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11 + preparation

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:20 pm
by Catherine
.....carrying on from '11+ preparation overseas' in Bucks

Hi Guest,

Is your son going to sit the exam for the Reading School?

My son took the exam for Slough last year. He didn't have English, but had VR, NVR, and Maths, all NFER multichoice format.

The level in Maths goes well beyond the curriculum for the beginning of Year 6, and even the end of year 6. So, unless his school teaches further than the curriculum, he will have to make up for the gap. Even in the areas that are included in the KS2, the questions are more demanding.

But you may consider only starting with new areas towards the end of the summer term 2006, otherwise you may teach something that is going to be covered at school anyway.
In the mean time, you need to make sure that your son is really up to scratch with the school curriculum. If you want to give him further practice, you can use the Bond books corresponding to his age.

Hope this helps


Catherine

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 10:42 pm
by Guest
Hi Catherine,

Thankyou for your kind advise. Yes it is reading school. Unfortunately the only one he's eligible for, for reasonable distance from home. Had even considered Langley, as hubby goes past it on the way to work each day. But as its twenty miles away, decided it would'nt help with the friends after school thing.

As you rightly advise, I think the curriculum is the thing to start with. I initially thought number operation, and vocab would be a good lead in.(Just printed off Patricias excellent vocab list, My son saw it and asked what it was for, so we went through the first column. Proportion is a professional portion of chips :D ) obviously loads of work to do!!

I'll purchase the bond books to gage his knowledge, and begin in summer hols. Unless hubby steps up, I'll have to re-learn fractions(absolutely hated them at school!) do they need to know all four operations with these? :cry:

RR

Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 8:21 am
by Catherine
Hi Guest,

The 4 operations are covered in the Bond books, but I dont know exactly which age group has them.

If you want to brush up you maths skills (I also had to do it for some areas), you can have a look at the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/maths/number/

Fractions, percentages and proportions are an important part of the 11+ curriculum, so is problem solving. They will do this at school, but the 11+ problems are harder and trickier.

Just a warning: If your board is NFER (is it?), be careful with the Bond papers. You can use them for Maths, but as Patricia mentioned, not for VB because the question types are different. (or you can use them in early years as an introduction).
Closer to the exam, you may want to pactice Maths with the IPS papers which are very similar to the NFER tests, just a little bit harder.

Sorry about the delay in answering. I don't go near computers near as much during school holidays than when I am working.

Any more question, please ask

Catherine

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:17 pm
by Guest
Dear Catherine

You appear to have knowledge of the Slough 11+ and was wondering whether you would clarify some points which I am unclear about. The Slough 11+ is scheduled for 2nd November this year. It consists of Maths, NVR and VR unlike the Bucks test which consists of 2 VR papers. Because we live in Bucks but on the border for schools, I have been preparing my son for the Bucks 11+ myself and have been reading the Bucks forum for help and advice. We have been concentrating on doing the Bucks practice tests first (21 question types) as I would prefer my son to go to a Bucks school. I have found it very useful especially with getting hints and tips. However, my son will also be sitting the Slough 11+ aswell which give us 2 chances for a grammar school place.. so hey... why not take up the opportunity. I was wondering how the test was administered. Do the children do each of the 3 tests one after each other??? How many questions are on each paper?? Do they get a break between each paper?? How do the board establish the final standardised score - is it an average of all 3 papers??
I would be extremely grateful for any information.

Kim

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:30 pm
by Catherine
Dear Kim,

The exam board for Slough is the same as in Bucks, NFER, and all three subjects are Multichoice.
The grammar schools advise to purchase the NFER-Nelson practice packs for all three subjects

The children are doing all three tests on the same morning. They start with 20mns NVR, a short break, then 50mns VR (85 questions). Then they have a longer break during which they can have a snack and a drink. They do the 50mns Maths test last (50 questions) . They arrive at about 9am, and leave around 1pm. It's a very long morning for children of this age, and I have heard that some loose concentration during the Maths test. The general advice is to do at least one practice session at home beforehand with the exam timetable.

