Mock Test
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Mock Test
My DD took the mock test and she scored a total of 280 she said she did not finish the VB and NVR she finished the maths but got 71%.
I feel a bit disappointed and scared that the exams are in sept and the result shows there is plenty to work on anyone with advice.
I did not tell her how I feel bur had a talk about how much we need to work hard as she did not score anything near the 326 cut off marks
I feel a bit disappointed and scared that the exams are in sept and the result shows there is plenty to work on anyone with advice.
I did not tell her how I feel bur had a talk about how much we need to work hard as she did not score anything near the 326 cut off marks
tanx amen
Re: Mock Test
We're in a similar position, albeit with a slightly higher mark.
Looking positively (Based on Wallington boys and Wilsons)...
- the mock didn't have any English. In the real exam English will count for 40%
- real exam won't have NVR
- the letter with the mock results mentioned some pupils getting out of synch with the answers, not reading questions properly etc. Your/my child could have been one of these and might not make the same mistake with the real one!
Looking positively (Based on Wallington boys and Wilsons)...
- the mock didn't have any English. In the real exam English will count for 40%
- real exam won't have NVR
- the letter with the mock results mentioned some pupils getting out of synch with the answers, not reading questions properly etc. Your/my child could have been one of these and might not make the same mistake with the real one!
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Daogroupie
- Posts: 11107
- Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
- Location: Herts
Mocks are there to show you what focus you need for Sept exa
Take heart Amen, Mocks are there to show you what you need to do next. 71% is a very decent result for the Maths which seems to have been the harder paper. My elder dd got 73% last year only 2% more on 7th Sept because they did the mocks later last year and eight weeks later got one of the 65 places at Dame Alice Owen that 910 children applied for and one of the 93 places at Henrietta Barnet that 1400 girls applied for, and then in January one of the 50 places at City of London School girls that 600 applied for and one of the 75 places at Haberdasher's girls that 400 applied for and one of the 50 places at St Albans girls that 300 applied for. My dd was rushing and not checking her answers and making silly mistakes. Because she had to do 100 in 45 mins for VR so she was focusing on speed not accuracy and throwing away marks. So we slowed her down and forced her to do inverse operations on all her sums. It is a shame that you cant look at the paper and see if that is the case for you. Is there any area she finds hard like sorting fractions into size order or angles? For VR and Non VR that was just a speed issue. There are lots of tips for how to get quicker. Are there any areas that she finds hard? If you get the IPS papers you can do ten minute tests and full papers that just focus on one type to get upto scratch on any you are struggling with. It is my firm belief that VR and NVR are just practice. We have gone from hardly being able to do one quarter in the time to finishing easily but that was lots of time spent on it. Pm me if you like. My younger dd did not do as well as she thought she would on the mock but about where I thought she would seeing she did absolutely no preparation. If she sat it again today she would get a few marks more as we have already identified areas that needed work and it served its purpose to show her what she needs to do. If you go to the Herts forum and look for the Sutton mock started by me you will see that there has been some great analysis of the data which will show your dd was above average in maths. The key thing is progress. Make a chart and put 71% in as her starter and do some more papers and write down the ones she gets wrong and see if you can crack some problems areas where she is missing out on easy marks. Focus on the fact that you know now what you need to do rather than March 1st when you can only reflect on what you should have done because you are powerless to turn back the clock to now when you can make a difference.
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chicko-mum
- Posts: 294
- Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:19 pm
Re: Mock Test
Don't be despondent! You still have time to get speed and accuracy up. Also, having done the mock test, in theory your DD should feel less nervous for the real thing.
I can't help you with the content of the tests your DD will be taking (different area) but I would suggest you go through a couple of papers she's already completed, or do one together so you can identify the gaps in her knowledge, if there are any. Is she spending too much time on any particular type of question? She should mark these and come back to them later, not get held up there. It could be that she's like my own DD and just makes silly mistakes because she's rushing through it and not reading the questions properly. This thread has some tips on silly mistakes:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... y+mistakes
If you search through the sections there are lots of educational sites posted for fun games which help build up mental calculations. DD loves: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/
Remember these scores are relative to that test. These test results must be considered in context of the real tests to be taken. The Sutton mock NVR is 30 questions. For example a child getting 10 questions wrong scores 67%. If the real test is 60 questions then 10 wrong would be 83%. It doesn't follow that they would only get 10 wrong, but equally it doesn't follow that they will get one third wrong either.
Is the 326 cut off standardised scores for all subjects? The standardisation used by Sutton mocks looks a bit odd to me as well, as if the DCs ages are not taken into account. If you look at all the 100% maths scores they all have a standardised score of 131 which is the higher end of the scale (ie younger children). Equally, all VR scores of 51% have a standardised score of 81. Not sure how this works, but it can be misleading if this is what you are looking at.
The benefit of these mocks imo is that they give excellent practice of a test environment and also can help you identify areas to work on or improve.
