Walsall/Wolves test venue change

[quasimodo]

Is this a new change this year ? As my dd and many others had a a watch for both the Walsall consortium and Birmingham consortium exams last year.

Letter states no watches at all due to smart technology.

I've just read the letter properly and realised that the morning exam isn't finishing until 2pm!! Goodness me!! It will have to be more than a snack they take with them

Thank you.

It looks as though this is part of the current trend although this article is about universities.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... s-in-exams" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 2.00 pm time is to prevent any discussion between the morning and afternoon children taking the exams.

[Turtlegirl]

I tried to get my kids to practice with watches, but they didn't really get the hang of it. So I'm not so bothered about sending #3 with one this time around. The key thing is for them to work as fast as they possibly can, and go back and guess any multiple choice when they get the one minute warning. A watch doesn't really help I don't think, as the sections are so short. It's not like they have an hour and have to pace essay planning.

[bluejay]

My DS has been using a watch as despite working as quickly as possible; without it, its very difficult to know when the time is nearly up!
I believe they should be notified when there is a certain amount of time remaining.
There have been so many changes in the way the examinations are run, when my older son took the examination it was in December so that in itself is a major upheaval. I assume each year they come across issues and have to rectify them.

Does anyone have an idea as to how the day is planned out. According to the letter the exam is at 9:30 with 2 papers approx an hour each, there is a break in-between but the exam finishes at 2pm?
Thanks.

[kenyancowgirl]

When DS2 took the CEM paper he said that for the longer sections, there was a time warning on the CD but some of the timed sections were really short (like under 5 minutes) so didn't necessarily have the time warning. The key about the CD is that everyone is getting exactly the same instructions and therefore the same warnings or not which is the fairest thing.

In all honesty, he didn't need a watch - he didn't need any possible distractions!

[bluejay]

So, the best advise to give the DC is if there's a time warning take heed; and just work as quickly and accurately as you can! You're right kenyancowgirl the less distractions the better!!

[kenyancowgirl]

Definitely the key to success at CEM is being able to work quickly (and accurately) - and to know that it is OK to move on if you can't do it - I would advise DC to guess an answer if they can't do something, but circle the question so they can go back if they have time. Guessing is worth doing as a) you might guess the correct answer but also b) it helps prevent you forgetting to miss the question out on your answer sheet and get out of sync. Certainly, at any one minute warning I did tell my sons just to guess answers.

[Bob1892]

As the Walsall test approaches can anybody suggest why scores seem significantly higher for the Walsall test than the B'ham test year on year even though the Walsall test comes 2-3 months earlier & in year 5.
I suppose B'ham schools are super-selective plus MUCH higher number of candidates so the test score will be much higher? VR seems to catch the dc out much more I think as, in a way, it's harder to prepare for & B'ham has 50% VR?
Any other thoughts on this fellow forumites?

[thirdtimemum]

As the Walsall test approaches can anybody suggest why scores seem significantly higher for the Walsall test than the B'ham test year on year even though the Walsall test comes 2-3 months earlier & in year 5.
I suppose B'ham schools are super-selective plus MUCH higher number of candidates so the test will be much higher? VR seems to catch the dc out much more I think as, in a way, it's harder to prepare for & B'ham has 50% VR?
Any other thoughts on this fellow forumites?

As far as I am aware the scores are not higher but are just marked differently.

[um]

As the Walsall test approaches can anybody suggest why scores seem significantly higher for the Walsall test than the B'ham test year on year even though the Walsall test comes 2-3 months earlier & in year 5.
I suppose B'ham schools are super-selective plus MUCH higher number of candidates so the test score will be much higher? VR seems to catch the dc out much more I think as, in a way, it's harder to prepare for & B'ham has 50% VR?
Any other thoughts on this fellow forumites?

The Birmingham exam has around 50% of marks from Maths/NVR (combined) and around 50% of marks from VR/literacy. Each section has an 'average' (from those taking the exam) of 100...making a general 'average' of 200.

The Walsall exam is marked 3-way with around a third of marks for Maths, a third for NVR and a third for VR/literacy. With a standardised 'average' of 100 per section this makes the overall average 300.

Overall general feedback is that children find the Walsall exam 'easier' than Birmingham's.

[quasimodo]

Both exams are similar and set by Durham CEM. It depends on your child's strengths as to which exam your child will perform in better.If your child is stronger on maths and non verbal reasoning then they will perform better in the Walsall consortium exam.The difference can be very significant in the way they are marked.If a child can commute to schools in either consortium then parents should put their children for schools in both consortia to reduce the risk of not obtaining the cut off score.