Format, content and timings of CEM tests

[ciaowood]

Hi, I'm so glad I've found this forum! My daughter will be sitting both the Medway and Kent tests in September this year. She's had a tutor all year and I've booked her on a couple of revision courses in August. I'm just looking more in-depth to the actual tests and have a few questions I've been struggling to find so any help would be appreciated please .

Is anyone able to give me timings of the tests please as well as how many questions there are to answer in the said time? Am I correct in thinking that the CEM test usually produces more questions than the children are likely to answer?

I'm a little concerned about the 'extended writing' - is there anywhere I can find out what exactly the examiners are looking for? Eg what type of punctuation would give more marks, phrases, language etc and also will the writing for CEM always be a 'story' or is there a chance there'll have to write a persuasive letter etc?


Also regarding the writing, does anyone know if the writing needs to be finished in the said amount of time or will it still receive marks on the content although not finished?


I've also heard that RGS are not selecting by marks this year but then someone also told me that they say that every year but still go by marks lol - does anyone know?


Sorry for so many questions .

Thanks.

[Tinkers]

I’m no CEM expert but the general advice is to expected the unexpected. CEM can and do alter the format so it’s not a good idea to get your DC to expect set numbers of questions in set times. They vary what goes in each section and how many sections etc.
It is usually. Sry time pressured so yes there are likely to be sections where there are more questions than your DC can answer in the time.

[ciaowood]

Thanks for replying - we'll just keep practising against the clock and hope for the best then. Thanks.

[Daogroupie]

Is your tutor not able to advise you on exam preparation?

Hopefully you selected a tutor with proven expertise in the exams you are sitting?

There is no writing for CEM. CEM is not a writing format, it is mostly multiple choice or one word answers.

Is your tutor working with her on extended writing? He/She should be able to answer all your questions in this.

Her tutor should be preparing her with all the different forms of extended writing: Speech, letter, newspaper article, advert, continue the story, brochure, descriptive writing, diary, etc.

It is important to try and finish your writing but what she has written will be marked even if she does not finish it.

I know a student who only managed to write eight lines but it must have been a cracker eight lines as he got a really decent mark for it and secured a place.

Other students will write 3 pages of weak KS1 writing and not do so well. It is all about delivering the goods that are on the mark scheme not three pages of drivel. DG

[scary mum]

There are some pages here which may help you & people will always
be happy to answer your questions on here, but yes, your daughter's tutor should also be advising on these matters httpsww.elevenplusexams.co.uk/schools/regions/kent-11-plus
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/schoo ... ay-11-plus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ciaowood]

Thank you for replying. I need to have a good chat this week with my daughter's tutor. She has a very good track record with the 11 plus and so we're very happy with her. She tends to cover timed sessions with maths, comp, vr and nvr each week. She's looked at her writing previously and feels she's quite strong in this area. However, I'll speak with her about it. My thoughts were to let her tutor continue with what she's doing and for me to spend a bit of time going over the writing. It's great to see which type of writing genres that could come up so I'm very grateful for your input.

That's good to see the writing can still be given marks without finishing too! I'm guessing the examiners are looking for good vocabulary, good grammar and punctuation with a few good styles of writing thrown in. Would you know if there is anywhere I could find out more about what they're looking for?

Thanks for the link too

[Daogroupie]

What percentage of your exam is Extended Writing?

Is there some reason why your tutor is not covering this aspect of the exam with her?

If it is a large percentage you should be focusing on it and perhaps not spending so much time on NVR and VR?

Has your tutor briefed you on the exact format of the test?

It seems odd to be so close to the tests and still not know of the makeup of the exam.

You should have weekly results from the timed sessions she has been doing so you know which is her weakest one so needs more work..

Does your tutor offer timed and marked creative writing sessions? DG

[ciaowood]

The extended writing is 2/5 of the results. Hmm, not sure why there's no focus on it so I'll need to speak with her this week and find out. From the timed tests there are just 1-2 errors on each subject.

The two tests she'll take will be the Kent and Medway so different exam boards. The Kent one I'm not so worried about, it's the CEM Medway test that's concerning, because of the writing.

I've got lots of 11+ books, I've just signed up to online tests and I have a willing daughter so I'll put a plan in place this week I think, focussing on writing.

Roll on the end of September when it's all over!

Thanks again.

[Daogroupie]

The Medway test is 40% Extended Writing and the VR is only 20%

So if you are doing timed Maths, VR and NVR papers weekly and only getting 1 to 2 errors then I would suggest you stop doing that as that is a very high success rate that is very unlikely to get higher.

I suggest you ask your tutor to move her to doing timed papers on extended writing. This is 40% of the Medway exam so you need to focus on it.

You mention that your tutor has en excellent track record and you are very happy with her so move to extended writing so you can spend time chasing 40% of the Medway marks rather than a couple more marks on VR which is only 20% of the marks. DG

[ciaowood]

Thanks again - we're definitely going to concentrate on her writing now. Thanks for all of your advice.