11 Plus Exams Forum

The KES exams in Jan will test on Verbal Reasoning - the letter sent by the school just says somelike like NFER 11+practice papers may be helpful.

Does anybody know if they are multiple choice or standard format?

Thanks

My daughter did the KEHS test a couple of years ago - I don't know if it is the same test, but it was multiple choice from what I can remember.

Why not try ringing the school/Foundation office - I am sure they wouldn't mind.

Thanks KEMum - that's a good idea. Will try that and post back what they say...

Just phoned up KES and it is standard and NOT multiple choice...

Good job you didn't listen to my advice then!!

To traineedad,

I would trust what school says. Sutton Girls' always tells you it is multiple choice and so far it has always been standard.

My one last year entranet for the girls high school stated it was multiple choice.

My best advice would be to train up for standard, but also ensure she knows how to use multiple choice answers if it turns out to be otherwise.

Also, it is not strictly an NFER style verbal in that they ask some quite unusual things--one parent said it was like a pub quiz in bits e.g. I am talking to my brother's mother's son's nephew. To whom I talking.
Another was I have a carrot, two pieces of coal and a scarf in my hand--what am I doing? Building a snowman.
A proverb: To be a dog in the manger -- which is the closest in meaning from the given examples.
For the latter you could go through all the key proverbs (they do occasionally do them in school) and make them learn them, only to find they drop this question. Rather you should look at some proverbs and explain how you could work out their meanings.

Some parts were fairly conventional VR but I would warn the child to expect a more fluid, less predictable style than NFER practice papers.

I hope this helps.

I'm pretty sure that the KES and KEHS exam are completely different.

Some friends told us that the boys in their school got the KES results before their daughter had even sat the KEHS exam!

Sorry. I misread the post and thought he was asking about the girls' school. You are quite right--they are definitely different exams, and although they test the same items, they are quite different in length and style.
But I would still reiterate that the verbal reasoning is not entirely of the NFER variety. The boys had, I believe, about 100 questions and far less repetitive blocks of types. One boy said there were many more logic questions which were time consuming and threw him slightly because they weren't in the traditional format. The other boy had not done so much VR practice and more accepting of the 'difference'. Sometimes I suspect you can 'over-practise' and 'over-prepare' them.