would have preferred a "classic" her text was dreadful for a 10 year old!

No not for a 10 year old but I love:

Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your root was so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. that is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

My DH and I read the read the book while we were dating and had this passage as one of our readings for our wedding.

Our 15 year anniversary just passed in July so it has more meaning now LOL!