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percentage needed to pass - for next year's cohort

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:22 am
by hilda
My child's passed after lots of hard work and practice papers. One of the hardest things I found in preparing him was trying to gauge what mark he needed to get. This is a mystery, particular with respect to age allowance. Patricia always says it is about 86%. For what it's worth here is my child's practice and actual marksfor various tests, in the order he practised them:

Bright Sparks (BS) 1 80%
BS2 86%
BS3 75%
BS4 84%
NFER A 75%
NFER B 85%
NFER C 85%
NFER D 89%
BS5 86%
BS6 87%

Familiarisation at school 83/88
Practice Test A 86%
Practice test 1 92%
Practice test 2 70% (but done in odd conditions due to illness).

Actual results 126 and 127
Interestingly he found the second test (127) much harder than the first one
August birthday.

So it fits neatly with Patricia's comments, with about 6 marks being given for being young.

My only tip - practice practice practice under exam conditions until your child is getting a consistent mark every time. Have a technique for each question type which they can use if they don't instantly see the answer. If they practice enough they will "see" the answer most of the time, but they must have a technique for the trickier ones, to prevent panic!!

THe very best of luck to all next year's children and parents. From one very relieved and proud mum...

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:30 pm
by Catherine
Dear hilda,

I am really pleased for you. :D

This is a brilliant posting, most useful for next year cohort.

Best wishes

Catherine

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:35 am
by Shining Levels
Agree - this is a very useful thread for next time...

The following practice papers were done after we were confident that he had a 'system' for each type of question. They were performed between June and late September in the build up.

Here goes then...

IPS (1-10, A, B, C and the freebie download)
Average = 91%

Tutors e-papers (1-10 only)
Average = 92%

Practice Paper A = 94%
Practice Paper 1 = 96%
Practice Paper 2 = 91%

Final marks 138 and 137
August Born