11 Plus Exams Forum

My daughter is having her 11+ exam for a private school in Jan 2008 just before her 10th birthday. She did a few mock papers (all nfer practice papers) last week.

Here is the results:

English 41-46/50
VR80-83/85
NVR55-59/60
Math 47-48/50

She will be further benefited from age standarization (1998 Feb born). The school offers limited number of scholarships. Is this kind exam performance good enough? How is this compared to the other able children's 11+ exam results?

Thanks!

GMY

These are very top of the range marks. That said, is the exam NFER based? I have tutored children who can get these marks but still can't write an essay or do a traditional rather multiple choice comprehension.

What I do know about scholarship is that children 'are' scholarship or they are not. You can't really train them up. Some schools don't just take their overall mark but put in special, one-off questions which only the really bright will manage.

These scores, however, do suggest you have a really bright child on your hands.

Agree with fm.
These are good marks but private schools vary in how they assess children for scholarships. Some may do it on the basis of this sort of test; others may use such tests only to identify potential scholars and then set seperate tasks. In the latter case these are likely to test other skills. For example my child was asked to write an essay on a pretty challenging topic, sit a more advanced maths paper and take part in group activities as part of a scholarship assessment). There was also an interview.

I suggest you check with the school (if you have not already done so) to find out what they do. They may also be able to give you some idea of the level of achievement they are looking for. This obviously varies from school to school; some may want potential Nobel prize winners, others may be looking for top 10%-15% of the general ability range.

And there are other private schools where you could get a scholarship and maybe only be towards the bottom of the top 25% of the population e.g. those private schools which primarily serve pupils who could not get into a more selective school

You may get a more useful answer by naming the school and placing your question in the "independent schools" section

Thanks for your reply. It's very reassuring.

GMY