11 Plus Exams Forum

The nerves are really beginning to kick in! Not really for DD but for me

I was quite relaxed and thinking everything was going ok about a month ago, but this month doubts are beginning to creep in as the scores aren't quite as good as they were especially as she's had a bad cold and I keep thinking how many words she doesn't know or spells wrong!

Very hard to keep these new anxieties from showing to her and trying not to cram her with lots of last minute "bits" that you suddenly think "just might come up on the day". As she's said "I won't remember all those" but it's just the thought if you don't do it will you forever beat yourself up if one of them did come up

I would be very grateful if any of you who have children at Pates would mind telling us what scores they had on each of the 2 papers. I assume you would only know the Pates scores if they had got in from the waiting list but this would be great to know what percentage is needed to generally secure a place. The other comparison for those in the first 120 places would be the Denmark, Stroud High or Ribston scores I presume if anyone would mind telling us them.

I am imagining the worst at the moment, that they can only get about 3 or 4 wrong on each paper but don't know how far off the mark I am.

I know that of those who sat in November 2008 apparently they went to the bottom of the waiting list so no 160 got a place, but last year someone at 140 didn't get in so not so many turned down places and can only think it will be worse this year!!!!!!!

Trying to be sensible and do the deep breathing technique and think of other things but only seems to work for a short time Am going out this weekend to buy big bars of chocolate as bribery for DD and sedative for me

Deep Breaths, Tessiebear!

If you look back through the Glos. Forum to last years results, quite a few people have given scores - problem is no one has the said the percentages that their DC were getting in practice papers.

I think the general consensus seems to be that you need 90%+ on practice papers to be in with a chance of Pates, 85%ish for Denmark Road and 75% for Ribston.

There is certainly a comment somewhere about a DC who left out an entire section (presumably 6 or 7 questions) and still got Pates, and of course it all depends on how well the other children score. Your DD could get Pates with 70% if the paper is really hard - it's about scoring better than everyone else!

Do you have a decent second choice school? We are busy convincing ourselves that our second choice is equally as good (not hard as it really is good!) in order to take the pressure off DD (not that she seems very bothered about the exam at the moment - but I know from a recent piano exam that a last minute wobble is likely )

If your DD was scoring well a while ago then I wouldn't worry. I know it's really hard, but it might be better to stop working now. We are not even talking about it. Lots of rest and praise and perhaps a very brief run through of each question type next week.

Hang on in there - Not long now! I can't wait until it's all over, whatever the result.

Pixiequeen

What Pixiequeen said.
When it creeps into my mind I tend to feel quite sick tbh...so I dont allow it to very often!Keeping it at bay with JD and Coke and my long suffering friend chocolate
I know the re:percentage scores I dug out a thread from Tolstoy that I think Orson said a similar %age to what Pixiequeen stated?but ateotd its all dependant on how many sit etc,so i dont think we can KNOW until we know! as that is....
I did glean this bit of info from ds via his tutor saying that "they"(whoever they are!)have monitored all the 11+downloaded questions and numbers of children being tutored this year and the numbers are down?! now,obviously this could mean nothing...ds could have it wrong,his tutor could be talking rubbish or it could be more people are DIYing...I like that ds was pleased with this
No more papers here...im just attempting to quell the urge to vomit!

My DD's average over Bright Sparks 3-7, Walsh 1, Nfer D,C,A and Bond 1 and 2 was 94%, lowest was 83%. She didn't finish the second paper on the day but was in the top 120 for Pate's -- we didn't investigate her scores/rank.

Hope this helps

Red

Thanks Red...I think it does help to have a rough idea....your DD did well !..and now fear has crept into my heart again...!

Thanks v much Pixiequeen and MuminTewks for your calming thoughts and Red for being kind enough to supply that v useful and reassuring information!

Have just spent ages typing out a long response but when went to submit it computer gobbled it up!!!!!! That's just what I need when already stressy!

I have re-read lots of the old posts last evening and am beginning to calm down but moments of blind panic tend to raise their head and then you try to work out exactly how many wrong answers on each paper the various scores and %'s relate to!

I think someone, not sure if it was Tolstoy, had tried to equate what the difference in wrong answers was to getting into the various schools to encourage DC to try to avoid silly mistakes in working for the school they really wanted. Not sure if this would dent DD's confidence if I told her but would like to know for myself so I can do the stressing for her!

Why is it so difficult to get them to check properly?!!

Our local school is not good and wouldn't want her to go there so not really an option.

A question for anyone who has had children do the test already please.

On looking at the Pate's practise papers again was surprised to see so many questions which are not the type 21. We have covered this type earlier on but lately have been concentrating on the 21 types. The question about "which of these words is spelt wrong" on I think Paper 5 was really hard and there were 5 of them! This was one reason I was getting stressed and we went back to doing more varied types last weekend.

I realise that they are going to include some which are not in the 21 types especially in the 2nd paper but does anyone know if it has been such a big % in the past please?

Thanks to anyone who replies, it all helps to quell the nerves!

Roll on the afternoon of 9th October!

We have cut down this week. A couple of papers on Saturday, then a bit of work on the ones he's not so sure off and that's it.

We've used a tutor and done lots of work ourselves -- but have never bothered to work out all this stuff about 21 types. Best to focus on praise and help, rather than make a big deal of it.

If he passes, it's great. If he doesn't, it's not the end of the world.

Why is it so difficult to get them to check properly?!!

We have had a speed/accuracy issue all the way through. I asked the question about careless mistakes on another thread and was given lots of useful ideas. What worked for us in the end was this:

1. I explained to DD that now we had sorted out the speed thing (only just) it was time to be more careful. I said I knew she knew the answers but it was very important to make sure all her answers were correct (as she went along, not by checking through after, as firstly she's not fast enough to have time left over and never spots the mistakes anyway.) I said I didn't mind if she genuinely didn't know the answer but she needed to get as many questions right as possible.

2. I insisted that DD make notes on her rough paper for everything possible - writing out the compound word (just the correct answer), all maths calculations, sequences for codes etc. DD was quite resistant as to her it seems faster to do things in her head.

3. I offered a packet of chocolate buttons for a really high score.

4. I sat with her to issue reminders about writing things down the first time. The second time I sat in front of her to watch what she did but didn't say anything.

Don't know if this will work for you, but it increased DD's scores by quite a lot.

Good Luck

Thanks Pixiequeen for sharing your tips. They sound really good. Have tried encouraging (telling!) her to write down compound words too as it is amazing how your mind can be fooled into putting wrong ones together but when you write them down you can usually quickly see if it wrong.

Will see if getting her to check tricky ones as she goes along helps.

Have definately decided to try heavy bribery with chocolate next week as she is so bored with doing this and finding it hard to find any incentive for her.

Will try v hard to resist temptation to keep her working too much next week and will back off to release pressure on her and instead lock myself in toilet with my bar of chocolate!!!!!

My DD1 took the test two years ago. She was averaging 90% on the test papers. On the day of the test she didn't finish the second paper - she forgot to go to the toilet during the break and had to go out during the second paper. Even without the toilet break, I don't think she would have finished the second paper. She got to question 60 and she thinks she left 5 questions unanswered. Her combined score was 218 and she is now at Denmark Road. DD2 takes the test on 9th October and I can't wait for it to be over. Her average is 93%. We have now stopped doing any work towards the test.