OK, Kendrick and Reading 2013 rollcall!

[sonasona]

Don't worry, take it easy and put your child first. If they are being held up on any particular question types, sit back and think why, concentrate on them and try to repeat technique until they get it right.

Break down all the question types into small chunks and encourage your dds to do them as quickly and accurately as possible. Then make those chunks bigger. This is a good way of improving speed. Take your dd to different places to do her tests, Mcdonalds, library, in the car, on the train etc. so she can learn to concentrate effectively. Treat (bribe them to encourage them. Tell them its all about ytring for the test and that they'll do well on the day. If it helps, tell them the actual tests will be easier!!!

The most important thing is your dd's health and wellbeing, don't put any undue pressure on her. For us its not all about the school, its about the child!

Good luck to your Dds. I wish them and you all the very best.

Sonasona

[jillybean]

Another one here for Kendrick - we only decided to apply in July and are flying in specially for the test from several thousand miles away - so no pressure there!

Without wishing to brag I'm sure DD's bright enough to do well at a grammar, but whether she'll get in on 2 months' light prep is more questionable... We're doing a 10-minute test or two every day and longer practice papers at the weekend.

Good luck to all!

[Tinkers]

Some of DDs friends only did a few months prep before hand and were successful, some working for over a year were not successful.

If they are bright and have seen most of the question types before then they have as good as chance as those working for longer.



It's quality not quantity that counts.

[studymum]

We're counting down the days and will be glad when it's over.

DD is completely inconsistent with papers and can make silly mistakes but occasionally pulls it out of the bag! We're not pushing it too hard now and just trying to fit in some papers at the weekends. She's definitely stronger in verbal than non-verbal which may pull her marks down.

We've been through it before with our two DS sitting for Reading (one successful and one not) so you'd think we'd be experts but somehow each time I feel totally unprepared and can't really judge what I think the outcome will be.

Nothing to lose by trying though

Good luck to everyone sharing the stress xx

[hypermum13]

The stress levels are killing(for me at least!) at this point in time.

Although we have not been able to put in a lot time and DS is scoring somewhere between 80 - 85%, I am very apprehensive since tends to make a lot of silly mistakes over things he definitely knows.....and had missed checking.....

He turned 10 in July and I have been told that there is grace marking of 3% at that age group. Is that true ?

super hypermum

[Pratz]

20days to go..I am waiting so much for Oct 1st. We'll be done then.
DS has been working hard. And scores vary all the time...
I am worried about English and Vocab.

[aliportico]

Pallet/palate/palette

Pratz, my son spent the month after the test telling me everything he'd got wrong on the "choose the most appropriate word" questions - e.g. Jack has an apoplectic taste in music I can only assume that the general English standard is fairly low!

[Audreylawyer]

My DS is sitting on 4th October as he is applying for a boarding place. I can't recall being so stressed about my own exams, but my stress levels are as high as they have ever been. Some days he will get in the high 90s. Others he can score as low as 65!

I am just hoping that he manages to pull it out on the day. Not sure why the boarding exam is different to the day exam though. He has 3 papers instead of 2, and the maths and English papers are standard.

Can't wait for this to be over so I can go back to having conversations with my friends that do not centre around how my DS is doing with his exam prep

[Pratz]

Audreylawyer, even the day exam has 3 papers for Reading Boys. Maths, English, VR/NVR/VR+NVR.
They are multiple choice though.

[Turney]

Hi All,
My DD is also sitting the Kendrick exam...... time is now flying toward the date ...but I really can't wait for it to be over!

Just wanted to say Hi and I look forward to joining in in future conversations.

Kind regards,
Elizabeth