11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi,
we got the letter about time slot yesterday. Please could someone tell me what it means when it says " One and a quarter hours verbal reasoning - 30 minutes of this will be familiarisation" Is it just looking through examples of questions ?

Have searched familiarisation but get 81 pages of results!

Many thanks and Good Luck to everyone

Not a silly question - we got the letter and were also debating what form the "familiarisation" may take. I managed to find this thread from the year it was introduced (but of course no one knew at that point exactly what it meant). Looking forward to seeing the answer (and am glad you asked!).

bitworried wrote:we got the letter about time slot yesterday. Please could someone tell me what it means when it says " One and a quarter hours verbal reasoning - 30 minutes of this will be familiarisation" Is it just looking through examples of questions ?

Have searched familiarisation but get 81 pages of results!

If you select the Hertfordshire section, you get 4 pages of results, which includes a few reports on people's experiences. Apparently it's a 16-question practice test before the real thing.

My DD sat for Latymer NVR this year, and they had a 16 question practice test before the real thing. They gave them a mini-test with 4 questions in each of 4 types. They then went through it with them telling them the answers and why those answers were right. DD said that it was a good way of putting them at ease before the real exam started and I think it is designed to help those who hadn't had much practice previously (if such children exist!) It sounds like it'll be a similar thing for the SW Herts consortium.

All state schools have been forced to do this now with their VR exams. Because so many children were turning up at these exams never having even seen a VR question before and then were disrupting other children in the exam because they were hopelessly confused, they now run a practice paper with an example of each type of question before the real exam starts. At DAO it is 15 questions which are at the start of the paper. The candidates attempt those questions and then the answers are read out so each candidate can see what the answer is for each type of question.

The fact that they need to do this should give you a better idea of just how many children are completely unprepared for the experience that awaits them. So many parents claim that they have been told their child is bright and therefore does not require any preparation. I know school teachers who have believed this twaddle about their own children and then are puzzled that their child does not then secure a place. I find it hard to imagine how any rational parent will send a child into a test where they have to answer 100 questions in 45 minutes without ever having done one! But the fact that this has had to be put into place tells us that it was such a problem they were forced to come up with this solution.

Once the answers are read out the practice paper has served its purpose and is discarded. Candidates are told to turn over to the actual exam questions and the real exam begins. DG