Don't guess CEM multiple choice 11+ questions? Any thoughts?

[Sam10]

Hi my child guessed the remaining questions as was running out of time to answer in CEM 11 plus as there was way more questions that could be answered in the time allowed. Most of the children left a lot of questions unanswered. Just wandering if this has gone against my child - does the scoring take into account questions answered wrongly rather than solely questions answered correctly? Should my child have just answered what could in the time allowed? Is CEM negatively marked?

[PettswoodFiona]

In all the eleven plus tests I know of it is about the total. So guessing is better than leaving questions unanswered. If it wasn’t you’d pick the one question you were 100% certain of and then leave the rest which clearly isn’t right. These tests are a fine balance between accuracy and timing.

You may be getting confused with the Junior Maths Challenge which after the first section, ant questions marked wrong do result in points deducted.

[quasimodo]

The advice we always give and have given to our children as these are time pressured exams and are done in sections is to guess if you don't know the answer.The child is unlikely to be able to go back and relook at the question. We have suggested they choose one letter and keep using it.But it really is up to you how the child does the guessing.

Those crucial marks could be the difference between getting a place and not getting a place.

[Amber]

Is CEM negatively marked?

Surely not. I thought only a very few finals exams for Medics were negatively marked. Cruel and insane as the 11+ is, I can't think they have stooped this low yet. Have they?

[neo1232]

I agree guess is always better if questions has multiple choice - 20% odds compare to nothing - with 5 multiple answer

Only problem is when to start guess !!

My dc started guessing 12 NVR questions when 5 min left, which I think is wrong timing ... I would have prefer 4 min of still trying and then start guessing .. but we have never discussed guessing plan so can't find DC fault.

[ToadMum]

Is CEM negatively marked?

Surely not. I thought only a very few finals exams for Medics were negatively marked. Cruel and insane as the 11+ is, I can't think they have stooped this low yet. Have they?

No, they haven't.

As the parent will know, if s/he takes time to read the familiarisation booklet that the Durham University CEM has provided for the school to explain what the exam papers look like.

As the child will know, if they actually read the instructions on the paper when they sat the exam. Did I say, 'only answer a question if you are 100% sure of your answer, because you will have marks taken off for every one you get wrong'! No.

[Sam10]

It does not say anything about answering wrongly in the familiarisation test but it does state:-
• Candidates should attempt to answer as many questions as they can. If they find a question that they cannot answer, they should move on to the next question until they reach the end of the section.

The instructions were on tape not paper. The invigilator even observed that there was too many question in the allocated time and didn't know why this was.

So how do you know they don't negative mark?

[neo1232]

check this answer from Bucks

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ing-702981" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I guess it is similar for every one.

[kenyancowgirl]

Why on earth would the invigilator observe that there were too many questions for the time?!!!

Do they work for CEM? No! They have no idea how many questions there should or shouldn't be and actually should not even be looking at the paper at all, unless a child has bought their attention to it. CEM has ALWAYS been known to be tight on time - they set a huge number of questions and some children do finish, others nearly finish and some are a long way off finishing - it has always been so.

No they are not negatively marked - obviously CEM wouldn't encourage you to tell your child to have a guess at a question - if your child guesses they have a one in 5 chance of getting it right, whereas no guess would definitely mean no marks - CEM don't want someone guessing their way into a school (which theoretically could happen). Tutors and most canny parents do tell their children to guess if they get to the last minute and have questions still to go.

As TM states there is so much information about CEM on the websites that you access to put them in for the test - and it is not a difficult step from that information to then do further searches - including on this forum. There is so much information on here about the CEM test format now - including "expect the unexpected" and "it's really tight for time"!

[KenR]

Hi my child guessed the remaining questions as was running out of time to answer in CEM 11 plus as there was way more questions that could be answered in the time allowed. Most of the children left a lot of questions unanswered. Just wandering if this has gone against my child - does the scoring take into account questions answered wrongly rather than solely questions answered correctly? Should my child have just answered what could in the time allowed? Is CEM negatively marked?

The Durham 11+ bespoke exams are not negatively marked although many of Durham CEM's online tests are adaptive tests. viz. right or wrong answers are used to determine the question type and difficulty of the next question. These are used by some independent schools for their entrance exams and also by a number of schools to measure in year progress. see:-

http://www.cem.org/computer-adaptive-assessments