QMGS afternoon exam

[MSD]

I think 1000 boys took the test last year for Queen Mary's and based on the last rank offered a place, 1 in every 3 got in. Seems a lot easier to get in as compared to the top KE grammars in Brum.

MSD

[Happy dad]

Received letter this morning. Can drop boys off no earlier than 1210 and no later than 1310. Two tests of 45-50 minutes each. Exam starts st 1330 prompt. Collect c.1600.

[HeatherPrep]

I work next door to the boys' school and would recommend that you walk or cycle! It becomes gridlocked and getting out of our school next door is horrific! It's a day when I leave school right on time...

[um]

Queen Mary's High School have allocated 4 different entrances - entry through them is based on the first letter of the girl's surname.

Girls should arrive between 12.00 and 12.30 - not before, and parents should be there to collect at 1615.
The school has warned about traffic wardens hoping for a bonus...

They need to bring their own pencils (and please do because my ds1, being a heavy handed writer, took about 20 to the BV exam many years ago and the examiner ended up giving them all away to other pupils who had none with them - leaving him with a broken one for the second part of the exam!).

No practice/sample paper was included in the letter.

[Sean_uk]

DS due to take QMGS test two weeks today..hopefully will be okay. I don't suppose the paper is as difficult as Bham consortium. Would anyone know whether the girls and boys (QMHS and QMGS) sit the same paper? reason I ask is because, following on from last year we should have a relatively good expectation of whats coming on the paper thanks to the guys on this forum - this was true for the qmgs, but I don't know if this is true for the boys.

What are peoples thoughts about the sitting of the exam being so early relative to previous years? I can see both sides to this as firstly, kids are not super-hot-housed throughout their Summer break and therefore gives them a chance to enjoy themselves; unfortunately it does mean that they've had about two months less practice time than previous years.

Good luck to those Ds's that are taking the papers.

[DIY Mum]

Should be the same paper for the boys and girls as it is administered by the same consortium...and judging from MSD's post on another thread- his ds' feedback sounds similar to dd2's (who also sat the exam in the same year).

Getting the exam done and dusted before the summer hols is in general, a good thing. However, I must admit, the earlier exam date did come as a bit of a surprise .

[FunkyMonkey]

In terms of difficulty, my son would have struggledbto get into queen Mary's and Adams this year, based on last year's exam. However, he qualified flto get into half of the Birmingham schools.

[MSD]

Quite the opposite for us. Son was ranked 33rd and scored around 371 in QM, while in Birmingham he scored 235 which was lower than what we expected. I think it's purely down to pressure, expectation and nervousness of the first KE exam rather than ability and difficulty of exam. He didn't really care about QM, as we weren't aiming for that school, and therefore was extremely relaxed on the day of test.

MSD

[FunkyMonkey]

Wow, great results. Out of interest, how did you get hold of the actual score in QM exam? I agree with you. We were less interested in Birmingham schools, so I guess he just relaxed more.

[MSD]

I requested the information in writing under the Data Protection Act 1998.

MSD