Writing on the Test Paper - is it allowed?
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Writing on the Test Paper - is it allowed?
DS did quite badly in the English paper on the Sutton mock which surprised us as he is level 5 in English and it is his strongest subject. We decided to do a few practice comprehension papers with him at home as he so rarely sees these at school. It transpired that during the mock they were banned from writing on the test paper or marking it in anyway. Will this be the same procedure for the real exam?
In a comprehension exercise, surely half the skill is being able to read a text and instantly discern key points and mark them as such. Or is it more a case that they should, after the initial reading, be able to memorise both the outline and the position of key points. Or are they expected to take notes on scrap paper listing each paragraph and its basic outline? Any help on this area would be greatly appreciated as without underlining and marking up the text, DS wastes so much time in trying to relocate points by rereading much of the text.
In a comprehension exercise, surely half the skill is being able to read a text and instantly discern key points and mark them as such. Or is it more a case that they should, after the initial reading, be able to memorise both the outline and the position of key points. Or are they expected to take notes on scrap paper listing each paragraph and its basic outline? Any help on this area would be greatly appreciated as without underlining and marking up the text, DS wastes so much time in trying to relocate points by rereading much of the text.
Re: Writing on the Test Paper - is it allowed?
I am afraid you will need to check with each school separately as they organise their own papers and the mock is run entirely separately. I suspect the mock was like that so that they can easily recycle papers!
Re: Writing on the Test Paper - is it allowed?
Thank you surreymum - I will ring after the holidays
I assumed the same too but then I looked more closely at the Letts practice papers we have at home. The English comprehension consists of 2 A4 pages of text yet the instructions on the front of the booklet say not to mark the paper in any way. It seems very harsh to expect anybody to be able to absorb such a huge quantity of information, under test conditions without highlighting or underlining things.
I assumed the same too but then I looked more closely at the Letts practice papers we have at home. The English comprehension consists of 2 A4 pages of text yet the instructions on the front of the booklet say not to mark the paper in any way. It seems very harsh to expect anybody to be able to absorb such a huge quantity of information, under test conditions without highlighting or underlining things.
Re: Writing on the Test Paper - is it allowed?
Hi loopylou
Just to throw a spanner in the works, My DD no 1 sat the test for Nonsuch 4 years ago while her cousin sat in another class also doing the same test. My daughter was allowed to write on the paper, but her cousin's class was not - she found it very difficult to spot the questions she had left out as she could not mark them. Her mother subsequently used this as part of her grounds for appeal, but sadly was unsuccessful.
A little consistency would be nice.
Best of luck to you.
Just to throw a spanner in the works, My DD no 1 sat the test for Nonsuch 4 years ago while her cousin sat in another class also doing the same test. My daughter was allowed to write on the paper, but her cousin's class was not - she found it very difficult to spot the questions she had left out as she could not mark them. Her mother subsequently used this as part of her grounds for appeal, but sadly was unsuccessful.
A little consistency would be nice.
Best of luck to you.
