Maths, VR, & NVR - which is the most difficult?
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Tables, tables, tables!
Before you begin on the long road to the 11+, you must know your tables inside out. Learn them by rote, the old-fashioned way and that way you know the inverse operation too.
There is no time to recite the whole thing in your head, you need answers in a split second.
Once these are under your belt all the tricky word problems fall into place.
Before you begin on the long road to the 11+, you must know your tables inside out. Learn them by rote, the old-fashioned way and that way you know the inverse operation too.
There is no time to recite the whole thing in your head, you need answers in a split second.
Once these are under your belt all the tricky word problems fall into place.
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Villagedad
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- Location: Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells
) that i have been through this twice and you're a newbie, sorry.My DS who never had any problems with NVR found the questions far more challenging than the practice papers last year. I think the maths was comparitively easier last year as there was sensitivity to early testing. Of course being easier only means that the standards are raised, and more questions have to be correct for a good score.medwaymum wrote:For years I have heard parents (and DC) groan over the Kent math test but this last year it seemed to be the Non Verbal that everyone was shocked by. Hope this helps.
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Villagedad
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:22 pm
- Location: Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells
Sorry to sound like a total newbie, but do you get penalised for not finishing all the questions i.e. best to attempt to complete (e.g. guess answers) than miss out questions..?shuff wrote:Of course being easier only means that the standards are raised, and more questions have to be correct for a good score.
Thanks
With nvr you eliminate all the possible answers one by one.
Firstly there are nearly always 2 that you can strike out immediately, a split second later you can eliminate a third.
That means that you now have a choice of 2. At this point if you can't get the answer just guess. A 50/50 guess is a better shot than a 1 in 5.
Firstly there are nearly always 2 that you can strike out immediately, a split second later you can eliminate a third.
That means that you now have a choice of 2. At this point if you can't get the answer just guess. A 50/50 guess is a better shot than a 1 in 5.
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tonbridgemum
- Posts: 421
- Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:46 pm
Village dad. One of the main difficulties is that the answers are put on an answer sheet. Therefore it can be very easy to 'get lost' if you miss a question out (we speak from experience... 
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Personally i think encouaging an answer to each question as you go is probably better so as to prevent forgetting where you are, but im sure some people think its better to leave gaps and go back if time allows.
Practising putting answers onto an answer sheet (I think) is very valuable!
)Personally i think encouaging an answer to each question as you go is probably better so as to prevent forgetting where you are, but im sure some people think its better to leave gaps and go back if time allows.
Practising putting answers onto an answer sheet (I think) is very valuable!
I taught DS to put an answer down to everything as he went along - by guessing if necessary, and to make a note of the question numbers he had guessed for or was not sure of. Then if there was any spare time when he got through to the end he could go back to them. It is possible to rub out pencil multiple choice answer and put down another answer.
I don't know what he did on the day. But he passed.
Going back to the original question at the beginning of this thread, I agree with many others that children differ as to which paper they find the most "difficult", challenging, whatever. But to a point it does not matter anyway. What matters is how your child performs relative to others on any particular paper. They have to make it into the top 25% whether they find it easy or difficult. And a paper that everyone finds difficult does not matter either as the top 25% still pass it. One does not have to get every question right. Somes years on some papers a pass can be obtained by getting approximately half the questions right. Even the high scores required for the superselectives do not require getting every answer right.
I always think the maths paper is the odd one out as to do really well in it it is helpful to have covered the KS2 syllabus plus the additional stuff that you see in the NFER test papers. But I think you can probably get away with ignoring the more complex algebra unless you want a really high score.
Good luck.
I don't know what he did on the day. But he passed.
Going back to the original question at the beginning of this thread, I agree with many others that children differ as to which paper they find the most "difficult", challenging, whatever. But to a point it does not matter anyway. What matters is how your child performs relative to others on any particular paper. They have to make it into the top 25% whether they find it easy or difficult. And a paper that everyone finds difficult does not matter either as the top 25% still pass it. One does not have to get every question right. Somes years on some papers a pass can be obtained by getting approximately half the questions right. Even the high scores required for the superselectives do not require getting every answer right.
I always think the maths paper is the odd one out as to do really well in it it is helpful to have covered the KS2 syllabus plus the additional stuff that you see in the NFER test papers. But I think you can probably get away with ignoring the more complex algebra unless you want a really high score.
Good luck.