Page 1 of 3

Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:06 pm
by cairo
With a view to next year's test :shock: :shock: can anyone advise what their DCs remember of the format of this year's papers?

I know that, before the test, people were concerned there could be fewer Maths questions this year. Did that seem to happen on the day? Also, did it still seem to be the 21 question types or were there any extras?

Thanks!

Re: Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:16 pm
by Tolstoy
Ditto Cairo any info would be great whilst it is still fresh in peoples minds.

p.s just heard of somebody not taking up their Pates offer so one more down the waiting list :wink: .

Re: Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:32 pm
by muminTewkes
Well,ds did seem to think that it was heavily vocab,vocab,vocab(not his strongest point!)and certainly less math based.Not sure as to previous years as its our first time.
He likened the tests to 1st was similar to NFER and second to SD Bright Sparks..he didnt think it was as hard as The Tutors level 3/4.
He doesnt seem to think that there was anything he hadnt seen before and certainly nothing other than the 21 types,but said,as is normal I think,that the second paper they SEEMED different but were,in fact,the same 21 types,just "set out"differently...????There were also no Z q's in the first but 2/3 in the second.
He did far better on this paper,although is baffled why as he thought he'd "breezed"paper one.Oh well.
He also mentioned that the set out on the answer sheet was different as has been mentioned before)and that you couldnt use the answer sheet alone..ie:it was just A,B,C,D etc.
Hmm...cant think of anything else!

Possibly interesting news on the Pates waiting list...13(for us!)to go then...!

Re: Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:39 pm
by Tolstoy
Thanks Tewks, I will carry on with what I have been doing then with more stress on vocab.

The score discrepancies are down to the standardisation. Both mine did better in the second traditionally harder paper. There is a rumour that the first paper is recycled and some tutors know what is on it. If this is correct I wish the LEA would get it sorted as this is a ridiculous situation.

Re: Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:46 pm
by cairo
Really?? God, that does make a mockery of the whole thing then doesn't it. Can only hope it's a rumour - perhaps started by tutors in an attempt to boost business :wink:

Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:45 pm
by fruit salad
My DD said there were none of the bracketed type: 3 [4] 14 5 [7] 24 6 [ ] 18

There were no new or unexpected types that she noticed. We looked at some more difficult 15 minute papers from The Tutors the night before (finally got the printer working) but had a laugh at some of the obscure words they used. She said there were none as difficult (read daft) as those.

She didn't recognise the first paper, but then she hadn't sat a practise paper for months.

(2 years ago our eldest came out of the exam saying that paper 1 was one of the papers I had given her to practise on. (Nelson, I think.) It didn't seem to give her an advantage, as she had not remembered her mistakes!)

Re: Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:54 pm
by mitasol
Edited: Thanks for your patience

Re: Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:55 pm
by Tolstoy
mitasol the late sitters did the test on Thursday I don't think Gloucester do any more than the one resit.

Re: Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:21 pm
by happychap
My DD told me that the late sitters did the same paper. Certainly had some of the same questions!

At school they were all telling the late sitters as much as they could about the papers.

Is it true that it is the same paper? Surely that gives a huge advantage to late sitters.

Re: Content of exam

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:25 pm
by Tolstoy
I believe it is the same and this is why the Mods have to be careful about what gets said on the posts. and yes it would give them an advantage happychap so it is very naive of the children to pass over that sort of info. It would be interesting to see what percentage of late sitters pass compared to the rest of the cohort.