CD T&Cs

Questions and advice about our 11 Plus Interactive CDs

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
Dibble
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:23 pm
Location: Dudley, West Midlands

CD T&Cs

Post by Dibble »

I'd only consider buying some CDs if I could use them for my younger son too - in a year or two's time. If the FAQ is to be believed I wouldn't stand much chance.

Is it *really*, *really" a one time activation only?

If I buy a new computer or even just have to reinstall the OS I've lost the software?

There's also an instruction to "Turn off the firewall".
I can't turn off the firewall on my home connection.

I guess I could sign up for a dial-up account temporarily, or ferry the computer to somewhere with a less secure connection, but what is the software *doing* that needs the firewall turned off!

It's not something I'd normaly consider doing - especially if I've just been asked to do it :-)
Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

Hi Dibble

The CDs are incredibly competitive as far as pricing is concerned particularly if they are downloaded. CD1 contains 1050 questions and we have provided a free Demo of 105 questions CD3 contains 1200 questions and we have provided a free Demo of 50 questions both for £19.99 and the new Maths CD contains 1400 questions, and a 25 question free Demo is due to be available, for £19.99.

So if all of our CDs are relevant to either of your sons 11+ tests the investment for each of them would be slightly less than £60 for 3830 questions, that is 1.6p per question.

Also if there are any additions to the CDs you are able to upgrade free of charge.

Every consumer has a choice, whether to buy or not to buy.

The CDs are new products on the market.

However, they are all getting good reviews.

The question to consider is whether there are other similar products on the market that fit with your personal demands.

I am not involved in the software development so I can't comment on the technical part of your posting.

There is a need from our point of view as authors and ElevenPlusExams position as software developers to protect the copyright of the work that we have undertaken and to ensure that our products cannot be copied. Therefore some means of encryption and security is required. This is no different than purchasing any software from any company that requires online authentication for the product to be activated.

The single user licence allows any number of people to use the software on a single computer and multi-user licences are available through negotiation with ElevenPlusExams.

If you are just restoring the operating system on the computer that you originally purchased the product for, within a reasonable time of the original purchase, I am sure that a compromise could be reached.

If you do replace your computer during the two years before your second son starts preparing for his 11+, just put the old computer into storage and retrieve it when required. This will save you the cost of purchasing new CDs.

Regards

Mike Edwards
forumadmin
Site Admin
Posts: 1188
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:31 pm

CDs ON THIS WEBSITE

Post by forumadmin »

Dear Dibble,

Thank you for your comments.

Mike has answered the value for money aspect of these CDs, namely where else would you get circa 1,200 questions for 11 plus, all timed and marked allowing multiple attempts at plus providing storing and displaying your results (graphically) etc for less than £20. Just to put it into perspective four NFER papers (in Verbal Reasoning circa 340 questions, In Maths 200 questions) cost £9.99 in the shops. These CDs represent outstanding value and hence it is unlikely that this introductory price will continue for to much longer.

In response to your technical queries:-

The software will re-install on the SAME machine as many times as you want, even if you changed or re-installed the operating software!

During installation, as part of the security check during activation, it requires you to turn off the personal firewall temporarily (less than a minute). This is not a permanent state. Thereafter the software does not even require the internet and can be run entirely off-line.

Hope this information helps.

Kind regards,

FORUMADMIN
Trevor S

Many softwares ask for temporarily access through firewall

Post by Trevor S »

Hi Dibble,

As a software engineer I can tell you that momentary disabling of firewall fof software installation is quite common and it is infact one of the most effective antipiracy measures. Even Microsoft requires you to disable anti-virus and firewall temporarily for installing IE 7.0 in their blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/1 ... tions.aspx

TS
Dibble
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:23 pm
Location: Dudley, West Midlands

Post by Dibble »

forumadmin wrote: ....
The software will re-install on the SAME machine as many times as you want, even if you changed or re-installed the operating software!
Thank's 'forumadmin' – that really was the crux of my problem, as I commonly upgrade or re-install XP on the kids computers once or twice a year. I'll also print out this thread to keep just in case I do get problems :-)

Quite a sales pitch BTW! I can't agree with all of it, but provided I can use the CD's for two kids consecutively then I'm sure that'll work out just fine for me.
During installation, as part of the security check during activation, it requires you to turn off the personal firewall temporarily (less than a minute). This is not a permanent state. Thereafter the software does not even require the internet and can be run entirely off-line.
This remains a curiosity, even a problem. It may come down to a woolly definition of what 'firewall' means (see below) or perhaps the software really does want to do strange things on strange ports. In the end though I guess I'll just have to put up with it - and probably never notice the difference.
Trevor S wrote:Hi Dibble,
As a software engineer I can tell you that momentary disabling of firewall fof software installation is quite common and it is infact one of the most effective antipiracy measures. Even Microsoft requires you to disable anti-virus and firewall temporarily for installing IE 7.0 in their blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/1 ... tions.aspx
Did you give the right link there Trevor? This doesn't talk about making the firewall more permissive, just turning of anti-virus and trojan/malware detectors.

