CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

CEM 11 Plus is the selective entrance exam administered by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring, Department of Education, University of Durham.

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kittykat92
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 11:34 am

CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by kittykat92 »

Hi - I currently tutor for the CEM 11+ and I am using CGP material and my own. I have found that CGP is the 'easiest' of all the material out there. However, some parts seem really difficult: especially the maths! Also, some of the vocabulary is really tough.

I tutor 8 students and I have 5 students who I believe will pass but none of them have ever gained a score over 80%. They roughly get between 60-75%. They all sat a one of the maths CGP papers and none of them finished in the time allocated (they rarely do) and one of my students who I believe will pass only got 30%. This left her a little despondent but I still have high hopes that this child will pass. I also have students who unfortunately, I doubt will pass (I have told their parents) as they gain between 25-40% on the CGP tests.

I just wondered if other tutors (or even parents who are tutoring their own children) have had similar results or how they compare to mine.

I tutored a boy last year through the summer and he achieved scores in the CGP practice papers of between 60-70% and he passed 'by a mile' according to his dad but I never got the actual result.

I used to tutor on the old spec (GL assessment) and the materials closely mimicked the actual result - if the students regularly achieved 80% plus then it was highly likely they would pass but I have found the materials available for CEM seem to be pitched a lot higher. I am even considering using the 9-10 CGP for next years tutees to give them a little more confidence!

Obviously I know the raw scores are standardised but I am still finding the disparity in difficulty across the practice material hugely frustrating!

Any thoughts?
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by Daogroupie »

Which CEM are you tutoring for? The chances of securing a place vary greatly according to how many places there are and how many applicants.

Some students raise their game in an exam and other suffer from the pressure so it is not that predictable. I would however be concerned if marks were not rising.

Is it 100% CEM? DG
BlueBerry
Posts: 1014
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:05 pm

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by BlueBerry »

Hi DG,

Sorry to gatecrash on this thread but can I have your opinion on something please? How much can I improve my son's marks by in the next 4 weeks or so? Is it possible to increase his marks by say 15-20% in time for the 14 Sept?

Thanks.
Golden_Jubilee
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:33 pm

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by Golden_Jubilee »

kittykat92, we are doing DIY at home for CEM super Saturday. I have similar observation as yours.

For CGP full-length tests DD gets between 65 and 75% and never finishes maths section on-time. My focus is no longer on score improvement rather revise the details she knows already and areas she finds difficult. Only one more test planned for August.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by Daogroupie »

BB,

With six weeks left students can make dramatic improvements in marks, especially CEM. I know of students who have doubled their marks in this time. Motivation of the student to go to the school is a key factor. DG
kittykat92
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 11:34 am

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by kittykat92 »

Some students raise their game in an exam and other suffer from the pressure so it is not that predictable. I would however be concerned if marks were not rising.
At the beginning of the tutor sessions back in January, my top students were achieving marks around 40% so they have been increasing and the students in the 20-45% bracket were gaining around 10% at the beginning so there has been improvements all round.

I tutor for Wirral. Places tend to get filled but the schools aren't necessarily oversubscribed and one school has actually increased places this year.

Yes, 100% CEM.
Last edited by kittykat92 on Wed Aug 02, 2017 3:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kittykat92
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 11:34 am

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by kittykat92 »

Golden_Jubilee wrote:kittykat92, we are doing DIY at home for CEM super Saturday. I have similar observation as yours.

For CGP full-length tests DD gets between 65 and 75% and never finishes maths section on-time. My focus is no longer on score improvement rather revise the details she knows already and areas she finds difficult. Only one more test planned for August.

That's good to know. Yes, I'm with you - we are looking to revise what the students already know now.
MCLC
Posts: 335
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:45 pm

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by MCLC »

Interesting thread. We (myself and my DD) have always found CGP to be the hardest followed by GL assessment and then Bond.
Kittykon
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2016 1:24 am

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by Kittykon »

Interesting thread what I was looking for!

We are diying our DC for CEM. I did try CGP cem and Bond CEM. CGP CEM is far better compared to Bond CEM for us as we never was able to finish maths on time for BOND CEM ! We decided to do at the end of August.

Kittykon
PSharma
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:00 pm

Re: CEM style 11+ Tutors: How are your students getting on??

Post by PSharma »

BB - Other than providing practice material, one way I help my students is to play fun word games where I call out a word and they have to try and provide a synonym or antonym. Or I provide a definition and they call out the word.
I do the same with maths formulas too e.g. area of a triangle is...... and then my students have a go at trying to recall the formula or maths rule.

I find that this creates a fun atmosphere and with the exams, roughly a month away can be a useful technique to make the learning and recall fun. This also helps with their time keeping skills as they try to recall the information quickly so without realising it, they are actually working on their own time keeping but in a fun way.
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