A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

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Mintaka
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:37 pm

A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

Post by Mintaka »

Hello!
I've got a DD in year 5 and I am DIYing it with her.
We've been using the FPTP workbooks for all areas, CGP 10 min tests for maths and verbal reasoning, Mathletics and Bond CEM 11+ papers for the different areas. We've been using Free rice for synonyms, and I've been using the list of vocab from this site for spellings and further synonyms. She generally does some work on most days. She is also an avid reader.

Generally she does pretty well in the assessment papers and 10 min tests - in the CGP 10 min tests in Maths she usually scores 8-11 in 10-15 minutes.

Today we did the Bond practice 11+ CEM standard test papers - timed. She has only completed the VR and /short maths section so far but has done really badly - some is just unknown content, but I think the main issue is timing. 19/51 for VR and 13/40 for Maths - I don't want to place too much emphasis on them, but has anyone else found that too? The timings are very stringent.

Does anyone know if these papers (if you are familiar with them) are fair reflections of the timings in the real thing? If so I cannot believe that 1/3 of children pass them in Bucks with anything like a high percentage mark!
PurpleDuck
Posts: 1586
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:45 pm

Re: A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

Post by PurpleDuck »

Hi Mintaka,
DS didn't sit for Bucks schools so I can't tell you how the Bond CEM test compares to what your DD will have to do, but just to re-assure you - DS found some practice papers done at home impossible to complete in the prescribed time and still got a place in his first choice grammar, so don't worry about it too much.

There is a lot of time pressure in 11+ exams in general so working at speed is important, but I would focus on getting answers correct first and working on speed second. Whenever I though a particular paper was very tight timing-wise, I tried doing it myself before I gave it to DS and if I couldn't do it in the prescribed time, I gave him my own timing as a benchmark.

I'm sure you will get some advice from Bucks parents to reassure you, too.
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jabba7
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:26 pm

Re: A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

Post by jabba7 »

It is a couple of years since we were doing the Bucks 11+ but I do remember the Bond tests being too hard. My DC said that the CGP red books were nearest the real thing.
quasimodo
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Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:47 pm

Re: A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

Post by quasimodo »

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 70&t=43240" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This may assist.
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salsa
Posts: 2686
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:59 am

Re: A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

Post by salsa »

Mintaka wrote:Hello!
I've got a DD in year 5 and I am DIYing it with her.
We've been using the FPTP workbooks for all areas, CGP 10 min tests for maths and verbal reasoning, Mathletics and Bond CEM 11+ papers for the different areas. We've been using Free rice for synonyms, and I've been using the list of vocab from this site for spellings and further synonyms. She generally does some work on most days. She is also an avid reader.

Generally she does pretty well in the assessment papers and 10 min tests - in the CGP 10 min tests in Maths she usually scores 8-11 in 10-15 minutes.

Today we did the Bond practice 11+ CEM standard test papers - timed. She has only completed the VR and /short maths section so far but has done really badly - some is just unknown content, but I think the main issue is timing. 19/51 for VR and 13/40 for Maths - I don't want to place too much emphasis on them, but has anyone else found that too? The timings are very stringent.

Does anyone know if these papers (if you are familiar with them) are fair reflections of the timings in the real thing? If so I cannot believe that 1/3 of children pass them in Bucks with anything like a high percentage mark!
Hi,
I don't know about Bucks, but Bond CEM is considered too hard for other areas. One thing that children have to get used to is to sustain their concentration. Doing the 10 minutes tests can be fine, but when it comes to sustaining concentration for 30 minutes, or even an hour, problems crop up.

How long will your child have to be doing a test for? How long will each section be?
Mintaka
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:37 pm

Re: A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

Post by Mintaka »

Thank you all for your helpful comments.

It's refreshing to know that others have found completing the whole of those papers under those time conditions challenging too.

I think we'll keep with the other strategies (workbooks / reading practice / free rice / mathletics) for now but focus on speed of completion.

The only other problem I had with those practice papers, were that in the Bucks practice transfer test there is a separate answer sheet with multiple choice questions - but the practice test didn't have them? I'd like her to get familiar with using a separate answer sheet so does anyone have any recommendations for a CEM-style test with sep answer sheet? Basically something as close to the format of the actual test itself?

Thanks and good luck everyone!
11+pass
Posts: 50
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 8:38 pm

Re: A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

Post by 11+pass »

Hi, I'm new to this forum but just wanted to share my thoughts as my DD did sit the Bucks 11+ last September. She found the CGP papers the closest thing to the real exam. Also, she sat a couple of mock exams and that helped her with her speed and confidence. In the mock exams, they always have a separate answer sheet so Mintaka that might be something you want to consider.
Mintaka
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:37 pm

Re: A few questions to the clued up people on this forum!

Post by Mintaka »

Thank you 11+ pass - I hadn't considered a mock test but have now booked one due to your post.
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