Bournemouth School for Girls

Eleven Plus (11+) in Dorset

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
Dorset Parent

Bournemouth School for Girls

Post by Dorset Parent »

At last night's open evening at the grammar school the headteacher advised that the tests would comprise the following:-

English Essay (35 minutes)
English Comprehension (45 minutes) multiple choice
Verbal Reasoning (50 minutes) mulitple choice
Mathematics (50 minutes) mulitple choice.

Multiple Choice tests are set by the NFER. Practice papers are available to purchase from book shops
VR ISBN 0 7087 03860
Maths ISBN 0 7087 03887
English ISBN 0 7087 03895

Rather a shock to discover English Essay - hadn't got this advice when I rang the school months ago. Anyone any advice on how to practice, or do you assume your child has enough practice at this at school?

The 45 minutes comprehension. Do you think this means Comprehension only - that section in the NFER English Multiple Choice that we have already been practising? Do I assume the rest of the English paper will not be set? Or does it mean the whole English paper.

No weighting between 3 elements of VR, E and Maths. Selective scores that achieved by 150th girl in each test. Borderzone candidates are those who achieve selective scores in 2 out of 3 elements and then they are considered by admissions panel.

Does this sound familiar to any of you experts out there? Has anyone out there experienced the 11+ for BSG?

He said not to look at anything except NFER. I've already got a pack of 4 tests for each subject which I am coming to the end of. What do people do then - have to buy other sets or do they pay to download?

The head teacher said that we should not be employing any tutors or bribing girls to pass the test. He said the maths and English were all covered by the schools work already. He implied that we should just turn up and take the test - so laid back!

Any advice welcolmed.
Danger

Test for BSG

Post by Danger »

Its all very well the Head saying what he said but you know damn well that almost everyone will have been tutored or will have been doing loads of different but similar practice tests to NFER.

How many applied for BSG and BSB last year anyway?
Dorset Parent

Post by Dorset Parent »

Wow - someone has replied to my Dorset post! I didn't think there was anyone else out there!

Last year - BSG - 162 places offered, 204 refusals (so 366 applied)

BSB - 146 places offered, 158 refusals (so 304 applied)

The head thought that natural ability would shine through. As I do not know anyone else whose daughter is taking the test from our school (although I have heard there may be 2 others taking it) I don't know what everyone else is doing, but I am sure they will be practising.
usa
Posts: 141
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:36 am

Post by usa »

Hallo Dorset Parent
What other papers have you now got? Have you looked at the bookshop on this site? They sell some great stuff..............which you certainly need to get working on, on a regular basis. Start with the maths - you can bet a lot of the stuff on that paper she would not have covered in her state primary, and she will be up against children from private, that have, and are being well prepared for the Grammar!
Good luck and post back. Sorry that Bournemouth section is a bit quiet at the moment!
USA
Danger

Numbers of applicants

Post by Danger »

You are really lucky you know. That really is very few applications to places offered compared to many parts of the country. Where do the rest of the children in Dorset/Bournemouth apply then? Do they all go to private schools or do they just not consider grammars?
Dorset Parent

Post by Dorset Parent »

Danger - Lucky, really? Don't feel it at the moment! I don't know of anyone around here who is going private, so they take their chances at the local secondary schools, or move earlier on out of the Borough to another education authority where there are better performing comprehensives with sixth forms. Although you consider this area lucky, to us I guess it still seems like it's odds against getting in. It's not like the top 25% in any school, it's selecting from a wide range of schools the top 1, 2,3 or 4, from what the head said and from what I've gathered. No wonder I hardly know anyone who has got through.

USA - I'm feeling rather down. I've concentrated on VR for the past 4 weeks (when I can) and she tries and the technique is improving,but she hasn't got the speed. At the moment she is managing to attempt about 58 of the 85 questions at the most. Today she tried maths and she kept saying "We haven't done this at school". Two months left and we are away all half term.


USA
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear Dorset Parent

Are you using a technique book for VR? Is there a particular question that baffles her or slows her down?

Patricia
Dorset Parent

Post by Dorset Parent »

Patricia

She has done 7 papers - NFER and Alpha series (probably a mistake to get Alpha - did those before headteacher's advice just to do NFER). We started off doing them together and now she likes to try them herself. I haven't got a book. As for questions, the number sequences are the worst, (codes are accurate but take a while). Sometimes the 2 words closest in meaning are a bit hit and miss. And the "only one of the following statements could be true (or is false)" is hard for her.

Dorset parent (thanks for looking at this quiet regional section!)
Danger

Practice papers

Post by Danger »

We found Athey Educational good, with quite a lot of similar question types to NFER but, possibly unfortunately, not so difficult. Good for speed practice though.

Good luck.
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear Dorset Parent

Can only help on VR, not as clued up on the other subjects, but I am learning.

Nfer multiple choice VR can either come with the standard 15 types [as used in their shop bought tests] OR 21 as used by Bucks, the Wirral and possibly others.rumour has it that some areas will increase to 18 types.

The only publishers that cover the correct 21 [and therefore 15] are:

IPS, AFN, Susan Daughtrey [ Bright Sparks series ONLY] and of course NFER [15 types.]

Method and Technique use IPS

Number sequences, child MUST make notes on how they 'GET' from one number to the next in order to 'SEE' the sequence, can involve all 4 maths operations, sometimes a mixture, sequence can go alternatively, occasionally the total of the first 2 numbers = the third followed by the total of numbers 2 and 3 = the 4th etc

It's practice and seeing many variations

Vocab, have you seen my list, with instructions in the free download section, bottom of the page

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/revisi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... wnload.php

Z questions, reading information/which statement true,again its making notes, generally in tabular form. Child must always leave these questions till last as only 1 mark for lengthy working out time, better to lose 1 mark than 6/7/8

Take a look at my test advice too...

viewtopic.php?t=830

Good Luck

Patricia
Post Reply