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Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 11:17 am
by Ashtara
Help, in serious panic mode.

My son just sat a mock and got terrible results - 45% in Maths and 48% in English. I asked him what he thought went wrong and he tells me it's time management, he took too long on each question and ran out of time.

In all his past papers, he averages anything from 60-90% (usually around the 60-75% range) so we were totally shocked with this result. Even those past papers he has done to a set time.

His tutor said he needs to focus more and he doesn't seem to be in the right frame of mind and that he is perfectly capable of doing better.

We are seriously thinking he is just not up to it and we should pull him out of the whole process.

Any thoughts?

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 1:09 pm
by ontarget
Don't panic. If he is doing well in real past papers, that is all that counts.

You can't be sure how accurately the mock reflects the real exam, so I wouldn't panic too much about mock results.

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 2:23 pm
by Applejack
Hi Ashtara,

Ditto here...DS was 'flummoxed' by the Maths paper and couldn't complete it on time. I was expecting a poor result and he managed to get 20% lower :? for his Maths paper than he did for the 1st mock. He just had a bad day and I told him not to worry and enjoy a week off for his birthday :D

I was also wary of the results at this late stage and have read in previous threads that tutors who provide these mocks, could use the results to persuade parents to pay for 1 to 1 tuition or for a place on their revision courses. I've not been approached by the provider yet.

We've decided to keep going but we have also started to talk about the "backup" options just incase. :roll:

Good luck whatever you decide.

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:25 pm
by Ashtara
Thanks guys,

We have just done the 2009 CSSE paper as a timed paper 60 minutes on each.

For his English he got 35/60 - 58%.
For his Maths he got 50/60 - 83%

On going back through the papers he did make some silly mistakes as he was rushing.

English has always been his weaker subject and it is becoming clear now that we need to concentrate on time management. He needs to speed up to give him time to check his work and also be more accurate. I just pray that on the day his brain is in gear.

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 5:16 pm
by ayesha11
Hi,

We are in a similar position, son was getting 75-85 in mock tests at home, he has recently done two mock tests and in both got between 60-70, we have got very worried too and when going through it is silly mistakes with him rushing, so now looking at helping him with exam techniques.

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 5:42 pm
by KB
It's also normal for the actual marks to be lower than the marks they are getting in practice papers at home.
Do try not to stress them too much as some children do crash totally during the real thing as a result of the pressure.
Take the mock tests as a learning experience and continue to build towards the exam in a measured way.
I wouldn't withdraw as they could be fine come the time. If they don't do it then you will never know. A different matter of course if the child becomes ill from worrying.

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 6:15 pm
by ToadMum
Ashtara wrote:Thanks guys,

We have just done the 2009 CSSE paper as a timed paper 60 minutes on each.

For his English he got 35/60 - 58%.
For his Maths he got 50/60 - 83%

On going back through the papers he did make some silly mistakes as he was rushing.

English has always been his weaker subject and it is becoming clear now that we need to concentrate on time management. He needs to speed up to give him time to check his work and also be more accurate. I just pray that on the day his brain is in gear.
Was there a reason why you 'timed' these papers at sixty minutes? In the real thing the candidates had quite a lot less time for these papers, so I'm not sure that you have learnt much from allowing so much extra time, as you already knew that timing is his big problem?

Eta have just noticed you quote the scores out of 60 - the 2009 English paper would have been out of 50 and the Maths out of 40, so do you mean one of the new style papers rather than 2009?

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 6:47 pm
by Ashtara
Hi yes you are right one paper said 35 minutes and one said 40 minutes on the front but they have each been added to to make them in the new format and out of 60 marks instead of the originals.

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 1:16 pm
by sleeplessinhalstead
It's the same for us, I am just trying to keep going. We sat 2 mocks, one for CEM which came gave us a borderline score and one for CSSE which was a disaster, especially English. We did the Maths Q's again when we got the results, she had made lots of silly mistakes, not read questions properly and found she could get 100% 2nd time around. We reworked the English too and felt she could have done better if she had ready more carefully etc, but some of the vocab needed in both tests was quite challenging i felt.

I have been giving her a wide variety of papers and do feel her vocab is good for her age and has improved by doing the papers. I think the level of vocab needed to do some of the CEM papers is extremely challenging.

We have just tried some Bond papers for CEM - standard test papers pack 2 - on paper 1b the first section has 15 Maths Q's to be done in 12 mins - she has been working on them for over an hour.... I am just letting her continue in the hope that she learns by doing it and ignoring the time. On paper 1a she only got 54%, mostly because of the vocab needed for the VR section.

I've used up all but the 2016 CSSE papers now and don't really know what else to do to work on comprehension/English apart from the various CEM english practice books I have, hopefully all practice is good.

Re: Terrible Mock Results

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 11:26 pm
by Proudmumregardless
I've said this before but going by her mock results we should have pulled dd out of the 11+

She got into ColCHS with a very good score and starts this September.

If he only needs to practice time management then fit it into other activities in his day