Back to the future

[Petitpois]

Well we are well into the 11+ programme for DD2. We thought we would repeat what we did for DD1, but it isn't turning out that way.

Spent most of today over at Shirley doing a mock with you know who. I thought paying for mocks was ridiculous (may be just too thrifty)

DD2 is a completely different prospect from DD1, but were trying our best, hence feeling the need to invest in an early mock.

I have to say the day and the exam were very well organised and clearly very well staffed.

In terms of the exam DD2 was very very agitated in the run up to it. I am so glad we got this out the way early and chose a decent / experienced provider to deliver it for us. It is not cheap at £60, but I feel it was good value for money for the for the following reasons:

1) We have broken the mystique of the exam
2) She is now familiar with the routine and the CD instructions gave it a feel of a real exam.
3) The setting and large attendance added to the realism. Although nothing will be as nuts as 1 July last year doing the Walsall one for real.
4) My DD got confused and started answering questions in the booklet instead of the answer sheet provided. She said that one of the invigilators immediately came over and told her what to do. Brilliant, says a lot about how well run the day was and obviously hopefully lesson is now learned.
5)Hopefully she will be less stressed when she does the real exam.
6) There was a free seminar which I would say was okay, for what it was. Probably better for first timers.

Indeed I am so happy with the experience I think we will be doing a few more as a way of tracking progress (minus the seminar).

I suppose the other thing is the feeling that it might just be possible to get a result with DD2, although perhaps I ought to wait and see where she gets ranked. She said she didn't guess that many, but who knows.

Not a bad Saturday at all really. Lesson learned for me was don't rule something out till you have tried it. They really did exceed my expectations today.

PP

[booellesmum]

Glad the day went well and wishing you and DD2 all the best for this year.
I will look forward to your updates PP.
How is DD1 getting on?

[nervousmom]

My niece is now studying with 'you know who' and she too sat the mock on Saturday.

I think she found it very useful in terms of what to expect from the real thing, but she's not sure how she got on, so we'll see what the scores bring.

So glad I've got a break from all the worry of this, although I will be keeping a close eye on what's happening with offers and scores etc as my DN is hoping to join her cousins at FW.

My journey will start again next year!!

[inspired]

Back in September I was hoping DS would do this mock in January but closer to the time I knew he just wasn't ready. His maths and nvr are good but his vocabulary is limited and he finds comprehension really hard. We are working on this and hopefully would like to do the next mock in a couple months. Can anyone tell me approximately how many children sat this mock?

[quasimodo]

Indeed I am so happy with the experience I think we will be doing a few more as a way of tracking progress (minus the seminar).

I suppose the other thing is the feeling that it might just be possible to get a result with DD2, although perhaps I ought to wait and see where she gets ranked. She said she didn't guess that many, but who knows.

Not a bad Saturday at all really. Lesson learned for me was don't rule something out till you have tried it. They really did exceed my expectations today.

PP

We never ever used any mock providers for both my dd's and I have no personal experience of them.The benefits you outline we received through preparation at school or through their tutor.

The only note of caution I would sound is using the results as a way of tracking progress.I am aware through the recent results of others in the real exams the results can give you false signs of the actual situation.I would place no reliance on the results.By all means use them as practice but use your own judgement from other sources to record the progress your child is making.I have read a number of posts where individuals have posted their successes through this particular mock provider.When your child has not succeeded many are not likely to post about it with some notable exceptions.

[helen0209]

We too were there on Saturday with DS2 and were suitably impressed with the organisation of the day. We were very naive with the whole process with DS1 and weren't aware mocks even existed, so decided to do it for pretty much the same reasons as you PP.

We signed up for this one, and the one in August so we can (hopefully) see the progress over the 7 months and he has another practice just before the real thing. Not overly concerned with the ranking, more the individual paper marks so we know where to focus - think we have a pretty good inkling, bit it will show DS2 as well what he should concentrate on.

I'm unsure on how many were there, but would hazard a guess at 120 - 150 for the 09:00 session.

Also found a couple of their vocab books useful, and is a change in tactic to some of the other methods we have been using. The seminar was useful for the 'word of the week idea' though. We now have benevolent, covert and altercation stuck on doors, and every time DS2 passes through he has to come up with a sentence with that word in - may have to swap them over so he doesn't avoid certain rooms!! Will change words weekly, and come back to them as well.

Good luck to all preparing for September.

[Nard]

We too were there on Saturday with DS2 and were suitably impressed with the organisation of the day. We were very naive with the whole process with DS1 and weren't aware mocks even existed, so decided to do it for pretty much the same reasons as you PP.

We signed up for this one, and the one in August so we can (hopefully) see the progress over the 7 months and he has another practice just before the real thing. Not overly concerned with the ranking, more the individual paper marks so we know where to focus - think we have a pretty good inkling, bit it will show DS2 as well what he should concentrate on.

I'm unsure on how many were there, but would hazard a guess at 120 - 150 for the 09:00 session.

Also found a couple of their vocab books useful, and is a change in tactic to some of the other methods we have been using. The seminar was useful for the 'word of the week idea' though. We now have benevolent, covert and altercation stuck on doors, and every time DS2 passes through he has to come up with a sentence with that word in - may have to swap them over so he doesn't avoid certain rooms!! Will change words weekly, and come back to them as well.

Good luck to all preparing for September.

We did the same as you Helen with DS2. We were naive of the whole process with DS1 we didn't know about mocks or practice papers just thought you went and sat the exam and the brightest would get through. That was just the start of it!! We found that the mock exams were a really good indication of how your child was getting along in each subject area. We did 2 mocks with DS2 and he did really well in both and he should be starting in grammar school in September.

Good Luck to all that are preparing for this years exam.

[Newbiee]

The only note of caution I would sound is using the results as a way of tracking progress.I am aware through the recent results of others in the real exams the results can give you false signs of the actual situation.I would place no reliance on the results.By all means use them as practice but use your own judgement from other sources to record the progress your child is making.I have read a number of posts where individuals have posted their successes through this particular mock provider.When your child has not succeeded many are not likely to post about it with some notable exceptions.

That is what we did with DD. She took her first mock in Jan last year and it was an eyeopener for us. We didn't tell her the results since i feared she might get demotivated and might give up. We started to work on the areas she struggled with and it really did help. We did one more mid May and Aug and I could clearly see the difference. Me personally mocks where for me to access how she was doing and for her it was getting familiar with the test

[pennwald]

Thanks for posting this PP (and others for commenting).

It's very timely as we're thinking about putting DD in for one of these tests - you've helped make our mind up!
As well as the familiarisation aspects, we are keen to see which areas are DD's stronger/weaker areas.

[Enjoyingthejourney]

Hi all,
My DS also attended the January mock at 'that place'.
With other forum members in attendance, maybe next time we should use nametags. Our purpose was to have some sort of benchmark, especially as he is our first child going through the process. Also, if we rid nerves early on, hopefully the actual test will be like 'just another mock' as I don't want him to be too nervous. He does want to know how he did and I hope that, if he does do worse than he had hoped then he will realise that the world does continue to turn afterwards.
I have just been told that the results have been released. Time to log in and plan the final few months...