Queries about practice papers

[goldengirl]

Hi, very many thanks to all those who have replied to my previous postings. They really have been life savers.
Just wanted to double check some things.
Which practice papers?
GL-consensus seems to be that these are the closest to the Lincs tests? I know someone in the village who said she prepared her dd with a couple of these during the summer hols last year and that she passed!
Bond=these seem quite hard. Also, include the crosswords that are 5-6 letters across. I have n't done any crossword prep with dd?Do I need to? A friend told me she thought the exam sometimes does crosswords that are 3 letters across?
IPS-these are in the shop on this site as recommended. Are these representative?They include the questions with four 4 letter words with 3 sets of 4 numbers underneath to decode and use to solve some questions-do I need to practice these with my dd?
Also, there is a question where you complete the missing number-very much like some of the maths type questions but it goes like (3/6)9) (4)8)12) (6__18) quite easy ones, but are the questions likely to appear in this format.
Then... last question! the logic type questions-eg. so many children with different ages and you work out who are the twins. Both my dd and myself either get the answer quite quickly or rack our heads for half an hour-are they worth only 1 or 2 points-seem like a question to skip and come back to if time unless the answer comes very quickly?
Sorry to so many questions.
Love to read what you are all up to.
Many thanks

[Alex]

GL-consensus seems to be that these are the closest to the Lincs tests?

VR - They are closest in the sense that the layout and look of the papers are the same as the real thing as Lincs tests are commissioned from NfER. However, the timing is different and Lincs tests contain more question types than are covered in the commercial tests. You need to cover the 21 Types covered by IPS plus a very few others which are similar to some contained in the Susan Daughtrey books 1-4.
NVR - The commercial papers cover all the types which appear in Lincs tests and the timing per question is the same (except for 1 extra question in one section)but the section length is different (16 questions per section with 17 in one section) and 4 sections so that only 4 types will appear in any one test.

Bond=these seem quite hard. Also, include the crosswords that are 5-6 letters across. I have n't done any crossword prep with dd?Do I need to? A friend told me she thought the exam sometimes does crosswords that are 3 letters across?

Bond can be useful in the early stages but they do contain quite a few question types that do not come up in Lincs tests so there are more useful papers to do nearer the tests which more closely match Lincs questions. No big crosswords in Lincs VR but the little 3 letter ones are a favourite 1st question - just the one question, generally very easy, not a block of them. They appear in the Susan Daughtrey book 1.

IPS-these are in the shop on this site as recommended. Are these representative?They include the questions with four 4 letter words with 3 sets of 4 numbers underneath to decode and use to solve some questions-do I need to practice these with my dd?
Also, there is a question where you complete the missing number-very much like some of the maths type questions but it goes like (3/6)9) (4)8)12) (6__18) quite easy ones, but are the questions likely to appear in this format.

IPS tests are useful for VR as the timing mirrors Lincs with 30 secs per question. Just how many of the IPS 21 types are used in the Lincs tests I cannot be absolutely sure but the tests do contain some types each year which are contained in the IPS 21 types and not in the NfER/GL/Letts papers, so the general recommendation is to cover them all.

Then... last question! the logic type questions-eg. so many children with different ages and you work out who are the twins. Both my dd and myself either get the answer quite quickly or rack our heads for half an hour-are they worth only 1 or 2 points-seem like a question to skip and come back to if time unless the answer comes very quickly?

Agreed it is good strategy to skip if it is taking too long - go back if time allows or make a guess if it doesn't.

[Stocky]

Hi GG. For NVR my DD says she found GL the closest but obviously that's only one paper she has ever officially sat. VR different though. 2 weeks before I discovered this wonderful forum, via the consortium website, there is a link to appropriate practice materials. This pretty much reiterates what Alex has said. The VR GL papers it says only contain 15 types. The key is to get the 21 main types covered. IPS book 'C' is great for that. I probably covered too many types with DD, as whilst I avoided Bond books (not papers) at such a late stage I did cover the whole 35 SD types which the consortium info states "the few other types which may occur can be found in SD VR technique and practice books" - so I covered every base on that and it seems perhaps not too many of the SD types which don't feature in IPS as well come up.

[goldengirl]

Thanks Stocky and Alex for such helpful replies.
What a fantastic forum this is.