Settembrini wrote:
Our DD also found it very hard, ran out of time and didn't answer quite a few questions (didn't even have time for guessing). She is very negative about it all and doesn't want to talk about it any more, so we just leave her.
We did more or less the same prep with DS three years ago (started after Easter in year 5), who found the test a bit easier than what we did at home, and passed the test comfortably. DD on the other hand said it was a lot harder than what we did, so yes it does seem as if this test was more difficult. I just hope this will not result in parents tutoring their kids even more in future years...
I don't know what to think about vocabulary. DD said there were several words she had never heard of, although she is an avid reader and has read lots of books that are very advanced for her age. I suppose, as CEM aims to test for ability rather than knowledge, they want to see if a child can guess the meaning of unknown words based on the context etc? I wish they would be a bit more clear about such things, because now it just seems as if it would actually pay off to practise hundreds of tricky words that 10-year-olds would normally never know the meaning of. Surely that wouldn't be a good idea?!
My DD described the CCHS CEM's NVR timing as "ugly", what ever that means. She said the vocabulary was hard and NVR more questions and less time. Fingers crossed