11 Plus Exams Forum

I disagree with you.

The purpose of a mock is a trial run of the real thing, so you need to behave the same way in the mock as you need to behave in the real exam.

If you are doing a multiple choice that definitely includes leaving the question you are on when you get the five minute warning and marking up any unanswered questions and then returning to working on questions.

You can't have a different strategy for the mock.

You have to have the same strategy.

DG

Oneoftwothings wrote: I actually don’t think it’s a good idea for children to choose answers randomly when running out of time in the mocks. The real exam yes, of course, try to grab any extra marks, but doing so in the mocks will mean you don’t get a clear indication of what they need to work on between the mocks and the real thing in terms of speed and accuracy. A high number of fluke marks won’t do anyone any favours unless in the real thing.

Good point. Quite agree with you.

Oneoftwothings wrote: I actually don’t think it’s a good idea for children to choose answers randomly when running out of time in the mocks. The real exam yes, of course, try to grab any extra marks, but doing so in the mocks will mean you don’t get a clear indication of what they need to work on between the mocks and the real thing in terms of speed and accuracy. A high number of fluke marks won’t do anyone any favours unless in the real thing.

I would agree, the only problem is that actually, you can't see the paper afterwards, so practically it doesn't help identify the weaknessses.

Daogroupie thanks.

We told her about the format, and afterwards when we found out, immediately told her to just put answers for any unfinished questions in the last couple of mins. To be honest, I hadn't expected her to run out of time as she usually does an MC paper in about 45 mins so it was a surprise.

What MC papers have you been using?

The Sutton mock papers in my experience are a good reflection of levels in the actual exams. DG

sorryIhaventaclue wrote:

Oneoftwothings wrote: I actually don’t think it’s a good idea for children to choose answers randomly when running out of time in the mocks. The real exam yes, of course, try to grab any extra marks, but doing so in the mocks will mean you don’t get a clear indication of what they need to work on between the mocks and the real thing in terms of speed and accuracy. A high number of fluke marks won’t do anyone any favours unless in the real thing.

I would agree, the only problem is that actually, you can't see the paper afterwards, so practically it doesn't help identify the weaknessses.

I disagree, it does - to a degree. The answers (number of correct vs incorrect) are put under topics; so it is possible to see which topics were better or worse in terms of answers.

I think that for a multiple choice one needs to know the strategies that could improve the outcome. The difference between pass and fail is usually one mark. Unanswered question is a certain zero mark.

Also, it's a good thing to remind your kids to check the pages of the paper (mocks included) and not leave a whole section unanswered because the pages got stuck!

Yes.

Before they turn the page they should look at the question number and make sure the first one on the next page is the next question number.

Also check for end of paper.

It says END OF PAPER.

So don't miss out the questions on the back of the paper or ones that might come after a blank page. DG