11 Plus Exams Forum

hello all
am new to all this and stress has led me here.
my son is hoping to go to Parmiters in Sept 2009 but does anyone know of what the lowest score that gained entry was over recent years.

he has been tutored for a few years but has only just started practice 11+ papers. have i left it too late

help

one stressed out mum.

Hi Cuabanda

Look at WP's excellent sticky which shows the lowest qualifying scores - for Parmiter's last year it was 243, the year before 237 (the increase no doubt due to the reduced number of academic places available for 2008 entry).

If your son has been tutored "for a few years" he's probably learnt lots of tips & techniques already, even if he hasn't done many practice papers. Personally, I don't think it's too late - my DD had no tutoring & didn't start papers until about this time last year, but she still passed.

But I do understand the stress!

T x

hi Tense

thanks for the figures. i don't know if they have made me better or worse.

from others i have spoken to, they have said that the 11+ practice papers are actually harder than the real test.

does anyone who has children that have done it know if this is correct.

thanks

Well, my DD thought the maths paper was much easier ... & that the VR paper was much harder! I think this was a commonly held view of last years's papers, although I'm sure other posters will be along to share their experiences too. The VR paper had question types on it my DD hadn't seen before (can't recall which ones now though, sorry).

Just remember that all the children will be in the same boat.

Hello
The VR was apparently Moray house which my DS had not seen before and found very difficult. I tried to get hold of copies subsequently but they do not sell to the public apparently. My DS's score got other children in on the initial date of place allocation but didn't get him in due to the proximity rule(equal scores=nearest child gets the place). We were lucky though as we only had to wait 2 weeks for an offer. There was at least one place made available in September when parents moved away from the area and didn't let the school know. If you child is musical then try for the Music aptitude - in retrospect I would have prepped my DS better for this (elsewhere in the Forum parents have described the Music test I believe). One other thing - my DS was an October baby. He tells me that that majority of the children in his class (a bright lot) are June-August born. Does this mean that the normalisation of scores could be skewing the admission chances for older children (I have read that it makes it fairer etc but I have my doubts)!

hello again all.

does anyone know if the watford consortium schools maths test is multiple choice or not ?

thanks
cuabanda

I believe that both teh VR and maths tests are in 'Standard Format' - not multiple choice. But please check with the schools - they will tell you.