I hope this helps! Good luck.
I can't help you with the content of the tests your DD will be taking (different area) but I would suggest you go through a couple of papers she's already completed, or do one together so you can identify the gaps in her knowledge, if there are any. Is she spending too much time on any particular type of question? She should mark these and come back to them later, not get held up there. It could be that she's like my own DD and just makes silly mistakes because she's rushing through it and not reading the questions properly. This thread has some tips on silly mistakes:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... y+mistakes
If you search through the sections there are lots of educational sites posted for fun games which help build up mental calculations. DD loves: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/
Remember these scores are relative to that test. These test results must be considered in context of the real tests to be taken. The Sutton mock NVR is 30 questions. For example a child getting 10 questions wrong scores 67%. If the real test is 60 questions then 10 wrong would be 83%. It doesn't follow that they would only get 10 wrong, but equally it doesn't follow that they will get one third wrong either.
Is the 326 cut off standardised scores for all subjects? The standardisation used by Sutton mocks looks a bit odd to me as well, as if the DCs ages are not taken into account. If you look at all the 100% maths scores they all have a standardised score of 131 which is the higher end of the scale (ie younger children). Equally, all VR scores of 51% have a standardised score of 81. Not sure how this works, but it can be misleading if this is what you are looking at.
The benefit of these mocks imo is that they give excellent practice of a test environment and also can help you identify areas to work on or improve.
I hope this helps! Good luck.
Re: Mock Test
As Chicko-Mum says, Amen, don't be despondent. A couple of years ago my DS did terrible in the mock test. I can't quite remember what he scored, but I remember it was well below the 326 cut-off mark for WCGS. To be honest it was just to get him used to the exam conditions. We worked hard (i.e. lots of practise) in the weeks leading up to the entrance exam and now he's doing quite well at WCGS.
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stressedparent
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:30 pm
Re: Mock Test
Hi All
Do not worry, the idea is to get them used to exam conditions and eliminate the nerves the real day. My daughter scored 286 few years ago but still got into Tiffin. That was a wake wake up call for all of us and made her work harder. There were pupils that scored very highly in the Sutton test but still did not get a grammar school place, I guess they have peaked too early. I did the same with my younger daughter this year and she has scored 286 too. They sat the test without out any preparation, which I find is a very good benchmark to start from. They both did not finish the papers. The Sutton test is not a good measure of the real test any way, as it does not reflect the subject matter of the majority of grammar schools. My advice is to work on time saving technique. Do a lot of practice tests from now on. Do not make them do the papers more than once because you will never know their accurate standards, as they would have seen the papers before. Leave the NFER papers until last because I found them very close to the real thing.
All the best
Do not worry, the idea is to get them used to exam conditions and eliminate the nerves the real day. My daughter scored 286 few years ago but still got into Tiffin. That was a wake wake up call for all of us and made her work harder. There were pupils that scored very highly in the Sutton test but still did not get a grammar school place, I guess they have peaked too early. I did the same with my younger daughter this year and she has scored 286 too. They sat the test without out any preparation, which I find is a very good benchmark to start from. They both did not finish the papers. The Sutton test is not a good measure of the real test any way, as it does not reflect the subject matter of the majority of grammar schools. My advice is to work on time saving technique. Do a lot of practice tests from now on. Do not make them do the papers more than once because you will never know their accurate standards, as they would have seen the papers before. Leave the NFER papers until last because I found them very close to the real thing.
All the best
Last edited by stressedparent on Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
stressedparent
Re: Mock Test
"The Sutton test is not a good measure of the real test any way, as it does not reflect the subject matter of the majority of grammar schools..."stressedparent wrote:Hi All
Do not worry, the idea is to get them used to exam conditions and eliminate the nervous on the real day. My daughter scored 286 few years ago but still got into Tiffin. That was a wake wake up call for all of us and made her work harder. There were pupils that scored very highly in the Sutton test but still did not get a grammar school place, I guess they have peaked too early. I did the same with my younger daughter this year and she has scored 286 too. They sat the test without out any preparation, which I find is a very good benchmark to start from. They both did not finish the papers. The Sutton test is not a good measure of the real test any way, as it does not reflect the subject matter of the majority of grammar schools. My advice is to work on time saving technique. Do a lot of practice tests from now on. Do not make them do the papers more than once because you will never know their accurate standards, as they would have seen the papers before. Leave the NFER papers until last because I found them very close to the real thing.
All the best
On what basis are you saying this?
Re: Mock Test
English is the most obvious missing subject."The Sutton test is not a good measure of the real test any way, as it does not reflect the subject matter of the majority of grammar schools..."
On what basis are you saying this?
Re: Mock Test
None of the Sutton schools test NVR
Re: Mock Test
My DS scored 334 and we were really pleased with this result, especially as he is late summer birthday. Then we told his tutor who informed him that there was plenty of room for improvement! That took the wind out of our sails 
