Anyone DIY ing for test in sept 15 and want to chat??

[steppemum]

Hi, I am DIY ing with dd1 for Sept test. I did it for ds but that was old test and I am feeling a bit nervous about whether or not I am covering all that is needed.

I basically have no idea how we are doing.
What do you use, and what sort of % does your dc get and how do you know if this is up to scratch??

I have all the CPG practice books, maths seems fine, (although I discovered this week she had no idea what BODMAS was) English varies according to whether or not there is unknown vocab, so working a lot on vocab. Non verbal seems OK. VR a bit hit and miss. Ds used to do loads of codes. Do I need to spend more time on these? Do they need codes?

sigh, feel like I am working in the dark.

How are you doing?

[MedievalBabe]

Going by last year codes are not needed. There are example packs on the school's websites and these will help give you an idea if you are going down the right route. The Vocab knowledge is probably the biggest part to work on as DD found this the hardest as it is so wide and varied.

[Stressed?Moi?]

Definitely don't bother with codes as there weren't any. VR didn't really feature either. According to DS (and it would be interesting if others bear this out), it was nearly all antonyms and synonyms and comprehension on the English paper. Apart from the brilliant "Free Rice" site, Synonym Toast is really helpful too. With it being a game DS really got into it and he said it didn't feel like he was working.

Don't envy you - I wouldn't want to go through it again!

[DebsB]

DD sat last Sept. She thought the maths was easier than the CGP maths.

She also said that a lot of the English that her tutor practised with her was the sort where you write whole paragraphs with a pen, whereas everything in the exam was individual letters or words, so that the whole thing could be answered by colouring in those little machine-readable boxes.

Good luck.

[steppemum]

thanks everyone.
Good news about the maths, dd should be fine on that, it is her best subject I think.

Also good news about codes!

we'll keep going on vocab and comprehension.

dd has a younger sister, so I'm not finished yet!

[MedievalBabe]

Get her using a thesaurus and dictionary with a little pad. I made dd write down words she wasn't sure about as she read which she then looked up and followed with finding synonyms and antonyms for the words. All helped expand her language knowledge which is really important for the exam. It was the synonyms and antonyms which was the hardest part for her.