11 Plus Exams Forum

My DS has been scoring 80-90% in maths and verbal reasoning doing past papers at home, and with his tutor. Not so good in English, but that's a boy thing... He has sat 2 mocks with a company in Brentwood and despite saying he wasn't nervous and "quite enjoyed it" got 50% or less in all subjects.

Should I be worried or has anyone else had a similar experience. With 4 weeks to go I'm wondering if all this hard work has been for nothing

Hi kfer,

I wouldn't worry about it.
It sounds like he has been doing well with CSSE papers and GL Assessment papers and those are the important ones. You can't be sure if teh mocks are like the real thing. I don't think you should read too much into the mock results.

Thanks, I was thinking along those lines but just needed reassurance. At least DS hasn't been put off and is keen to do more practice.

Hi, there's no point worrying about it. If the mocks were qualitatively different from the real thing then they don't matter. If they were similar to the real thing then ask for feedback and focus the next few weeks on the weak areas. At this late stage our DC are pretty much ready to take the exam. We can tweak here and there but that's about all.

Good luck!

Hi kfer,

I do believe the mocks you may have done are designed to be harder than the real thing so that on the day the candidates are over prepared.. You should be proud of your son and especially his attitude.

Very best of luck
djy