Tutors 15 Minute Tests Error?

[fm]

Personally I'd tell them to move on from the question rather than waste time angsting over a question worth just one mark when it may ultimately cost them a lot more marks because they don't finish the paper.

[Mike]

Hi

This is a reverse mirror image question that does appear in NFER pracice papers.

In a standard mirror image question

XG is to CT
as
EP is to VK

By reversing

XG is to CT
as
EP is to KV

Regards

Mike

[Mike]

Hi Gilly

In the preparation process it is important that students are given tuition in all the question types and all the variances contained within them.

For this question types it would be expected that a student would identify the following in order of difficulty

The numbers refer to the movement made with no alphabet wrap-around.

+1, +1
-1, -1
+1, -1
-1, +1
Then all other values up to 6.

Then different values getting progressively higher to 6,6, i.e. +4,+6, -4,+6

Then all of the above with alphabet wrap-around, this moves the difficulty level up, i.e. Z (+4) = D and C (-4) = Y, etc

The most difficult variances to spot are then the mirror image questions;
count in an equal number of places from the front and the back of the alphabet, i.e. A = Z, B = Y, C = X, etc

Finally, the reverse mirror-image question.

Both the mirror-image questions will lead the student to believe that the correct answer is not in the list of multiple-choice options. This should then lead them to look for the alternative logic.

This question type is one of the easier ones to teach by rote and should not be missed out.

Regards

Mike

[Gilly]

Hi Mike,

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation.

Both the mirror-image questions will lead the student to believe that the correct answer is not in the list of multiple-choice options. This should then lead them to look for the alternative logic.

Good point. This is one thing that I always remind my son.

Gilly

[dadofkent]

These papers were only published this summer, and all new papers have an error rate of around 5%. As downloads, these papers can be corrected very quickly. It is rather more embarrassing when the tests are on paper with a print run of thousands!


Sally-Anne

I find that shocking.

As part of my work, I "publish" about 3 new technical reports a week for paying Clients. If they had an error rate of 5%, my Professional Indemnity insurers would be very busy.

If 10/11 year old children are expected to complete these papers in 30/40mins surely an adult should be capable of accurately proof reading and checking them in a similar time.

[JaysDarlin]

Thanks Mike, for that explanation of the question, but please correct the originals, as the questions states:

XG is to TC

not

XG is to CT

Thank you.

[JaysDarlin]

Is there an error in Paper 12 level 4, Q12?


UB is to YF

as OZ is to ??


Possible answers:

AK
LA
AJ
AL
BK

We are working the answer out to be SD.

Also, FYI, Question 11 in Paper 13 has two identical answers - 7938, which incidentally is the correct answer.

[Gilly]

UB is to YF

as OZ is to ??

Gave the question to DS and he worked it out to get the answer 'AL'. Is that the correct answer? We don't have that particular paper with us so can't check the answer!!

I gave both the above question and the previous one XG to TC; EP is to ? to DS. He got the answer to the other one as 'KV.

While discussing with him the logic he used, he did mention about the logic that Mike explained earlier and also mentioned that first he applied a different logic and couldn't find the answer so he had to switch to the 'mirror' logic where he usually draws a vertical line through the middle of the alphabet letters ( A to Z) in the question paper in working such questions out.

Gilly

[JaysDarlin]

Yes Gilly You are right both times!

What on earth is going on - why cant I see it?

Please can you ask your ds to explain to us poor souls what we should be doing?

Which logic is he switching over to? Gilly - I think we have a genuis-and-son on our hands in this forum - YOU TWO! I think you guys are made of some different sort of stuff! My spidey sense is telling me that your ds is going to pass, and pass well!

[Sally-Anne]

Hi dadofkent

I find that shocking.

As part of my work, I "publish" about 3 new technical reports a week for paying Clients. If they had an error rate of 5%, my Professional Indemnity insurers would be very busy.

If 10/11 year old children are expected to complete these papers in 30/40mins surely an adult should be capable of accurately proof reading and checking them in a similar time.

You would be amazed at how hard it is to see the wood for the trees once you are in the forest of a VR paper. They are a completely different proposition to anything I have come across for proof-reading - words, numbers, tables, etc.

I personally proof-read the Level 3 papers in the first few days after they were published. I was determined to get them absolutely right, because they are a very useful resource that is almost exactly at the standard of the real 11+ in Bucks. Even then I missed a couple of errors, and I take great pride in attention to detail.

Something strange happens to your brain when doing this task repetitively.

Sally-Anne