11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi, I am very much a newbie to the forum and the world of 11+ and was wondering if someone can help out. Is creative writing still a subject for 11+ exams or are there only specific schools which require this? If not a separate subject, is it integrated into the English paper? I am totally confused and would be grateful for any advice. Thanks in advance!

It depends which region you are applying for, its not part of the exam in Bucks.
Exam content and style varies from different counties.
Where will your child be sitting the 11 plus?

Thanks for your reply. We will be trying for Essex schools.

There is no creative writing in either the CSSE 11+ or the new CEM exam for Chelmsford County High School for Girls.

http://www.csse.org.uk/

http://www.cchs.co.uk/ch/admissions

Where the English paper is used it tends to be either just a comprehension paper or a comprehension paper and creative writing. Creative writing is only possible when papers are going to be marked by humans and not machines. So there is no creative writing at QE boys. I find creative writing to be the area of 11 plus exams where the student can be the most out of sync with requirements. Most of the private schools in our area require creative writing, but HBS and DAO are our only state schools who use it. DG

St Michael's Grammar also set a 30 minute creative writing element in the English test.

Thanks for all your replies. A great relief to know that there is no "creative writing" for the CSSE/Chelmsford test. I totally agree with Daogroupie in that this is one area where kids go out of sync. My girl has has a vocabulary that is not too bad, but she is not so great at putting her thoughts on to paper, so this bit about Creative writing was getting me all worked up (as if we don't have enough alreaday!)

Changes to the Selection Test for 2015 entry

The CSSE group has decided to make some changes to the Selection Test for 2015 entry.

The decision has been taken in order to bring the papers more in line with the expectations of Level 5, KS2, National Curriculum, for both English and Mathematics and to better reflect the educational experience of primary school pupils.

There will not be a discrete Verbal Reasoning Paper.

New English Paper

The new English paper (in line with the expectation of Level 5, KS2, National Curriculum) will comprise:
•Comprehension, grammar and vocabulary questions
•Two pieces of creative writing
•Applied reasoning (literacy/verbal)



The paper will last 1 hour, with some additional reading time and will be worth 60 marks in total.

New Mathematics paper

The new Mathematics paper (in line with the expectations of Level 5, KS2, National Curriculum) will comprise:
•Questions consistent with KS2 of the National Curriculum
•Applied reasoning (mathematical/non-verbal)



The paper will last 1 hour and be worth 60 marks in total.

One set of familiarisation papers will be available to download from the CSSE website by January 2014.

From the CSSE website.

Hurray! About time! I find it astonishing that students can gain entry into selective schools with mc papers and without having to do any writing. I look forward to seeing samples of their Creative Writing paper. I think very highly of their existing papers and use them, so expect to see this standard continued in their new papers. DG