When I say firewall I mean an actual device BTW – not one of these combination anti-virus, anti-trojan, firewall, CD ejector and weekly horoscope prediction bundles that run on the OS they're trying to protect (you can tell I don't like them can't you :-) and I really can't turn it off as it serves more than just my family. I don't even know where it is. I can plug the computer in somewhere else though, as I already mentioned.

I should have realized the possible confusion from the start and I'm hoping that what's really meant is 'turn of your bundle of security applications that probably also includes a firewall'.
Dani

Post by Dani »

Dear Dibble,

I really don't understand your concerns, alot of software that you buy requires firewall to be disabled (which ever type of firewall you have). It's also common that you have to be on line for the first time to activate it.

May be if you tried it you'd find out how so simple it is to install it.

Also i don't know what the concern about loosing the software if you changed the OS. I think you need to excercise a little common sense (sorry). You don't need to be an IT expert for this, but just think, no one would buy software if the only way you could use it is to stick the the same OS system that exists on your PC when you buy it.

I bought a software which cost me more than £250 but when i had to reload the software on a new PC I had to ring up the company to get a new serial number as it would not allow me ot reinstall using the same serial number given at the beginning. The simple reason for this is to stop piracy which is totally legitimate. If you are the person that legally bought the software i'm sure the company would give another serial number in genuine cases. Of course they are not going to give you one if you ring up weekly !!

Also, given that this software costs only £20 why are you even worried about this and whether you can use it in a year or two's time for your other child? It's false economy since you can't compare physical papers and CDS - the CDS work out cheaper plus you save on making mutliple copies of the papers and time taken to mark them.
There are also free demo questions - if you bought NFER papers do they give you free samples included in their packs?
Guest

Post by Guest »

This is a query for anybody who have used cds. I am preparing my son for barnet/hertforshire/buckinghamshire area. I noticed that vr has two volumes & maths has one. How can it help if he is sitting standard tests and not multiple as they are in cds? Do I need to buy both volumes for vr ? Do they cover different types or just extended questions in vol3? Mike feel free to answer as you are the author.
Mike
Posts: 625
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:29 pm

Post by Mike »

Hi Guest

The Tutors VR CDs are CD1 and CD3.

CD1 contains 50 questions of each of the 21 most common question types that can be completed as often as you wish.

CD3 is a completely different question set to CD1, there are 12 papers of 100 questions each covering all 21 question types in a single paper. We chose this format because to get coverage of all questions in the 80 question format students would have to complete two papers.

How can these CDs help if they are multiple-choice rather than standard format?

Well the questions are formatted to complement the NFER practice papers and NFER use the same or similar question sets for both standard and multiple-choice formats. What is important is that the CDs are preparation tools and the children need to be completing papers in the correct formats closer to the tests. For example, The Tutors also write papers in the 80 question multiple-choice format and other authors write in a standard format.

If you are starting to prepare for next years tests I would suggest purchasing volume 1 first. Complete each question set at least twice before narrowing down problem areas and focussing on them. Then consider purchasing volume 3 to give the child practice of all question types in a single paper (the 100 question format would not be an issue). Then purchase relevant practice papers that mirror the relevant test as closely as possible.

Consider purchasing all products as downloads. The saving is aproximately £28 for The Tutors full VR product range.

Regards

Mike
Guest

Post by Guest »

Mike, Thank you for your prompt reply. I will buy cd1 & maths to start. If I buy it as a download, could I use it on different computer in the house or not? He is in year 5 so I have got a time. Could you recomend any good NVR books for us also? For Barnet/bucks area. Thank you.
Mike
Posts: 625
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:29 pm

Post by Mike »

Hi Guest

The CDs can only be used on one computer, the issue was raised previously on this thread. The questions can be completed as often as required with the last ten scores being recorded. You can also have a number of users on the same computer, so if you want to have a go at the tests, without affecting your childs progress results, you can.

NVR is not an area that I currently work in, because NVR does not make up part of the test in the Wirral. I would lean towards recommending material that is available from this site, such as the Learning Together publications.

ElevenPlusExams do a good job of reviewing material, if they are not on this site they are probably not worth buying.

Regards

Mike
Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now