Bucks Format Please

Eleven Plus (11+) in Buckinghamshire (Bucks)

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Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

As my interests lie outside Bucks, this topic has raised an important issue,
If Daughtery, Bond, Athey, AFN, CGP, and others are all writing material for Bucks and we know the format of the Bucks papers quite well. Who, other than NFER, is writing material for everywhere else? Who is advising parents from every other LEA what types of questions they should be focussing on?
stir

Post by stir »

Patricia,

It is commonly accepted that nfer papers only have 21/22 types of verbal reasoning questions. Every private tutor for all three children have quoted the same figure.

Are we to accept therefore that Bucks have the easiest entrance exams in the country with just 21 types of verbal reasoning questions with no mathematics or English like the rest of the UK? No wonder house prices are so high in Bucks, parents must be flocking in from all corners.

I am in Herts and I was also informed by a Bucks based tutor for my daughter last year that Bucks has more than 30 types of VR questions - perhaps they only use 21 types on the day?

Stir
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

The only papers that exist with the exact content of Bucks are...

IPS, AFN and Susan Daughtey (Bright Sparks only)

All others include some material which is applicable to Bucks and some that is not.

Shop bought NFER have some types that are missing.

After my tutored children have completed their first real test they go through a list with me ticking off each type - in the knowledge that the second paper has to contain all the other types [ plus a few crossovers]

1] Familiarisation booklet [taken in school on behalf of the LEA] have 21 types.

2] The three practice papers taken in school on behalf of the LEA contain 21 types.

3] The children themselves tick off the 21 types used for the real 2 papers.

There are no more and no less just 21 !

Patricia
Last edited by patricia on Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
patricia
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Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Out of interest, shop bought NFER only contain 15 different types.

The real test has 6 extra types HIKNOS [ see IPS for explanation of these types]

Patricia
Last edited by patricia on Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Stir

Bucks have never in the history of multiple choice used anything other than the original 21 types, it's not a bank of 30 of which 21 used on the day.

They haven't even changed the in school practice papers. Papers 1 and 2 have been the same since infancy and the new test A has been the same for the last two years [three practice tests only came in two years ago]

There is a pool of questions within each type which NFER will choose from but not a larger pool of types only the original 21.

Patricia
Last edited by patricia on Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Note your comments of 25 oct, you state Daughtrey, Bond, AFN, Athey and CPG are all writing for Bucks.

The only ones from that list that is applicable to the Bucks content is AFN and Daughtrey [ Bright Sparks only not her Books 1-7] In addition there is IPS.

Re other authorities, can't comment, they need tutors to come clean and start helping on this site

Patricia
Last edited by patricia on Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

I generally agree with Patricia regarding shop bought NFER papers.

However, as an example, Wirral LEA provide guidance notes to parents that are published by NFER. These guidance notes contain the H, I, K, N, O ans S type questions. I think that if this is happening in other areas of the country then this is were parents are getting confused.
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Do you mean that the NFER guidance notes in your area contain the 'extra ' types but your area doesn't use them for the NFER 'real ' test?

If so, I agree must be a little confusing for parents

As for Bucks, they do use those extra ones in the 'real' test - think I have made that very clear

As for poor 'average dad' who started this thread - should you need any further help please just ask.

Eventually your child needs to be gaining at least 86% but that figure is very much borderline as the mark will change slightly each year depending on the cohort taking the test

I like my tutored children to be gaining at least 90% - to be on the safe side.

Patricia
Last edited by patricia on Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

Dear Patricia

Yes, I have had to explain to about twenty parents that six of the question types on the familiarization pack they receive do not appear on the papers.

I am sure that this topic will crop up again and again.

Mike
Justin

just to say ....

Post by Justin »

I have seen many of the Bucks papers over the last 10 years and they do contain ALL the types that appear in the familiarization booklet that the children work through prior to the exams.

Now that the exam contains only two papers ( it changed from 3 a few uears ago ) you are not guarranteed to get all 21 types, but be assured that ANY of the 21 types COULD turn up. It depends on which two papers Bucks get from the NFER bank of papers.

The only question type guarranteed to come up on every paper is the stand alone question ( IPS call them type Z ).
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