School Familiarisation Papers

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jabba7
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:26 pm

School Familiarisation Papers

Post by jabba7 »

Hi

Does anyone know if these papers are the same standard as the real thing? Also are they graded in the first paper is easier than the second etc or are they equal.

Many thanks
Kiwimum
Posts: 188
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:46 pm

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by Kiwimum »

Hi jabba7
As we are OOC my dd had the familiarisation pack sent to her to complete at home.
She hasn't done them yet as I'm saving them to nearer the time so they are fresh in her mind but I have had a good look through. They do seem to be very similar in standard to the Bright Sparks and GL tests that she has been doing.
They do not appear to be graded although the Familiarisation test is broken down into five small sessions with the following instruction 'It is intended that pupils work through these one session at a time, not normally attempting to do more than one session per day'.
It also came with a 33 page instruction manual - which I did intend to read over the holidays - looks like I'm going to be leaving it to the last minute as usual!!
jabba7
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:26 pm

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by jabba7 »

Hi

Thanks for this. My son did the 5 familiarisation short papers at school in July. He is due to sit 3 papers under exam conditions at school in Sep, sorry for any confusion but this is what I meant. As an OOC parent do you get these 3 papers as well.

If it helps (and I remember) I can let you know when they sit these at school if you want to copy the process.

Thanks
Kiwimum
Posts: 188
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:46 pm

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by Kiwimum »

In the pack is the familiarisation test and three other tests - Practice test 1, Practice test 2 and Practice test A (? - counting to three was too much?).
I'm sure somewhere in my 33 page instruction manual it tells me what order these should be done in (I'm assuming 1 before 2 but A?)
The OOC testing is in Oct half term, about two weeks after Bucks schools so I thought I would go over these towards the end of September, beginning of October but it would be interesting to know when the Bucks schools are doing the practice tests and now they space them out.
As to whether the practice tests are the same standard as the real tests I have found this reference on page 5 of the instruction manual:
'Not all the questions are as difficult as those included in the formal Preactice Tests, or in the real selection tests. The scores pupils obtain on this test will not reflect their score on the actual selection tests.'

Not sure if that makes things clearer or not!
Kiwimum
Posts: 188
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:46 pm

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by Kiwimum »

Not in the Instruction Manual but in the Administration and Marking Manual(!) I found the following:
'Practice Test A should be used first, followed by Practice Test 1 and then Practice Test 2 (if all three tests are required). '
jabba7
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:26 pm

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by jabba7 »

Thanks this is really helpful to know they are not considered the same standard as the real thing
andyb
Posts: 645
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:27 am
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by andyb »

I thought the first test (A) was slightly easier than the real thing and the others are similar to the real thing.
Kiwimum
Posts: 188
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:46 pm

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by Kiwimum »

Kiwimum wrote:As to whether the practice tests are the same standard as the real tests I have found this reference on page 5 of the instruction manual:
'Not all the questions are as difficult as those included in the formal Practice Tests, or in the real selection tests. The scores pupils obtain on this test will not reflect their score on the actual selection tests.'
Really sorry, think I might have confused matters here - that's what I get for not reading things properly!
This quote was referring to the Familiarisation Test only, I think the practice tests and the actual tests are the same standard.

Just going to crawl back under my rock.....
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by patricia »

andy b is quite right...

Test A is a slightly easy paper and schools must administer first.

Tests 1 and 2 are of the same difficulty and similar to the real test.

Patricia
jabba7
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:26 pm

Re: School Familiarisation Papers

Post by jabba7 »

Thank you all so much for this info.

I love this forum as good to be able to get answers so quickly
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