CEM without a calculator

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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Trafford32
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2018 1:58 pm

CEM without a calculator

Post by Trafford32 »

Do you find some questions on practice papers (e.g Bond 10 min tests) can't be done without a calculator?

E.g. I saw one which required 4030 divide by 664 to get an answer of 6.0692, which is then rounded up to 6.07 as the correct answer.

Is a 10 year old really expected to work that out without a calculator and under time pressure?
IrisM65
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:37 pm

Re: CEM without a calculator

Post by IrisM65 »

They can all be done without a calculator, but some will take longer than others.

It isn’t unreasonable to expect an 11plus candidate to be able to carry out long division which results in a decimal fraction.

It may be the case that some candidates will either lack the skills or the speed (or both!) to do the question you cite.

The 11plus is designed to select candidates on the basis of their ability and therefore has to have questions that the majority will struggle with. There will be questions that discriminate the innately highly able from those who are ‘strivers’ and this is one of them.
newdud
Posts: 141
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:30 pm

Re: CEM without a calculator

Post by newdud »

Is a 10 year old really expected to work that out without a calculator and under time pressure?
I think the trick is to quickly assess whether this is doable in the time allotted and move on, that in itself is a difficult skill for a 10/11-year-old.
If there is time at the end then come back to it.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: CEM without a calculator

Post by Guest55 »

Trafford32 wrote:Do you find some questions on practice papers (e.g Bond 10 min tests) can't be done without a calculator?

E.g. I saw one which required 4030 divide by 664 to get an answer of 6.0692, which is then rounded up to 6.07 as the correct answer.

Is a 10 year old really expected to work that out without a calculator and under time pressure?
Was it multiple choice? You could round the numbers and get 4000 divided by 600 so you know it's about 5.
Trafford32
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2018 1:58 pm

Re: CEM without a calculator

Post by Trafford32 »

Thanks all. Not getting bogged down on a tough question seems to be key to CEM.
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