Advice from Birmingham Please
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Advice from Birmingham Please
My son attends a small private school which has in the past done fairly well at gaining places to grammar schools. All preparation is done at school which has meant that parents have not had to pay for additional tutoring. The school uses Bond Papers for this purpose.
I have heard from friends with children in year 6 that their children felt very unprepared for the test this year and that the format of the tests came as a shock - not being anything like they had seen before. My questions: Should we be trying to find a tutor to supplement the work that the school is doing? Should the school be updating their methods? Are there any practice papers/workbooks that we could look at at home to assist?
Thank you for your help.
Janelle
I have heard from friends with children in year 6 that their children felt very unprepared for the test this year and that the format of the tests came as a shock - not being anything like they had seen before. My questions: Should we be trying to find a tutor to supplement the work that the school is doing? Should the school be updating their methods? Are there any practice papers/workbooks that we could look at at home to assist?
Thank you for your help.
Janelle
Welcome to the forum Janelle!! It's good to have fresh blood on Warwickshire.
I would strongly suggest that you ask the school if they are going to change their methods of tutoring to accomodate the new testing system in Warks. From what I hear from KenR, FM and others; it is as a very different system now.
However, the new test is supposed to be tutor proof...so maybe every child will feel more unprepared than parents of children in Warks are used to.
I hope that this helps.
I would strongly suggest that you ask the school if they are going to change their methods of tutoring to accomodate the new testing system in Warks. From what I hear from KenR, FM and others; it is as a very different system now.
However, the new test is supposed to be tutor proof...so maybe every child will feel more unprepared than parents of children in Warks are used to.
I hope that this helps.
Hi Janelle,
If I were you, I would reserve judgement until the results come out in March. Just because the year 6 children from your school found the test harder than what they were used to doesn't mean they won't perform up to or above the standard of previous years. Children from other schools mostly found it hard as well.
I don't think there are any preparation materials specifically tailored to the CEM tests, but the impression I get is that schools (and even some tutors) tend to lag a bit behind when exams change format. As a parent, you can be more agile about adapting your preparation. It does sound like your school is a bit out-dated. If you are talking about the green Bond Verbal Reasoning books, people who hang around on this site will tell you they are not even the best preparation for the NFER test which was used in 2007, let alone CEM - for which they are even less use. They are ok for Moray House, but that format ended after 2006 in Warwickshire. At the very least, the school could have warned pupils to "expect the unexpected" and not get phased if the test was more difficult than what they were used to.
I'd be really interested to hear how pupils from your school get on, and whether there was any change (positive or negative) in the school's success rate. Please will you post again in March and let us know?
If I were you, I would reserve judgement until the results come out in March. Just because the year 6 children from your school found the test harder than what they were used to doesn't mean they won't perform up to or above the standard of previous years. Children from other schools mostly found it hard as well.
I don't think there are any preparation materials specifically tailored to the CEM tests, but the impression I get is that schools (and even some tutors) tend to lag a bit behind when exams change format. As a parent, you can be more agile about adapting your preparation. It does sound like your school is a bit out-dated. If you are talking about the green Bond Verbal Reasoning books, people who hang around on this site will tell you they are not even the best preparation for the NFER test which was used in 2007, let alone CEM - for which they are even less use. They are ok for Moray House, but that format ended after 2006 in Warwickshire. At the very least, the school could have warned pupils to "expect the unexpected" and not get phased if the test was more difficult than what they were used to.
I'd be really interested to hear how pupils from your school get on, and whether there was any change (positive or negative) in the school's success rate. Please will you post again in March and let us know?
Actually, the Bond maths books are quite good as a foundation for prep. although I wouldn't use them solely. Also the Bond English books have some demanding comprehensions and some good vocabulary to assimilate.
Even the Bond non-verbal can be used to teach a way of approaching non-verbal even if what turns up in the exam isn't the same.
Only going on my Birmingham experience but the children from our local independents usually have better English skills that state pupils on the whole (so will win a place at senior independents) and solid maths skills (although often rather ponderous mental techniques) but are not necessarily taught traditional verbal or non-verbal reasoning very well--and certainly no better than most parents could do it on a one-to-one basis.
Even the Bond non-verbal can be used to teach a way of approaching non-verbal even if what turns up in the exam isn't the same.
Only going on my Birmingham experience but the children from our local independents usually have better English skills that state pupils on the whole (so will win a place at senior independents) and solid maths skills (although often rather ponderous mental techniques) but are not necessarily taught traditional verbal or non-verbal reasoning very well--and certainly no better than most parents could do it on a one-to-one basis.
Yes I found some of the other Bond material was helpful too - I especially liked the "10 minute" tests. But up until this year there was no maths or NVR at all in our Warwickshire 11 plus and no English other than an essay used only in borderline cases. It was 2 VR papers only. So I was assuming janelle's school only used the Bond Verbal Reasoning, which I found less useful. Is that right, janelle?