CEM Mock Exams

Eleven Plus (11+) in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin

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Nard
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 12:41 pm

CEM Mock Exams

Post by Nard »

I was just making some enquiries about getting my DS2 to do a mock exam before the real thing in September. Does anyone have any experience of taking these and whether they are worthwhile doing. Also, which one would be the most suitable for him to do. I know you can't mention any names of companies on here but if someone could send me a private message it would be really helpful.
Petitpois
Posts: 1440
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by Petitpois »

Yes the Walsall CEM exam is on the 1st of July. It comes free, is ultra realistic and if your child messes up King Edward you may get a fall back place at qmhs or Wolverhampton girls.

Our less learned is that it was really hard to keep momentum going over the summer, so I would have booked

A mock in June see Shirley
Done wsc CEM for free in July
Done a further August one
KE in september

Cost is £50 plus £25 for feedback
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by Daogroupie »

Walsall has moved to September precisely because so many people from all over the country used it as a free mock. DG
Petitpois
Posts: 1440
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:44 am

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by Petitpois »

Not confirmed, but you will have pay for one more if confirmed. I think they will be mad to combine with Birmingham. My DD got 360 on wsc and only 223 on Birmingham. She is strong maths and got 130 for maths in the walsall cohort which was only 1300+.

Sheer numbers in Birmingham mean you have much much less mistake room and in any case the weighting is much more towards VR.

In short kids in wolves and walsall don't need the grief of being compared against Birmingham. Many will lose out to kids from Birmingham in my opinion, especially borderline cases
Turtlegirl
Posts: 521
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:54 pm

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by Turtlegirl »

My kids did Shirley mocks with the company based there and Walsall exams because we were considering those schools. I thought the Shirley mocks were well managed and helpful for pointers for areas of weakness for my two older ones (who needed a push) and also helpful for my youngest, who is very able. We were confirmed in our decision to give up weekly tutoring for him as he scored a 'safe for Camp Hill' score in the Shirley mock in March. He also took one in May. He did score safely for Camp Hill in the actual exam. The numbers now taking the Shirley mocks and the records they keep mean that they do have a good idea about how the scores in their tests represent a likely 11+ score.
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by kenyancowgirl »

Not necessarily Petitpois - they could very easily have one test but use individual county weightings to rank pupils against the specific cohort (akin to the Birmingham/Warks test).
MSD
Posts: 1731
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by MSD »

Turtlegirl wrote:My kids did Shirley mocks with the company based there and Walsall exams because we were considering those schools. I thought the Shirley mocks were well managed and helpful for pointers for areas of weakness for my two older ones (who needed a push) and also helpful for my youngest, who is very able. We were confirmed in our decision to give up weekly tutoring for him as he scored a 'safe for Camp Hill' score in the Shirley mock in March. He also took one in May. He did score safely for Camp Hill in the actual exam. The numbers now taking the Shirley mocks and the records they keep mean that they do have a good idea about how the scores in their tests represent a likely 11+ score.
Agreed with Turtegirl! We sat one with K*** based in Shirley. I was quite impressed as it was well managed and organised followed by a detailed feedback report. My personal opinion is that it was set at a much easier level than the actual CEM test your child will sit (except the Maths element in the past two years). However, as almost 10% of the Birmingham cohort ends up sitting this Mock in Shirley you will get a fairly good idea of your child's chances based on their rank.

The final rank of my DS pretty much reflected the rank he achieved in this mock.
nervousmom
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:38 am
Location: Warwickshire

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by nervousmom »

Both my DS (year 9 KEFW) and DD (should also get FW on offers day) both sat all 4 mock exams with the Shirley based company.

There were sat under proper exam conditions, so giving the children an idea of wha to expect.

A couple of weeks after, the results were made available. The feedback supplied gives a good indication of how your child is doing.

Due to the large number of children that sit the exam, they collate all the information and can give an idea of what % would be required to gain a school of your choice.

I,e it would be worded something like ' in last years equivalent standard mock exam, the majority of children who scored 67% in their test gained a place at a school of their choice'

Therefore if you child is round about or above this figure, it shows they are on track.

For each of my DC they both above the relevant % for each of the mocks and as I said my son is at FW and DD scored 237 so hoping she will join him.

For non members it was £45 per exam. First one is sat in January, then March, May and July.

Each one progressively gets harder.

In my mind, it was well worth doing it. Even if you only sit one, just to get your child used to the exam conditioning.

If you google 11* tutors shirley - it is the first one on there.

There is a list of all their mocks on their website, the first one is 16th Jan. This year they are doing 5, with another one in for August!
Nard
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 12:41 pm

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by Nard »

My DS2 just sat the mock for the Shirley based company in March. He got his results back 84% overall score with a ranking of 24th out of 347. He got Excellent for all the different sections apart from Non verbal reasoning where he got a below required level grade.

This shows that he needs to work on his Non verbal reasoning skills and keep up the work he is currently doing at home. Please could anyone tell me if their DC have taken this exam and if they do tend to get a lot harder as they go on. The next ones coming up are in May, June, July and August. I was thinking of booking him in for the one in July just to see what level he is at then before the test in September 2016.

The price for the exam this year was £60 for non-members and then a further £15 if you wanted a detailed report.

Any feedback from DP whose DC have taken this mock would be greatly appreciated.
JaneEyre
Posts: 4843
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 1:04 pm

Re: CEM Mock Exams

Post by JaneEyre »

This is just my view but I feel you do not need to sit ALL the exams, especially as your DS has done well.
In my opinion, the one in July will be important. Possibly the one in August but this is subject to discussion as it is very near the real exam so no much time left to brush up certain aspects ; moreover, it could also leave the child either overconfident or 'with the morale in his socks' (translation of a French idiom) .

My DS is now in year 10 so we had to deal with these mock exams several years ago, but I had been impressed by the good organisation of the Shirley based company ( My DS was also not following the online course offered by this company). He only sat the July exam ( so I cannot comment on the increased difficulty of the exams. I also never paid for the detailed report which was £10 in those times. The 11+ prep is so expensive, than one has to put some limits!).
My DS sat another mock exam with his regular and experienced tutor... and another one with a company which was not very good at that time.
Shirley is certainly a serious centre! I was glad that my DS got the experience of an exam in a hall before the real 11+ and I would recommend that to any 11+ sitter, at least once.
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