CEM Syllabus

[Mum21]

I remember reading somewhere that CEM exams cover KS2 syllabus (although I think the exact list of topics isn't published anywhere). Since the kids appear at the beginning of year 6, how is it fair to assess them on the entirety of KS2 curriculum? I've seen Maths year 6 topics pop up in various question papers. How are GS allowed to evaluate over something that hasn't been taught in schools by then?

[Nella]

Hi. Which area are you in? My child sat the Birmingham 11+. The information on the B’ham grammar website says the children are tested on things covered up to and including year 5. I personally think the published CEM type work books include stuff from year 6 and beyond that doesn’t need to be covered. Call me cynical but I think they are designed to scare parents into thinking they need a tutor!

My child freaked out when they saw the yr 6 maths questions; I told them to ignore them. Best preparation in my opinion is for your child to read plenty of books and familiarise them with multiple choice and NVR questions.

[Nella]

Hi. Which area are you in? My child sat the Birmingham 11+. The information on the B’ham grammar website says the children are tested on things covered up to and including year 5. I personally think the published CEM type work books include stuff from year 6 and beyond that doesn’t need to be covered. Call me cynical but I think they are designed to scare parents into thinking they need a tutor!

My child freaked out when they saw the yr 6 maths questions; I told them to ignore them. Best preparation in my opinion is for your child to read plenty of books and familiarise them with multiple choice and NVR questions.

[Mum21]

This is for Gloucestershire area. I assumed the CEM syllabus would be the same irrespective of the area.

[JM40]

I completely agree with Nella: some of the published CEM practice materials are much harder than the real exam. DD passed Birmingham 11+ in 2019.

[poppety]

Trafford CEM definitely included topics that weren't studied until later in year 6 (i.e. mean, median, mode)

[Nella]

Trafford CEM definitely included topics that weren't studied until later in year 6 (i.e. mean, median, mode)

I have absolutely no idea what was in the test itself- I purely went with the information from the B’ham Schools of King Edward website which stated maths would be tested up to and including the year 5 syllabus. I had no intention of trying to teach my child mean, mode and median- would have caused great confusion!

I didn’t ask my child what was it the test, but I would anticipate mean, mode or median questions would only be worth a few marks, so in my opinion it was far better to do lots of reading, be exposed to NVR and MCQs, and if you think they need it- make sure they are secure in yr 5 maths.

Finding the mean is covered in yr6 (according to the national curriculum) and mode and median are not covered until KS3.

[choceyes]

nth term (number sequence) is included in the CEM practise material, but my DS said it wasn't in the actual exam (2019).

He also said that "zealous" was the hardest word there was in the VR and that I shouldn't have got him to learn "much harder" words!

[JM40]

I had similar complaint from DD that practice tests were harder than the real thing... I just pointed out that it was better than the other way round. Best of luck to everyone going through preparation this time!

[ToadMum]

The commercially-published practice material is not endorsed by CEM, so there is no guarantee that the format or the content will reflect the real exam.

As for the level of the content, that will reflect the requirements of the individual commissioning school / LA / consortium; there isn't a 'CEM syllabus' as such. The Gloucestershire exam is the same as the one used by Reading, Slough, Chelmsford County High School for Girls and the Redbridge grammar schools. The Birmingham/ Warwickshire exam is commissioned completely separately, specifically for those schools.