2 OCTOBER - TEST 1 - PARENTS FEEDBACK ONLY!

[njg]

My DS sat the test today as we had to go grandmother's funeral yeasterday!
He sat the test in a small room with an adult supervising whcih seemed ok. Unfortunaty the roof above the room was being fixed and there was drilling and hammering going on! Hope he wasn't too distracted....
He said the test was ok and he finished in time to do the Zs but apart from that he is not giving much away. I've tried to establish which types came up but I'm not 100% sure he remembered - i think the tests are all blurring into one!
Hopefully Wednesday will be a more positive experience.

[Ambridge]

Hi, sorry about the funeral, not a great time for an 11+ (or at all)

If you are in any doubt that your son might have been distracted or not felt at ease or was unable to concentrate as well as he hoped, whatever, do write a letter to the head now.

Although it seems not to have affected him, if you are unfortunate enough to go to appeal you will need all the amunition available and with the test itself having to be delayed for family reasons and the exam room not being ideal, who knows???

It doesn't have to be an 'Angry from Bucks' letter - just a brief paragraph explaining the exam conditions were not quite how it had been envisaged. The head can then confirm the circumstances in the exam report they send in when they return the papers.

All the best and good luck for Wednesday

Ambridge x

[Greta2]

I'm almost glad to see it hasn't just been me having the wobbles after the first test. I have found the perfect cure though - have a work day from *£&* that means you don't have a single minute to think! distraction has worked wonders for me today to stop my ruminating thoughts and put things back in perspective a bit - even if I remain rather short on sleep!

I like the idea of the certificate - only problem for me is I didn't do one for DS1 but think I might make them one each - one for DS2 for hard work and one for DS1 for being so supportive.

[Guest55]

I hope I'm allowed to intrude to post this:

http://www.senteacher.org/wk/certificates.php

makes really good certificates -

[Y]

John, I can truly sympathise with you!! I feel worse today than I did this time yesterday!! My DD came home from school yesterday saying that the test was 'ok' some bits were harder than others. Then she dropped the bombshell..... For some reason, unknown to herself, she missed the HM starting the test!! She said it was a 'couple of minutes' before she realised everyone had started. By this point she had resigned herself to the fact that she had blown it. DD said she panicked and was feeling very stressed throughout the entire test due to her late start!!! In practice papers she has regularly been getting 73-78 out of 80 with 10 minutes to spare!! So, I can't believe she went into panic mode by missing the first few minutes. When the HM announced there was 1 minute to go, she still had the last set of code questions to do, she said she finished these!!!! It just goes to show that we can do all the hard work and preparation for 'the big day' and something will still crop up that we haven't prepared for.... Of course I haven't expressed my own anxiety and concerns to DD, just told her to put this test behind her and focus on Wednesday, after all nothing will change what happened....

Find out from other children if the test was started according to the information in the familiarisation pack. That is, locate the booklet titled 'Verbal Reasoning Practice Tests Administration and Marking Manual', and turn to page 10. The invigilator is supposed to read this verbatim in the practice tests and the actual tests. Your daughter's experience is the reason for this: she should have been used to the paragraph that begins 'When I turn over' and ends 'Turn over. Begin.' and should therefore have been prepared to start as soon as the word 'Begin' was uttered. There is not an option to start the test with 'You may get started' (as the invigilator did for my son's test) or with any other form of words. My daughter was panicked by this behaviour when it was her turn to do the test, and like your daughter lost time.

Whatever the HM actually did, right or wrong, this information would be useful if you were unfortunate enough to have to go to appeal. Make a note of whatever information you can. If she is sitting with her back to the HM, and he speaks quietly, she could easily have missed the start. (One parent from my school reported that her daughter said: "I didn't know we'd started, he said it so quietly")

Incidentally, there is no option to inform the children that there is 1 minute to go. The required timings are after 25 minutes and 45 minutes.

[Y]

My son left home after a good night's sleep, a fully stomach and quietly confident after a lot of hard study and practice papers (averaging between 85-93%). He came home after school absolutely devastated and inconsolable. After he calmed down he said he was doing ok up to the first 30 questions or so then fell apart as the questions got harder and harder. He said the format seemed harder, the maths too which surprised me as he is good at it normally and the vocabulary tough. He said he just finished in time (usually has 5-8 minutes spare). He doesn't handle pressure too well and he said he froze halfway through. The fear of failure was on his mind the tougher it got and despite consoling him he is worried sick about next week. We will try to get him back on track but I just hope next week's will be easier as it is said happened last year.

Did anyone else have a similar experience today ?

Worried ...

Not this time, but a couple of years back my daughter informed her best friend straight after the tests that she had 'failed'. Fortunately for me, DD, her best friend, and her best friend's mother, were kind enough to keep that information from me. DD did qualify. So don't be too panicked - things may have been much better than he thought.

[Sally-Anne]

I have found the perfect cure though - have a work day from *£&* that means you don't have a single minute to think! distraction has worked wonders for me today to stop my ruminating thoughts and put things back in perspective a bit

This is what we ALL (me included) must do for November 21st.

Find something that will keep you totally and utterly occupied, without a spare moment to think.

Plan a really intense business meeting? Sort out the loft for a car boot sale? Dig a new bed in the garden? Anything that is a total plan for the day that keeps you off the internet, and your mind off school pick-up time.

Oh dear, I think I need to get back over to the Bucks Cavies on Rehab!

S-A

[Greta2]

Sally-Anne -
That is exactly what I did last time for DS1 - but i planned such a busy day which involved a drive home around the M25 and I then got stuck in a horrendous traffic jam and thought I would never make it back to school in time! I did make it in the end, but only with minutes to spare.

This time I will try and plan a day that is suitably distracting but perhaps not any further than about 10 yeards away from the school gate!

[bucks mum1]

Hi Mel X, Sally-Ann, Andy B, Greta and all the other regulars.

Hope you're all having good weekends and 'relaxing'. Have decided to lay off the practice as DS has had 11+ overload. I had wanted to keep him ticking over and practice some of the question types that did not come up on paper 1 but DS is not for turning so I think I'll leave it.

Roll on Wednesday (and November 21st!) Will need to keep busy that day. Glad we have half term in the middle to break the wait up a bit.

[Sally-Anne]

Perhaps we should all be banned from the Forum from 9am - 3.30pm on November 21st?