The NVR test comprises two independent sections of 10 mns. Each section is similar to one of the practice sections of the Nelson-NFER practice paper.

The child score is the average of the three standardised scores. Each paper has equal weight (I thougth for a long time that NVR would have less weight because it's a shorter paper, but it is not the case!). The letter giving the results shows the three standardised scores and the final score.

I would advise you to have a look at the NVR and Maths practice papers now if you have not already done it. The Maths are much harder than the usual level in state schools at the beginning of year 6, harder than KS2 SATs. Even if you want to concentrate on Verbal Reasoning, you may want to do some small practice seesions in the other subjects. NVR needs to be practiced as well, and I found that a short section regularly (one section of the NFER-Nelson tests) can make a lot of difference.

Good luck with your preparation.
Don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions.

Catherine

Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:33 pm
by Guest
Dear Catherine

Thanks for the above information, I have found it to be very useful and informative. The NVR tests that my son has been doing at home for practice, (Nfer, AFN and Bond) consist of 5 sections. When the children sit the exam - do NFER choose just 2 sections from the 5???????
Do you how how many question are in the NVR test????

As for the maths test - 50 questions in 50 minutes (straight forward...)

VR - 80 questions in 50 minutes.

Many thanks

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:50 am
by Catherine
As far as I know, the VR paper is 85 questions in 50mns (Bucks has 80 in 50mns);
NVR consists of two papers in the same format as the NFER-Nelson practice tests: A few minutes to do the two practice questions, then 6mns to do 12 questions. I am not sure about the question types. I don't know whether they are a mix of different types or just two sections similar to ones in the practice papers. I am not sure either if there is a chance that you can have other types that don't appear in the practice tests.
My son gave us a very vague account of the exam, and just wanted to forget about it.
You can ask the grammars when you go to their open evenings. Unlike in Bucks where pupils are not encouraged to practice , the Slough grammars are quite happy to help.

Any more questions, please ask

Catherine

Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:53 pm
by Sophie
Hi Guest

My son passed Reading last year. The Maths paper is NOT an 11+ or NFER paper. They write it themselves and ALL the boys came out saying how easy it was!!!! Mine finished 30mins early & said NOTHING on it that he hadn't done at his local state primary, and about the same as the Practice SATS papers he had been doing.

The essay is only 15 minutes (written in pencil btw), and there were 3 comprehension passages with grammar questions etc - but none as hard as the NFER practice papers.

the verbal reasoning had 86? questions to do in 50 mins

Hope this helps

Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:47 pm
by Guest
Sophie,

Thanks for the information, VERY much appreciated!!!

Did you do any NFER practise papers before hand in VR/NVR? Also do you know if they have to pass each paper, or find a mean of all 4?

Trying not to feel overwhelmed at this stage with all 4 discipline requirements, but English is my biggest worry. Comprehensions are hit and miss, so if they have to do 3 :cry:

RR

Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:55 pm
by Sophie
Guest

We practised NFER (& various others) VR, NVR, Maths & English. About this time last year he would (willingly) do at least one paper from each a week , spread out as one per night. Maths was his best, Comprehension OK but the grammar questions were hard, VR good & NVR ok - could get 80-86%. We have been told by a tutor that 86% is the mark to aim for.

We had NO idea about the essay. His title was "A place that inspires you", 15 mins. Apparantly they look for Similes, metaphors, speech marks etc etc. His was left unfinished mid sentance (on his last sentance) & he still got in.

We had VR, year before was NVR but you HAVE to prepare for both.

They take overall score as far as I know. We were NOT told his mark or ranking, but if you fail were told X got 150 marks and required 170, something along those lines. I think it would be horrible to know that you were 99th, or even 1st (the pressure!).

Good luck.