11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi, and thanks for this site, it has been a huge help for myself and DD.
Quick question has arisen though, she started practice tests this week, I was expexting 1 short paper this week, then 2 full mock papers over the next couple of weeks, but, it seems she is doing a practice paper of 3 or 4 question types each day instead. So far they seem to be working through the IPS number types. I don't see this as being a problem, in fact it is quite helpful, but I am just a little concerned in case anything else has changed, does anyone have any insights into the Bucks system.

Dear dad_on_a_bike

Firstly welcome to the forum.

The familiarisation paper is split into 5 sessions, each session covers about 4 types, they do indeed roughly follow the order as used by IPS.

Follows 3 practice tests. Test A is slightly easier than the real test. Tests 1 and 2 are of a similar difficulty to the real thing. All 3 tests are 80 questions, 50 minutes.

Most schools have finished the sessions and will be starting Test A this week.

I can assure you, nothing has changed.

Patricia

That's great, thanks very much, soldier on and fingers crossed!
I am thinking now that, as we know roughly what is coming up, we could roughly revise the next days questions, not worried about the scores of course, but I'm thinking if she does well in these it will boost her confidence, or maybe I'm thinking too much.

mmm cheese on toast.

Patricia,
What % passmark should we be looking at when marking the papers. My DS did paper 1 at school today and I've just marked it. A couple of silly mistakes....

Dear Nicki

Are you sure your son did paper 1?

All children must sit the tests in the correct order, test A followed by 1 and 2. Has he already sat test A?

The very approx pass is 86% [69/80] but I prefer my children to be scoring 90% [72/80] to take into account standardisation.

Its good your school has sent the test home, some schools do not send them home until all practice papers have been completed, which is absolutely ludicrous, in my opinion. Children who have had no or little practice are disadvantaged as it only gives the parents a few days to iron out any weak areas.

Patricia

Sorry, silly mistake of mine, it was test A. The paper came home, unmarked, with the answer sheet. Apparently we are to mark it ourselves. He scraped by, according to your comment. But he was only 10 last week, (DOB 28.8.99) so he's going to pick up a some standardisation points. I was surprised at the mark, as he's been doing much better over the past few months. He also didnt finish - by three questions. However, he did get type Z correct! I think he spent too long on it, hence not finishing, so a gentle word will be necessary ....

Dear Nicki

Yes, Zs guessed and left till last is a must.

Many children, score lower in the practice tests, as it is under test conditions, not in the comfort of their own home. Suddenly it starts to feel real. A little bit of stress starts creeping in. Over the 3 tests, children become a little more relaxed. [but only a little!]

Patricia

Hi Nicki

DS was borderline pass/fail on all 3 of his practice tests. We marked them at home and went through them together - the majority of his errors were pure carelessness and he was cross with himself that he'd made such silly mistakes. Also he was sat next to a boy who he had had a major falling out with and who kept trying to peer aroung the dividing screen - this was dealt with but was off-putting at the time.

When it came to the real thing he passed both papers comfortably. He is also a youngster (July birthday). Have faith in your DS - he now knows where he has made mistakes and will be extra careful not to do it again! Remember this is the first paper he has done that looks like the real thing and is done in (near) exam conditions.

Good luck.

andyb wrote:who he had had a major falling out with and who kept trying to peer aroung the dividing screen

Dividing screen ? It's heartening to hear that some schools at least put some effort into creating exam conditions.

Ours does virtually nothing to distinguish the exam from the run-of-the-mill weekly spelling test. They even tell the kids before the exam starts that it's not that important.