11 Plus Exams Forum

Can't help thinking about piggys words:

"This year's (round 2) English test was loosely based on one of the GCSE tasks in the 2014 AQA eng lang paper "

There's an explanation further down the thread about the plus sides of the task. But to me it seems rather sad. And raises so many questions... Where did it all go wrong?

First: What was the necessity to change the "11+" exam to make it a year earlier than it used to be in the old days? - The appropriate time is surely in the name of the exam itself
Second: Why force DCs at this age to do an in-depth analysis of the characters? What do they really know at 10 years - what emotional maturity, experience, level of empathy can they really have? Or is such a high level task a necessary response to the endless tutors "arms race"? How about DCs who have raw natural intelligence but haven't been tutored for 2 years already? (But then I don't believe for one moment that DCs going to super-selective schools haven't been tutored in one form or another by professional tutors or DPs).
Third: Where are all those geniuses at age say 25, 27 once they've finished their selective schools years? Did this system make a big difference to their intellectual and emotional development while they were at school?

Maybe it all seems so strange to me (and maybe just raising these kinds of questions seems strange to you too...) just because I'm a foreigner and my system of education was totally different.
Plus when in Rome do as the Romans do. So we do like the Romans, of course...
But there are some questions.

11+ exams have always been taken in the school year during which a child turns 11 so some will be 11 when they sit test but all others should turn 11 during that school year. That has always been the case even when i did it back in the day !

That has always been the case even when i did it back in the day !

and me 47 years ago!

A GCSE task is used to assess grade A* to G ... so of course that could be adapted to an 11+ task quite easily.

A grade G is around a level 3.

yoyo123 wrote:

That has always been the case even when i did it back in the day !

and me 47 years ago!

In Bucks it was briefly the 12 plus, when they had middle schools. Back in the dark ages I did it when I was 10 too. I've always assumed it was because it was to decide your education at 11plus.

Justinterested wrote:11+ exams have always been taken in the school year during which a child turns 11 so some will be 11 when they sit test but all others should turn 11 during that school year. That has always been the case even when i did it back in the day !

Not in The Walsall Wolverhampton consortium 11 plus exams when the children are in year 6.They are being taken on the 1st July 2015 two to three weeks before the children break up for the summer holidays before their final year.The exams are taken when the children are 10 and in some cases 9.

My husband is a born and bred Bucks chap. So, that.s what his memory was telling him, thanks, scary mum.
I started doubting his memory and wanted to check later tonight does he remember my name ... His (and my) DD will be doing it a year early. But this is not the point. The point is in acceleration of demands from children. Being an eloquent child is one thing, but being tutored (more like stuffed with the best intention by DPs or tutors) all kinds of things which might be needed at 11+ (and don`t get me started on it) is different.

I think I am right that Bucks went with 12+ when the school leaving age went to 16 as it was easier to keep them at Primary school for another year.

This changed to 11+ around 1999 when we had a double intake of Year 7 and Year 8. The Year 8s were a mixture of those who passed in Year 6 and 'relaxed' through Year 7 knowing they had a GS place and those who had a 'second go' at 12+. This cohort, through no fault of their own, were 'interesting' ...

When I did the 11+ there were two stages - you had to pass the first set of papers before you got through to a second lot around Feb/March I think. There were many more GS in those days of course.

My boys were only 9 when they took the 11 +. I know it is age standardised but it did seem that they were very young. I was also very naive when they took the test not realising that for example maths questions would come up incorporating things that they had not yet learnt in school and not covered until year 6.

gowest wrote:...
Second: Why force DCs at this age to do an in-depth analysis of the characters? What do they really know at 10 years - what emotional maturity, experience, level of empathy can they really have?

Last year, I too questioned the ability of 10 year olds (my DD is a summer-born) to do this type of analysis. We decided not to force maturity on DD and, in the end, she did fine with both grammar and selective indies.