Format of 11+ day CRGS
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Format of 11+ day CRGS?
My son is taking his 11+ in Nov at CRGS. Obviously nerves will be at an all time high! To try and eliminate some of these I wondered if anyone has previous experience of the format of this particular 11+ day. By that I mean, where do the children congregate, how are particular desks allocated, at what point do you leave your child, etc? Knowing what to expect may make the situation slightly less traumatic!
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dw_richard
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:44 pm
OK, the 1st thing to realise is that there are 2 sittings (am and pm), you will be allocated one or the other. You do not get to chose.
You drop your child off either at the front gate or if arriving by car, you enter the rear car park. You do park up and make your way to the registration point to sign in. Last year this was the cafeteria.
After your child has signed in, a prefect will spirit your child away - you are given a letter explaining when to return. Sounds harsh, but given over 200 children could be sitting the exam that session, you see it will be very busy and therefore necessary.
If you really want to hang around, you are on your own. You will not (at least you couldn't last year) be able to wait with your child until they enter the exam room. Your child will sit the exam either in the hall or in a classroom. The hall is simply not big enough to hold all the candidates.
Last year, after 2 papers, the children were given a drink and a biscuit (no charge was made for this). Then the 3rd and final paper (the VR paper) was sat.
When you return at the notified time, park in the rear car-park. The children exit via the main entrance into the staff carpark. It can be a bit of a scrum.
Good luck to all.
You drop your child off either at the front gate or if arriving by car, you enter the rear car park. You do park up and make your way to the registration point to sign in. Last year this was the cafeteria.
After your child has signed in, a prefect will spirit your child away - you are given a letter explaining when to return. Sounds harsh, but given over 200 children could be sitting the exam that session, you see it will be very busy and therefore necessary.
If you really want to hang around, you are on your own. You will not (at least you couldn't last year) be able to wait with your child until they enter the exam room. Your child will sit the exam either in the hall or in a classroom. The hall is simply not big enough to hold all the candidates.
Last year, after 2 papers, the children were given a drink and a biscuit (no charge was made for this). Then the 3rd and final paper (the VR paper) was sat.
When you return at the notified time, park in the rear car-park. The children exit via the main entrance into the staff carpark. It can be a bit of a scrum.
Good luck to all.
Just to add a little bit -
-in the past the hall seats have been allocated first & the smaller classroom seats at the end.....
-there will be lots of 6th formers on hand to assist - they are there to try to make the boys feel more relaxed (as well as runing errends etc)so DS should ask them if he has any questions. Some of them this year are quite big but very friendly!
- there is limited parking in nearby streets/10 minute walk from town car parks if you choose to arrive early for collection & then wait 'on foot' rather than park in the car park, where it can be little bit 'hectic'
- toilets available during snack break
- suggestion from 3x experience is to have a treat planned for all the family for afterwards to celebrate having got through it
- also, wouldn't ask DS about the papers in detail afterwards- dont think I know any parents who got a good idea of child's ranking from this!!
Best wishes to everyone for the big day
-in the past the hall seats have been allocated first & the smaller classroom seats at the end.....
-there will be lots of 6th formers on hand to assist - they are there to try to make the boys feel more relaxed (as well as runing errends etc)so DS should ask them if he has any questions. Some of them this year are quite big but very friendly!
- there is limited parking in nearby streets/10 minute walk from town car parks if you choose to arrive early for collection & then wait 'on foot' rather than park in the car park, where it can be little bit 'hectic'
- toilets available during snack break
- suggestion from 3x experience is to have a treat planned for all the family for afterwards to celebrate having got through it
- also, wouldn't ask DS about the papers in detail afterwards- dont think I know any parents who got a good idea of child's ranking from this!!
Best wishes to everyone for the big day
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dw_richard
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:44 pm
Totally agree regarding the post exam treat. Ours was to take DS to his favourite restaurant.
B4 the test, we emphasised that no matter what the outcome we would not be unhappy/disappointed with him. We promised that we would not grill him about the exam (unless he started) or what answers he put to certain questions. In short, we tried to put as little pressure on him as possible and to put his mind at rest. All we said was "as long as he did his best, then no matter what the outcome was we could say we gave it our best shot."
At the end of the day, we were lucky, many were not - including one of his school friends who was top of the waiting list at the start of term. That must have been terrible for them.
B4 the test, we emphasised that no matter what the outcome we would not be unhappy/disappointed with him. We promised that we would not grill him about the exam (unless he started) or what answers he put to certain questions. In short, we tried to put as little pressure on him as possible and to put his mind at rest. All we said was "as long as he did his best, then no matter what the outcome was we could say we gave it our best shot."
At the end of the day, we were lucky, many were not - including one of his school friends who was top of the waiting list at the start of term. That must have been terrible for them.
