Parmiters - how hard is it to get in

[tense]

KS10 why did you put Rickmansworth above Parmiters? P gets far better academic results

Not everyone thinks academic results are the be all and end all! I was looking for much more than an exam factory when choosing schools for my DD.

We actually live fairly close to Watford Girls. The year my DD got into Parmiter's her score would have easily secured a place there - and I would have saved the school bus fare! But she was adamant that it wasn't the right school for her & I agreed. It gets better results than Parmiter's but that wasn't enough to sway us.

Luckily not everyone wants the same things I suppose!

[Daogroupie]

My dd applied to Clement Danes music and academic so she sat the exam. She found the maths and VR more straightforward than other exams like DAO, HBS and City. We used a whole range of papers as each had its own style. She found on the day that many of her favourite types were missing so we were very glad that we did not just stick to one or two authors. I have a Y5 dd who will do music and academic this year and a Y7 niece who did it the year before so we are STILL busy after two years! I would recommend starting with the Bond books for the year below to build confidence and then when you are whizzing through those go up a notch. Warning, keep away from the hard ones until you are feeling good as they can really dent confidence. Bright Sparks Susan Daughtery are tough as are Walsh and the Tutors. Pm me if you have any more private issues. But belief and confidence are very crucial so tread carefully. We lost lots of friends along the way who got tired of the struggle. Keep going to the school as often as you can to remember why you are doing all this. The most important thing is to really really want it. I have never spent so much time wanting something for so long as I wanted my dd to go to a school where she would be among children who wanted to learn. She has really had enough of other children stopping her from working. She was prepared to work to get away from the situation she was in.

[new2me]

We are in St Albans, about 3 miles or so from Parmiters, and the wrong side of St Albans for the good comps.

His school doesn't provide information on attainment levels 4/5 reached, only standardised test scores, but DS is top for maths and top set for English so sitting the exam isn't a hopeless dream. The spelling & vocabulary books 8-12 arrived today, and I've stocked up on VR practise papers, so coaching can start tonight. People on the forum say that maths is easier than VR, and it's DS's best subject, so I guess I can leave that until a month before.

[Daogroupie]

Don't leave it until the last month. Eleven plus math has a different flavour to KS2 maths. My dd was 5b this time last year and was in the County Maths Final for Y5 maths challenge last June and it is her best subject. We were already doing KS3 maths by the end of Year Five but she still needed to practice 11 plus maths. Careless mistakes were her biggest problem. She rushed the questions thinking she knew it. Apparently this is very common once you reach a certain level. I have heard that every year our year six teachers are surprised by who gets through to selectives and who does not and it is not who they expect. It seems that some of the brightest who do not prepare get beaten by the less able who have parents who take a more cautious approach. It happened this year and last year in our school. The G&T academic as identified by the school did not get through. Sometimes being told you are bright is a poisoned chalice. Are you one class or two? Does your ds have enough of a peer group to spur him on?

[Wanner]

I'd second what DAOgroupie says - one month is cutting it fine. Apart from the differences in being good at maths and being good at maths exams, there is also the fact that (in our case) school hadn't covered some topics at all - algebra springs to mind. Don't know if there was any algebra in the actual consortium paper (I know there was one in the DAO maths paper from what DS said - a tough one, too!) but we covered algebra at home. I think algebra takes a while to get your head round if you haven't come across it before, and I'd not want to leave that to a month before the paper. Also bear in mind that you may be school visiting a month before, which cuts into revision time...

[new2me]

Thanks for the info on maths. My DS isn't stretched at school so really needs to be where he'll have to work, rather than coast, to keep up with his peers. I'll get him started on the VR - we're planning a race to see who's first to complete an IPS daily practice test in 6 minutes. And then I guess I'd better start swotting up on the maths.

[WP]

Apart from the differences in being good at maths and being good at maths exams, there is also the fact that (in our case) school hadn't covered some topics at all - algebra springs to mind. Don't know if there was any algebra in the actual consortium paper (I know there was one in the DAO maths paper from what DS said - a tough one, too!) but we covered algebra at home.

I don't think it includes anything beyond KS2 in subject matter or difficulty. The issue, as Daogroupie said, is error rate, as most able children will be able to handle the questions. It's making silly mistakes, or not reading the question.

[Wanner]

Agreed, WP, it's just that our school (and others, I imagine) hadn't covered all of the KS2 syllabus in time for the consortium exams. In the weeks leading up to the exams, my DS's class learned how to use a calculator, and how to use a protractor. All KS2 stuff, but not remotely useful for the exams, where neither calclulators nor protractors are permitted . Algebra - I think they're still waiting to do that... and there were definitely algebra type questions in the NFER practise papers.

[aka]

I don't think that the Herts consortium test is as hard as some others e.g some independent school tests, however the difficulty in getting into schools such as Parmiter's is the fact that it only takes the top 4-5% of those 2000 or more children sitting the test according to WP's statistics. My DS got into the school last year on the academic test, one of his friends failed to gain access to Parmiter's but managed to gain selection to Habs, even though he said the test for Habs was harder! However, because the competition was not as 'fierce' he did not have to score so high to claim a place. If your child is reasonably bright and well tutored, mine was home tutored, then they have a chance. My DS was tutored from the Easter before the test, he did a variety of papers, one VR and one maths a week which was stepped up to 4 each a week in the four weeks before the test. In the last 2-3 weeks before the test he was consistently able to score 95% or greater in all tests 100 questions in 45 mins for VR. I think that you need to aim at that sort of figure. Good luck

[KS10]

RP,

We had one selfish reason for placing Ricky above Parmiter's: I can't drive! We thought that in the event of my DS missing the bus and my husband being delayed at work he could make his own way home by train. If anyone thinks that's a terrible reason please do not say so as we've heard all the lectures already!

Weren't the results fairly similar last year? To be honest, once the results are in the eighties I think it's down to us/him whether or not he knuckles down to work as the school is clearly doing something right.