Sutton Grammar PTA mock tests 2018

[Tinkers]

Dear Sutton Grammar PTA Mock Team,

I was looking at the website to book Sutton mock exams for my DD. I know it is very late now, but is there anyway i can put her in waiting list. We could not even get one Sutton mock exam.
Any help in this matter is really appreciated.

Kind regards

Pleae note we are not linked to the Sutton PTA and therefore cannot help you directly.
I believe forum member ‘Mocks’ (who has posted earlier on this thread) is one of the organisers, but I would suggest you contact them directly and not via this forum.
Moderator

[grgygirl]

Personally we found the mocks to be an invaluable experience. Ds then knew the drill when it came to the real tests. Our first mock was Sutton and it was so daunting entering the playground to see hundreds of children lined up. I wouldn't have wanted that first experience of a test to be the real thing.

I would recommend the Wallington and St Olaves mock tests too (they may have more spaces). Are Wilsons running them now too?

With regard to results, I would say the mocks do their job of giving you a good idea of where your child sits within this prepared cohort, particularly useful if it's an opt-in exam. The feedback from the mocks also lets you know areas you need to concentrate on during the last few months.

[grgygirl]

DAO has posted in General that the first Sutton mocks feedback from sitters is coming through.

[ale21279]

Results for Test A are out

[Daogroupie]

Six 100% in Maths but none of them came in the top two who were both female.

96% was the top score in English but that was just the top overall score of 256.

Next highest score in English is three 91% and then five 90% so only eight of the 1300 odd scores in English were 90% and above.

To have got a place for these mocks in January before they sold out in three days means highly prepared parents so these are some of the top students of the cohort.

If you managed to get into the top 100 you have a very good chance at any selective school in the country because it means you have to have done really well in both English and Maths.

If you did not do so well then hopefully you will have another chance to increase your scores in Mock B, C or D.

Thanks to Sutton PTA for this great opportunity to learn from mistakes made when there is still time to do something about it. DG

[shakira]

sorry got the test result for Paper A, How to see if the child is in top 100.Much thanks

[Daogroupie]

I have a complete ranked breakdown. Total score 235 is rank 102 so if your total score is higher than that then you are in the top 100. DG

[ale21279]

We were impressed with the organisation of the mocks and the detail of the reports so you can see which areas they struggled in/did well in.

Unfortunately DS did not do as well as expected. Don't know if he panicked or messed up the timings. His first experience of a "real" exam in a room with hundreds of other kids. Frustratingly I know he can do better than he did.

Can't help but feel worried about the real thing now. He's agreed to work harder and we have time to improve before Sep...

Anyone else have experience of low mock results, and what's the best way to deal with it?
Thanks

[tiffinboys]

Don’t panic. Your DC doesn’t need to be in top 100 in Sutton mocks to gain grammar places.

Still 3 months or more before real tests. Cover KS2 syllabus and then attempt practice test papers. Focus on the schools you really want and don’t overdo the preparation as there is risk of being burnt out. Still one to two hours a day, without sacrificing the extra curriculars, is more than enough. Read, read and read and then discuss the book, plot, characters; difficult words meaning, synonyms, antonyms etc to improve vocabulary.

[Daogroupie]

The whole point of mocks is to do them with plenty of time before the exams so you can learn from your mistakes.

Timing is something not taught in primary school and it is very key. It is not what you know but what you can answer in the time.

I know many students this year who completely mucked up the timing in the Maths, still only 40% through the paper on the five minute warning and then instead of marking an answer for the 20 plus questions not yet attempted quickly they instead carried on working on the one question they happened to be on.

The mock has done its job by showing them that this was completely the wrong strategy as they now see other students who don't do so well in class with much higher scores in the results list.

I know many students in previous years who did this, learnt from it and then secured places in DAO, HBS , Latymer and QE.

You are fortunate that you joined the forum and learnt about Sutton mocks and now have the data to learn from.

Hopefully you also have a slot B so he can have another go and do better.

I estimate that more than half of the Sutton B places will be Slot A students having another go so the results should be even higher than they were for Slot A.

It is not working harder, it is working smarter.

Did he attempt all the questions? You have all that data in the excellent feedback.

He has plenty of time to improve but the important thing is to understand where he went wrong.

It also is a great mock for QE but does not cover the creative writing and standard comprehension that is 100 out of the 340 marks for DAO and 50% of the second round for HBS and 100% of the second round for Latymer. So I do know of students who came in the top ten at Sutton but were unable to secure a place at DAO, HBS or Latymer because their creative writing and comprehension was not strong enough. So don't forget these key skills have not been tested.

Sutton is a helpful lesson so take heart and be thankful that you have learnt it now when there is still time to do something about it. DG