Which practice papers nearest to real thing?

[goldengirl]

Hi everyone. Supporting daughter with non tutor support. Working through the Peter Williams, Practice and Pass non verbal and verbal books. Have bought a selection of test papers, but not set daughter any as want her to finish books first.We a timing it a bit fine, so want to check which of the practice papers are nearest to the real thing in Lincs? Are the GL ones representative?
How do I work out 220? How many that work out in terms of how many correct answers she needs to get?
I have noticed that you are allowed so many minutes per so many questions. Does this mean that the invigilator will tell the students to move onto the next lot of questions.Also, noticed that there is a practice question on some of the exam papers-I know this might sound daft, but is that question not included in the marking-ie does n't count?
Hoping to get into Sleaford Grammar.
Any last minute advice very, very gratefully received!
Verey best wishes with any preparation you are doing.
Having minor panic !
Very many thanks

[secondtime]

That's a lot of questions in one post!!
If you read some of the threads you will pick up some answers.
You can't work out 220 as it depends on other children in the county's performance ie it is standardised. Guidance seems to suggest a pass mark of about 75-80%, sometimes higher depending on paper. The harder the paper, the lower the pass mark due to standardisation.

I would recommend the GL assessment papers as I know the NVR used as a mock in Lincolnshire schools is one of theirs.
Don't suppose it matters too much. In VR, there always seems to be something they have not seen before. The trick is to get them to be calm and not freak out!

In fact, calmness is the key to it all in my opinion.

[secondtime]

NVR is split into sections - usually 5 sections of 6 minutes each. They are timed separately. The practice questions are done and the answers given to the students before they begin that section. So it is a test with subtests. It is multiple choice so the advice to always guess something is key. (hopefully an 'educated' guess).

VR is 50 mins - they have a short subtest to settle them - harder to judge their timings on the main test. Make sure they get in the habit of not lingering on one question - they can always revisit it if they have time!

Good Luck

We are trying for KGGS - although I have done this twice before!

[Stocky]

Hi there GG - my DD did the test last year and I am tutoring DS now for this Sept - she states that the GL ones were the nearest. The NVR paper the consortium use in Lincs is only 4 sections of 16 questions each in 8 minutes, one section has an extra section (17 questions). The practice test this year had 5 sections of 12 questions (6 minutes per section) - but our grammar QEHS said they weren't expecting the real thing to be any different to previous years, they then emailed me after they received this years papers (yikes) to confirm there is no change to the NVR this year i.e. 3 x16 Q's and 1 x 17.

[secondtime]

Good one Stocky - interesting to know only 4 sections in real thing.

Also interesting as the mock is usually 5!!

[Stocky]

yes interesting! DS came out of the practice one, I asked him which 2 types had not come up, knowing there are 6 types and 4 on the day - he replied with only 1, I was very confused! Then my friend texted me to say her DS had scored x out of 60, when there's 65 questions in the real thing not 60 - hence more confusion. I did post under QEHS NVR. Good luck to your DC's GG and ST

[Daogroupie]

I am not in your region, but I would say that papers are much much more important than books. Getting your timing right is key, so I would ditch the books and get onto the papers asap. It is like reading theory books to pass your driving test instead of getting in the car and driving. The GL papers will be dry runs for the exam. My dd's sat nine exams and got so much better as they went along. They learnt so much from the actual experience of going in and sitting a timed paper and the techniques they had to use to get a good mark. The one we wanted was the very first and my dd was so aware by the end of how much better she could have done she convinced me there was no way she could have got in. Don't let your dc come out of the first exam wishing they could start it again. Have your first exam at home with GL papers. DG

[Stocky]

I would agree with DG. DS is doing papers and I now just use the books for extra practice on the areas he drops marks on papers etc.