Good Luck for Selective Eligibility Test - 16th Sep'15

[CoolParent123]

Dear Parents,

Good Luck to you and your Children for the Selective Eligibility Test.

To start with a lighter note - Most of the parents believe that the 11 plus exams are for parents for children .... Hope you agree
However, please don't pass on your stress to them on the test day

Would like to share few thoughts, other parents you are welcome to share their views :

(1). Don't be panic seeing the crowd at the Schools
(2). Plan your journey well before time 30-45 min suggested. Sutton has experienced worst traffic in previous years with more than 4500 boys and girls taking the first level test
(3). Please give enough space for passing through traffic while you park your car. Mollison's Drive and Croydon Road / Wallington Green have experienced heavy traffic jams on test day in previous years
(4). Ensure that your child is relaxed and not over reading before few hours of the test
(5). It is more common to be nervous in a time bound test, suggest your child to attempt easy and comfortable questions first ....
(6). Based on Historic data, Maths will have 50 Questions in 50 minutes and English 72 Questions in 45 Minutes though this may vary every year. It is likely that nearly 90% of children wont complete all questions in English. Make sure they are not upset for not attempting all questions. However, accuracy of the attempted ones is more important. As there is no negative marks for wrong answers, guess work is fine as a last minute rush....
(7). There could be more than one Reading Comprehension in English and may carry between 10-20 questions or even more sometimes. Though it is upto the child to attempt which questions first, most of the children prefer to attempt SPAG questions first and reading related questions later?
(8). Finally, make sure that your DC is carrying enough stationary, admission ticket and a bottle of water

You you all Parents and your Children a Very Good Luck for 11 Plus Exams.

Please fell free to share your views and experiences pre and post exams.

[Moon unit]

Agree with all the above.
I would suggest parking about half a mile away. A walk is always good if they are a bit nervous.
Do remember to put everything in a clear pencil case or plastic bag.
There were heaps of children last year told to empty non clear pencil cases out when they arrived. They were left with handfuls of stationery to hold.
Can' t remember which venue it was but we also had to remove the labels from water bottles on one occasion.
If your child is the type to make nervous trips to the loo get them to ask on arrival to go prior to the test.
Took mine to a sweet shop the day before and let them choose their mid exam snack but avoided anything that would cause sticky fingers.
At every exam my two have sat I have seen people running up the road as I was walking away. I think that is an unfair start to the day for a child.
A big hug when they come out and unless they wanted to we didn't discuss the exam at all.

[CoolParent123]

Very True.
If you are coming from either Roundshaw or Wrythegreen / Carshalton, the roads to Greenshaw School are narrow. Parking would be very difficult.
Many of you know about Sutton Grammar School which is near to the High Street and I wonder if anyone could get a parking slot there .....

[Ladymuck]

Parking in the Sutton multistorey was fine if not cheap. But definitely parking is almost the most challenging and stressful part of the day!

In terms of English, I think that "Make sure they are not upset for not attempting all questions. However, accuracy of the attempted ones is more important." is a bit misleading. The paper will be scored out of 72, not the number of questions answered. Children should be checking time and making sure that they answer all questions, even if they end up having to guess. Same for maths of course.

In terms of whether to answer the questions in order or suggest skipping comprehensions, I would do this as a trial run with a bond paper or similar first. Some children struggle with ensuring that they are marking the correct box on the answer sheet, and as this is a time-pressured test, these children will do better by working in order. You still have a few days to settle on a strategy and this bit in particular is not something you want to experiment with on the day IMHO. Generally children will not have time to come back to questions they have skipped on this paper.

Unfortunately more people will fail the test than pass it. Now is the time for many open evenings, and I would make sure that your dc are visiting some of the other schools so that they realise that it isn't a total disaster if they don't pass. Some families have even found that some of the other schools have facilities or subject options that they prefer. You don't want to get to results day and realise that you've missed all of the open evenings.

[Catlady]

For Sutton Grammar School there is also the Morrison's car park (2hrs) and B&Q (1.5hrs) car park nearby - a short walk to Sutton Grammar from both. No return to either within 2 hours of leaving but you may require some provisions or a bag of nails in the meantime to keep your sanity intact!

Best wishes to all your DCs and ask them to check that they turn the pages one-by-one , not missing out any pages. It can be easily done in a pressured atmosphere.

[Ladymuck]

I see that there are two non-overlapping time slots for the SET this year, which I think is the first time this has happened. In 2013 there were 2 slots at SGS but the boys for the later slot had to arrive before the first slot were released, so there was no risk of "contamination" . I have to say that I am very surprised. Certainly I knew a number of the trickier questions from discussions at the first slot pick-up. Also a concern since some of the invigilators are also tutors.

[CoolParent123]

The Traffic at both Wilson's and WCGS is clear at 7:30 am. However, mind the bad Weather and Drizzle.

[Nara]

Good Luck to all children! and parents))