Yesterday, my son had a go at the CEM sample paper on the Reading Boys website.
I wanted him to try it before we make a decision on whether to try for the school.
The 4 sections of the sample paper added up to 95; what sort of score would be close to a pass mark?

Without any prep, I think he did well, but it would be interesting to hear what he needs to score on the sample paper to be in with a chance of passing. His timing would need a bit of work and his experience of the bubble marking sheet needs some input but for a very first atempt, it seemed to go ok.

Many thanks.

I’m assuming you are not thinking of him sitting the test this Autumn, but next year. (If this year, then unless you’ve registered already it’s too late.)

I don’t think the sample test is indicative of the difficulty of the actual test, so I’m not sure the score tells you much. It’s more an example of what the format looks like. Number and type of questions varies a lot from year to year.

Thank you for your reply.
He is registered (very last minute) for this Autumn's sitting.
I was hoping that a score of X% on the sample paper would indicate he had a decent chance of doing well.
I guess there isn't anything that would allow me to see how he could fare if the sample paper isn't a good indicator of what might be in the papers.

I’d look at the various practice papers available for CEM. I’m not a CEM expert as my DD did the kendrick test before the change.

CGP and FPTP seem to be the ones of choice though.

The sample test is there to show what type of questions to expect - nothing more.
Try booking a mock test (CEM style, not GL) to get an idea. We benefited a lot from the mock test experience. CEM style tests require very good time management (e.g. 32 questions, 14 mins) and make apparently random switches between subjects (e.g. 16 nonverbal reasoning questions, followed by 12 reading questions, followed by another 14 nonverbal reasoning questions). Mock tests would give you this kind of experience.