Has my son got a chance of passing?

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Mumisbest

Has my son got a chance of passing?

Post by Mumisbest »

My son is currently in Year 5 and i would like himn to take his 11+ next year. Can anyone tell me whether he has any chance from his recent NFER scores, which are 111 fo maths and 103 for English. Last year for verbal reasoning he scored 110 and non verbal was 106. The school I would like him to attend the exam is maths, verbal and non verbal reasoning and the score must agregate to the pass rate of 111.
What do you think his chances are? Please be honest as I don't want to put him through if he has no chance or passing! I'm up for a bit of tutoring if this would help. Any advise, greatly appreciated. Thanks
Guest

Post by Guest »

With practice/ coaching he might well get up to 111 (which, for a grammar, is not very high) if the scores you quote are from tests for which he did no preperation whatsoever. There is often a significant increase in scores between even the first and second papers a child sits (in a given subject) just because the second time around they know what to expect.

Whether a selective school will be the best place to support your son's future education is a different question. I guess that depends on the options available to you. Bear in mind, however, that the teaching style/pace at a good comp can boost some children's esteem and help them achieve top grades where those children might have floundered a bit at a grammar. If you compare the exam performance of the lowest grammar school achievers (D's, E's and worse at many schools) with children of comparable ability at a good comp (i.e. about 25- 30th percentile, probably first or second stream), I'll bet the comp children will generally do better. And be happier.
Guest

Post by Guest »

P.S.
Forgot to say- some tutors will do an initial evaluation of your child and tell you whether they think it is worth trying for a grammar place. Could you ask around locally and see if anyone can recommend someone whom they think would do this and be honest with you? If you want to try this I'd try and get the evaluation asap, even if you decide to hold off on the tutoring / practice until nearer the time.
mumisbest

Post by mumisbest »

Thanks for your comments. His primary school is not in a grammar school area so results were from the usually NFER tests at school with no preparation. Your points on grammar school versus comphrensive are what's on my mind too, but feel if I don't go ahead it would be a missed opportunituy to carry on his education at the catholic secondary school (which is in a grammar school area). All comp schools in our LEA are good, so a comp education would certainly not be such a disappointment
Guest

Post by Guest »

Well for what it's worth my child went from a NVR score of 126 in a school test (not her strong point) to 140 in the 11+ after practicing with me at home. A difference of 14 points! In VR (which is her strong suit) she got 140 in the school test, so practice made no difference at all to her 11+ score. I think that you just have to try and see how well your son responds to practice and whether he understands when you explain any mistakes he makes. If he just can't follow you, you have a problem. But you might find that he takes to it like a duck to water once he gets going.
Melx

Post by Melx »

Hi Mumisbest

I think you should firstly decide as to whether he is suited to Grammar school rather then would he pass the test. You can tutor him to pass but unless you really feel he could cope in GS there is no point. You will obviously have some idea of where he stands relating to his suitability already by his ability at school but I feel its still early to decide as to if he will pass the test as most people will agree without tutoring it would be near impossible.

My own daughter has just gone into year 5 and I couldn't say for definite
that she'd pass but I do know she is bright and I believe if she continues the way she has throughout her school so far that she is definitely suited to GS. Because of this I do believe with tutoring(and I plan to do this myself) she should pass.

Forget the test for a minute think about GS and whether he would suit it.

All the best

Mel
Sally-Anne
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Post by Sally-Anne »

New Mum - I have moved your two posts to the Kent section of the forum, and I am sure you will get a response from someone there soon.

Sally-Anne - Super-Mod
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