11+ exam materials - my experience
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11+ exam materials - my experience
Hello All,
This is my first post here after hanging around for the better part of the last 6 months. My daughter took the 11+ tests this year and has been deemed selective in both Bexley and Kent. I have benefitted immensely from the discussions here and thought I would post some thoughts which parents might find helpful for the future .
My experience: My husband and I took turns in tutoring our daughter and we did not use external tutors. We spent a better part of the last year in panic mode trying to use as many resources / exam papers etc. to help our daughter prep for the test. Some of the mock tests / papers were so difficult that they often would leave my daughter demoralized and us wondering if the expectations from students were realistic (especially non verbal).
After taking the tests - our daughter had this feedback. She felt that the level of the actual tests most closely resembled Bond 11+ tests. The GLS papers were useful as well to prepare for the final test but a couple of the tests ( of the
were too difficult. CGP tests were way too difficult and in no way come close to the actual test. In retrospect, she feels she would have been better off not doing any CGP tests at all. She mentioned there were several questions in the Kent non verbal reasoning paper which she had never encountered before - so there is credence to the efforts being put in by the authorities to make the tests somewhat tutor proof.
I have waited till the results were out to post this - so that it provides a useful benchmark for other parents. Hope others can pitch in and share their experiences as well ..
Thanks to all who have posted here before ..
kent_mum
This is my first post here after hanging around for the better part of the last 6 months. My daughter took the 11+ tests this year and has been deemed selective in both Bexley and Kent. I have benefitted immensely from the discussions here and thought I would post some thoughts which parents might find helpful for the future .
My experience: My husband and I took turns in tutoring our daughter and we did not use external tutors. We spent a better part of the last year in panic mode trying to use as many resources / exam papers etc. to help our daughter prep for the test. Some of the mock tests / papers were so difficult that they often would leave my daughter demoralized and us wondering if the expectations from students were realistic (especially non verbal).
After taking the tests - our daughter had this feedback. She felt that the level of the actual tests most closely resembled Bond 11+ tests. The GLS papers were useful as well to prepare for the final test but a couple of the tests ( of the
were too difficult. CGP tests were way too difficult and in no way come close to the actual test. In retrospect, she feels she would have been better off not doing any CGP tests at all. She mentioned there were several questions in the Kent non verbal reasoning paper which she had never encountered before - so there is credence to the efforts being put in by the authorities to make the tests somewhat tutor proof.I have waited till the results were out to post this - so that it provides a useful benchmark for other parents. Hope others can pitch in and share their experiences as well ..
Thanks to all who have posted here before ..
kent_mum
Re: 11+ exam materials - my experience
Thank you so much kent_mum for sharing. It's interesting that your daughter found Bond to be close to the actual test. Did you use CGP CEM? How does it compare to the Bexley test?
It's great that your daughter could give you feedback. A lot of children seem to forget the minute they finish the test!
It's great that your daughter could give you feedback. A lot of children seem to forget the minute they finish the test!
Re: 11+ exam materials - my experience
Hi Salsa,
We did use CGP CEM and Bond CEM papers as well. My DD said that the Bexley format / questions were similar to the Bond / CGP tests but the test questions were much harder than the questions she encountered in the actual Bexley test. Also most of the Bond / CGP books and papers have a blanket statement that if a child is getting 80% - 85% of the questions right , he or she is doing very well and needs practice if it is lesser. I think this is absolute rot since scores need to be calibrated by the subject. In my opinion - 80% is a good benchmark for English but is too high a target for Non verbal
Also we wrote down the feedback from our DD (rather my husband did) as soon as she walked out of the tests so that we get an accurate assessment. We wanted to wait for the results before posting our feedback.
We did use CGP CEM and Bond CEM papers as well. My DD said that the Bexley format / questions were similar to the Bond / CGP tests but the test questions were much harder than the questions she encountered in the actual Bexley test. Also most of the Bond / CGP books and papers have a blanket statement that if a child is getting 80% - 85% of the questions right , he or she is doing very well and needs practice if it is lesser. I think this is absolute rot since scores need to be calibrated by the subject. In my opinion - 80% is a good benchmark for English but is too high a target for Non verbal
Also we wrote down the feedback from our DD (rather my husband did) as soon as she walked out of the tests so that we get an accurate assessment. We wanted to wait for the results before posting our feedback.
Re: 11+ exam materials - my experience
Thanks kent_mum. I have heard that both Bond CEM and CGP CEM can be harder than the actual Bexley test. I believe other more selective regions have a harder CEM test, even though is also set by Durham University. Therefore, Bond and CGP would have to make them harder as their books are sold in all regions.
