CEM Familiarisation Booklets

[Tolstoy]

Thank you Sonasona. I had only looked at the Bucks one which is pretty limited.

[sonasona]

Do you think it is meant to represent a time period like 45 minutes or just examples of each format? DG

Just examples of each format, the feedback I've had (from my most reliable sources) is timing is extremely tight in all CEM tests

[patricia]

Re The Bexley test...

The suggested time to allow for each section of the practice questions is:

Comprehension 7 Minutes
Missing words 5 minutes
Matching words 2 minutes
Non verbal 7 minutes
Numerical - Part A 7 minutes
Numerical - Part B 6 minutes

All timings are approximate and the number of questions and length of each section do not match the composition of the actual papers.

Patricia

[Daogroupie]

Understood but would you agree that 8 comprehension questions in 7 minutes is about the ratio of time to amount of questions? DG

[fifilarue]

Thanks for posting the timings Patricia - very helpful!

Presumably by the time of the exam, the target timings should be:
- Comprehension 0.875 mins per Q
- Missing words 0.625
- Matching words 0.250
- Non verbal 0.412
- Numerical - Part A 0.875
- Numerical - Part B 0.750

If anyone has any indication of target raw scores that would be very useful.....

[Stroller]

Thanks for posting the timings Patricia - very helpful!

Presumably by the time of the exam, the target timings should be:
- Comprehension 0.875 mins per Q
- Missing words 0.625
- Matching words 0.250
- Non verbal 0.412
- Numerical - Part A 0.875
- Numerical - Part B 0.750

If anyone has any indication of target raw scores that would be very useful.....

Honestly, I think this is taking things (several decimal places) too far. I have visions of kids pulling their hair out hysterically in exams desperately trying to recall, not the technique, but which part of the precision timing they're supposed to apply to a particular question. Know your stuff, time your practice tests,work as fast as you can and remember that every mark counts, so it's essential to cover ground and avoid getting stuck. The amount of time per question will depend on the number of questions on the day. It's definitely going to be a fast pace. Just get on with it.

[fifilarue]

Ha ha! My breakdown was for calculating target times for questions at home! If a child uses it In an exam then that is crazy - but they would defo deserve their place!! Certainly not something I will be suggesting for our house

[southbucks3]

You really cannot allocate time per question for comps and cloze. Comp varies depending if question is a straight fact recall or searching for inference etc, cloze gets easier/quicker as you eliminate words from the bank. Better as someone earlier said, just teach them to mark a guess on the answer sheet and move on if stuck rather than panicking and pondering.

[Guest55]

I don't think you can predict any future test timing from this information.

[fifilarue]

Oh that is a shame. I was hoping to use these times to help improve speed during practice sessions. If that idea is no good how do we get a handle on whether our "as fast as you can" is fast enough?!