Practise test - Done :-) ... 1 week to go!

[starmum2000]

So it seemed to go OK at the practise today, arrived in plenty of time, parked OK & DS coped Ok with the papers - said the Maths was easy & finished with loads of time - assured me he checked it through twice!!
Still didn't quite finish NVR but thats been the same at home so I'm not going to stress too much about that now.
I know its not a great comparison to the real test but at least all that 'unfamiliar surroundings' is out of the way, & DS was in a small group with a couple of his friends so at least they can chat together in the breaks & at lunch.
DS' group was the last to come out, a good 15-20 mins after all the other boys - that made me more agitated than anything else! Was told by an invigilator that next week there will be less pupils at that centre, so congestion at drop-off & pick-up should be eased.
Hope everyone else's DCs had a postive experience today

Vasu, how was your journey & day? Shahinoor?
Roll on next week!
Starmum x

[shahinoor]

I guess it was good to get familar pre-requistes out of the way. As these are important. SHAME it was a previous NVR test - so in a sense it was like a 'Meaningless England International football friendly match"

But in any case I am going to try an concentrate my son on Test papers for the final week. I also asked if I could get him to skip a couple days of school to practice beut he wasn't having any of that.

On a separate - have you noticed that GL- NVRpack 2 is so much harder than pack 1 - my son can't finish the tests in pack 2. I have read elsewhere that these are not at Kent level and is more suited to jan 11 plus exams...can anyone verify?

[starmum2000]

I was aware it was going to be a previously published test, more about getting used the procedures & surroundings etc.
As for the GL papers, there is a thread further down the page 'Old GL versus new' which I think addresses your question.
I think school will be good for them this week, keeping their brains ticking over, I'm just going to do a few short sections to go over timings before next week.
Good Luck xx

[Muggle]

Hi all,

Our practice test went well. I was worried about parking and finding my way to the school, so it was useful for me do the journey. DD didn't seem at all phased and took it all in her stride, but she was tired for the remainder of the day.

DD seems fairly calm about the forthcoming tests. I'm hiding my nerves, but my stomach does a little flip everytime I think about them!

[vasu]

Hey Starmum, Dh and ds left in the morning by 6:30am and reached in time for registration. Had to stay back home with the younger son. They had a good journey. Ds thought his exam was easy. . Met up with his classmate all the way from Harrow. That means there are more like me out there!!!!!!! We will leave for Kent on Friday and will stay in the hotel bang opposite the exam centre. Things will be a bit more relaxed then. Best of luck and chin up.

[layla22]

Hi Eveyone,

Yes the Kent practice test went well. DS said the maths really easy! My heart jumped for joy- a little. Then he told me it was one of the GL papers he had already done at home - my heart sank- a little. Then he asked me about about one of the questions, and we concluded he had put down the wrong answer - shame! Then I sat and thought about it and realized the same question he did at home he had got it RIGHT- my heart took a nose dive!! 6 days to go and I can feel that rollercoaster ride coming on. I didn't mention to him of course that he had previously got it right. I just went to my room and took some DEEP breaths and I keep saying to myself -IT'LL BE ALRIGHT ON THE DAY.
Please someone out there tell me it will be alright on the day!!

[JLT]

layla 2 - it will be alright on the day. They'll have no distractions, they'll hopefully do their best and that's all any parent can ask. If one more person says "what will be will be" when I say it could go either way with DS - I think I might scream!! I know of course that they're right it just isn't really what anyone wants to hear though!!

[layla22]

Funny you should mention distractions JLT. After reading a thread on here somewhere that it is a good ideato get them used to doing papers with some background noise, as in the exam there may be distractions from the other children, I started leaving his bedroom door open so he could hear the steam iron wooshing, my daughter playing the piano, the radio, the toilet flushing etc.
When he came back on Saturday he was commenting and laughing as to how much noise there actually was in the hall, sneezing, coughing, chairs clicking, pencils dropping on the floor, whispering behind him even. He was quite glad that he had been "trained" to ignore all the background stuff and keep his head down. Let's hope on the day.....