VR exam for SWHerts and DAO identical?

[ToadMum]

Exam candidates are not applicants!!!

Oversubscription criteria- such as 'siblings', the example (and it is only an example) given in the section of the Code I quoted, or 'distance' - can only be applied once the school is oversubscribed. And it is not oversubscribed at this point, because being oversubscribed has a precise meaning in the Code - and that is, having received more applications than there are places available. And 'application' also has a meaning - in terms of the main round of applications, it means submitting said application by means of completing and submitting to your home LA the Common Application Form provided by it. Not - in the state system - registering for, or even sitting, an entrance test.

[kenyancowgirl]

HOW???? HOW???? HOW??? Do DAO get away with this year after year? It is a clear breach of the Admissions Code, openly discussed on here - and yet year after year they still do it!

They need to be reported and taken to task over it - Toadmum - who should I bring this up with because it needs to be addressed before this September? Or Daogroupie, you obviously have a lot of contact/admiration for the school, so perhaps you could explain to them how they are absolutely breaching the Admissions Code?

I don't want to feel complicit in this breach year after year, any more....

[saffronLondon]

I thought I had asked a simple question about VR. How did this turn into a debate about entrance criteria? !!
Daogroupie: thanks for the advice about the relevant books to get. We'll be practising for the next three months.

[Stokers]

Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:04 pm
Posts: 11
I thought I had asked a simple question about VR. How did this turn into a debate about entrance criteria? !!
Daogroupie: thanks for the advice about the relevant books to get. We'll be practising for the next three

Because if your child is tied with another child in the same VR score for place 325 but you live further away, your child will be knocked out and will not be able to sit the 2nd round, even if that other child had no intention of turning up for the second round or applying for a place if they score highly enough.

[busyMum2]

You need to broaden your range and do Athey and Walsh and IPS and Bright Sparks and GL and First past the post. You will find all of these in the forum shop next day delivery.

Daogroupie, out of the aforementioned and CGP, which books would you say are most useful in widening my DS's VR knowledge, at this time with the exam in < 1 month. So far he has mainly only done GL, Bond and the books published by the forum shop. Many thanks!

[Daogroupie]

With less than one month to go you now need to be focusing on the types that he is weak in and improving the scores in those sections.

What sort of scores is he getting in timed papers? DG

[MayKat80]

I expect it to be a much harder paper than any paper you can buy and a good percentage of the applicants will not finish as they will not have done enough preparation to work at the speed it will require.

Before CEM DAO used standard format VR and the paper was 100 questions in 45 minutes.

DG

I'm sitting my son for the DAO VR on the 2nd of September 2019. The examination details letter says the exam will commence at 15:40 and collection is at 16:35 ( which means the test will be under an hour long not sure if the test will be 45, 50 or 55 mins long). The slip also says the VR exam takes approximately an hour to deliver. I was wondering if you or anyone else had any idea ( from last years VR exam or otherwise ) of how many questions the kids are expected to finish during the test time? The GL familiarisation paper on the schools website has 80 questions. trying to figure out if were doing okay for time? Thanks.

[Daogroupie]

It was not VR last year , it was CEM and it was in the same exam slot as English so it is different this year.

I am expecting 80 questions in 50 minutes as this is the GL format.

When they used Moray House it was 100 questions in 45 mins so it is possible that it will be less than 50 minutes.

It will take them a while to explain the answer sheet.

Unfortunately there will be candidates who have never seen an answer sheet before and will try to circle the answer on the question sheet.

Sutton mocks said they had lots of those even though they spent some time holding up the sheets and explaining how to do it.

As you have the later slot they should have it all running smoothly by then. DG

[saffronLondon]

DG: Do all exam rooms have a clock so that children can time themselves?

[Daogroupie]

Yes they do.

They are all classrooms that are used at the school for timed lessons during school terms plus the Gym.

DAO lets the students wear a normal non digital watch and I would strongly recommend they start wearing one now and get used to using it.

edited by moderator

Being able to see when they have used half their time and need to move onto writing is a very critical part of the exam. DG