Hello all. For those of you who have children in Year 5 and are preparing for Grammar Entrance tests in September 2018, you maybe interested to know that the Wilson's PFA FamTests (mock tests) 2018 bookings have just gone live! The tests will take place over the weekend of the 30th June (Saturday)/1st July (Sunday). The FamTests are open to boys and girls. They are a great way to help prepare your children for the experience of the real entrance tests. If you are interested in booking a place, please follow the link below:
https://www.wilsonspfa.org/familiarisat ... ok-a-place

Can't believe how expensive these are for a couple of multiple choice tests and how much they are charging.
A friend's dc sat tests at Wallington and Sutton Grammar last year for half the price. She said that the Sutton feedback was great. If I had a child sitting this year I would wait and see what the others are doing. Sutton's site says they are going live in January so not long to wait. I am sure Wallington will be the same sort of time. Enjoy Christmas first!

I am a big fan of mock tests like this. I am delighted that the money will go to advancing the education of the students at the school and I think this is very reasonable at £25 a test with feedback.

All of the other tests will go up in price this year as the demand is so great.

The best slots at Sutton sold out in the first hour and all the others were gone within the week.

Very sensible to release before Sutton.

I don't expect there will be any free by the end of January. DG

My DD took the Sutton Mock exams last year. I agree that the feedback was very good for the English MC Paper. The feed back for the Maths paper, which was closer to Standard format, left a lot to be desired.

The one good thing my DD took from the Sutton Mocks was the experience of sitting in a big hall in an alien environment with lots of other children.
As the first Slough Mock was in April, it gave me as a parent an early indication of the areas to focus on for English MC paper.

Personally, I much preferred the Mock tests done by the parent company of this forum.

Regards
Squareofthewicket

The £25 per paper is reasonable as these mocks are conducted by the PTA of the schools concerned. (IIRC we paid £30 per paper for the Sutton Grammar Mock exams).
You have to take into account the effort that goes into setting and marking the papers not to mention the PTA giving their own time to get this organised.

I am sure we all value the experience provided by the hardworking PTA 's of the schools. I think the comment was just saying that these were quite a lot compared to last year and it might be worth waiting to see what the other schools were offering first.( and yes they will probably charge more this year than last year) I do think, although the cost may be reasonable, the £30.00 to cancel is quite steep, if they fill the place. Sutton charged £10.00 last year (cant remember Wallington's )

Last year both Sutton (A tests) and wallington(A and B tests) charged £27.50 per session- 2 papers- so £13.75 per paper. I believe wallington gave no feed back on either of their multiple choice papers. Sutton gave feedback on the English multiple choice paper but as the maths was standard format this feedback was not available. However as they are always adding to their repertoire I wouldn't be surprised if they offer more this year.
Suttons B test was £32.50 but this was 2 papers and a written English task
So Sutton was NOT £30.00 a paper (unless you are not talking about the Sutton grammar school PTA mocks)

All the schools stated in their FAQ what they were offering and I know when my friend queried something with Sutton they were very quick to clarify and I am sure the other schools will answer as well. The prices and cancellations fees were all there in the FAQ before booking so you know what you are getting.

We did more than one last year and found them very helpful ,not just for DC but for their DP to realise how organised they needed to be ! I was quite surprised to see how many children turned up without all the items requested or with misinformation about the mock they were due to sit. As parents the least we can do is read all the information!
It is also a good idea over xmas to try and check possible events that might fall next year ( likely school trip times ,best friends birthdays e.t.c) as far as you can , before booking.

Hope this helps
Best of luck to everyone sitting next year

Edited my post above to make it clear which Mocks I was referring to.

Regards
Squareofthewicket

Hi squareofthewicket

I am one of the organisers of Sutton Grammar PTA mocks

As timeflies says we DID NOT charge £30.00 a paper last year . This is incorrect.

These were the prices charges by Sutton Grammar PTA Mocks last year
A sessions- £27.50 ( 2 papers-one maths, one English -so £13.75 per paper)
B sessions-£32.50 (2 papers-one maths, one English plus an English writing task)