11 Plus Exams Forum

Just a quick post for those who may be fretting about their DS who may not have had time to finish the paper(s). DS 1 did the exam the year before last and completely messed up his timing for the last 5 or 6 questions of paper 2. He still managed to pass and is now happily in Y8 at his first choice GS. So, as good as it is to finish the paper, it does not necessarily follow that a failure to finish the paper means your DS will not pass, so for any of you in that position; It's not the end of the world!.
DS2 did the test on Saturday and tells the same story about paper 1 being easier than paper as per most posts. Good luck for Saturday everybody
Pluto

Thanks Pluto I really need to hear stories like this! I keep beating myself up over, did we do enough prep, the right prep???? All the woulda, coulda, shouldas!
Oh if i could turn back 6 months and make changes!!! CRAZY!
We went in quietly confident, now that has been completely shaken!
Well 3 more days

p.s. Pluto do mind saying which school he's at

A friends dd(completely untutored bar the Pates questions off their website)didnt finish a paper either,missed a section and had a melt down....she is now in year 8 at Pates
I think we can analyse and over analyse but ateotd only Saturday(or March !)will tell us!..she says...

But how could that be ? Don't you need to make a 100% to get into Pates (my irrational self asks)????

No,you dont...(I dont think?DONT give me something else to stress over!)...it just feels like it ..NO child can be 100% ..right?

My DD didn't finish the second paper -- didn't even guess because they didn't give/she didn't hear the 5 minutes left warning -- and I felt absolutely certain that she would not get into Pate's as a result. In retrospect, it was because she had been doing so well, in such good time, in practice papers at home and because she'd been (emotionally) bullet-proof in school exams that I felt this way. She got in and I've since heard lots of "didn't finish, didn't guess" success stories so can only assume that the uniqueness of the 11 plus exam conditions really does have an effect on the majority of the children.

Best of luck for Saturday. I'll be biting my nails this time next year again

Red

1203tommy wrote:But how could that be ? Don't you need to make a 100% to get into Pates (my irrational self asks)????

You don't need 100% for Pates . There's lots of scoring guides on this forum that are well known, and the concensus seems to be (for the boys at any rate) :-

70 - 78 for Crypt
78 - 85 for Tommies
85 + for Pates

From what I've read (could be wrong), Denmark Road seems to get grouped with Tommies, and Ribston with Crypt (not sure about the others). Recent trends indicate you need to be looking at 90%+ for Pates these days.

This ignores the most important thing of course, which is you go for the school that is best for your DC ...

90% still means 10% wrong, which will take care of all those niggly ones you're stressing over now!

I was just kidding! Just thinking out loud my crazy thoughts! Oh this is too much, can please fast forward to Saturday, I've got no more nails to bite!!!