St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

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ChalkyC
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2019 6:26 am

St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by ChalkyC »

My son did one of the the St Olaves Mock tests last month and I just got the results. I’m slightly in shock that he did so badly! His school end of year GL standardised test results were good and seemed to imply he was exceeding - but in the st Olaves mock he only got 37/60 right answers putting him at 40% in his cohort! Do we give up now?!? He was 75% in cohort in maths (GL score was 141) but something like 25% in English - after a GL score of 125.

He’s been going to a weekly tutorial class and the feedback from there and school has been positive. Maybe we’ve been told what we wanted to hear?

I’m not angry with him and tbh didn’t especially have ambitions towards st Olaves - it was just a practice for the Bexley test and possibly other Indy tests in January. But maybe we’ve been mislead and he’s just not as academic as we thought!

Any advice or experiences of this situation please? We can do limited work over the summer but I work full time and he’s mostly in summer camps during the week.
Broomleigh
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:34 am

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by Broomleigh »

I'd say don't panic and don't give up - though we're in shock too. My son said the English was hard (then did badly in the maths!) - I'll post the details of that on a separate thread rather than hijack yours.

Presumably this was the first time he'd sat a test like this? Also, he'll be nearly 6 months older by the time of the real 2nd stage test - quite a lot at this age, especially if he's young in the year. Although the test is supposed to replicate the 1st stage test, there seems to be some suspicion that it's rather harder.

Also I'd suspect that the children going through the mock are likely to be the stronger ones who are taking the process seriously, so it's hard to predict based on percentage within cohort at the mock.

Illegitimi non carborundum.
thickasabrick
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 6:24 pm

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by thickasabrick »

Chalky - don't let it discourage you - you have nothing to lose.

Was it his first 'exam' in a proper setting?

My first kid only had a middling score in the mocks when someone managed to get 95% - I was thinking the same and we tried to get a bit more practice in especially for the timing as a lot of questions weren't even attempted - eventually got into a leading grammar.

Other kid came first in NVR mock out of nearly 200 and got the top score from her school in one of the grammar tests but got a score below cut-off in NW exam.
Ganc
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:55 am

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by Ganc »

I completely agree to thicjasbrick, this is all just indicative, do not lose hope.. all the very best!!
My son got his results too yesterday and is 70% now we need to work harder to get there..
olucares
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri May 20, 2016 10:55 am

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by olucares »

ChalkyC wrote:My son did one of the the St Olaves Mock tests last month and I just got the results. I’m slightly in shock that he did so badly! His school end of year GL standardised test results were good and seemed to imply he was exceeding - but in the st Olaves mock he only got 37/60 right answers putting him at 40% in his cohort! Do we give up now?!? He was 75% in cohort in maths (GL score was 141) but something like 25% in English - after a GL score of 125.

He’s been going to a weekly tutorial class and the feedback from there and school has been positive. Maybe we’ve been told what we wanted to hear?

I’m not angry with him and tbh didn’t especially have ambitions towards st Olaves - it was just a practice for the Bexley test and possibly other Indy tests in January. But maybe we’ve been mislead and he’s just not as academic as we thought!

Any advice or experiences of this situation please? We can do limited work over the summer but I work full time and he’s mostly in summer camps during the week.

Don't be worried, you've got to understand that some sections of the Olave's mock have additional question types not present in either GL or CEM. Also, 40th percentile in the mock could well be 70 percentile in the real exam, you never know, the cohort taking the mock differs to the real exam.
ChalkyC
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2019 6:26 am

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by ChalkyC »

Thanks all. Well it’s a wake up call if nothing else! He didn’t seem phased by the exam situation but yes, his first time in that situation and comes from a small all through indy where they do not want you do take 11plus so do not prepare them!

Will do a lot of verbal/non verbal and English prep over the summer. Our actual preference is for Eltham or Trinity but it could be that we are way off for them!?!
Sorrel
Posts: 616
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2017 8:56 am

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by Sorrel »

By all I've heard, St Olaves mock results are a bit odd and often don't correspond to actual performance. They're set by the PTA and the actual test is not. But it's great practice to sit the test in the school - just don't be discouraged.
turnip08
Posts: 151
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:52 pm

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by turnip08 »

I would not worry too much as passing the Olave's is not indicative of ability, necessarily, but probably of either (a) basic ability + ALOT of tutoring or (b) out-of-the-box thinking/extremely bright types (you know the ones: who read reams of non-fiction and could recite the periodic table from own efforts). I know several boys who did not get through Saint Olave's Stage 1 but who aced Kent/Bexley and indies (getting scholarships); one boy didn't do well at all in the mock nor in the actual stage 1 exam but he has an IQ of 150! Another boy didn't score particularly high on the Kent but got through the Stage 1 and eventually got a waiting list offer come March. I'm not sure if it is the case, but I have a feeling that Saint Olave's results are not standardised and this particular boy had not only prepped hard but was also one of the oldest out of 2 of our forms.

Remember that those children sitting the Saint Olave's on the whole are those whose parents are very serious about getting their children into that particular school. Many have children who are in the 'highly superior' range and some are probably on the spectrum.

I think the more important question is, can you see your son there? Did you go to the open morning and, if so, how did he/you feel about it? Did you see lots of other kids whose demanour/approach led you to think 'oh that's just like my son', because in truth we didn't. We sat our son for the Olave's test but did not particularly prepare him for it but saw it as a good way to keep up the momentum for the indies. Not for one minute, could I see my son there although he is bright and scored very highly in both Bexley and Kent.

Either way, I think that there is still plenty of time to work on areas, and I'd say verbal/comprehension and maths puzzles/logic might be a good bet. If you think it's the school for your DS.
grgygirl
Posts: 382
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:09 am

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by grgygirl »

Eltham and Trinity are a lot easier to get into just because of the sheer volume of applicants for Olaves. The mocks give an indication of areas to focus on re; practise and also provide invaluable experience of a formal exam.
turnip08
Posts: 151
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:52 pm

Re: St Olaves Mock - anyone else?!?

Post by turnip08 »

I've heard that the exams, in terms of difficulty, are (least to most difficult): Colfe's, Kent (though harder for those who are very weak in English), Bexley, Eltham, Trinity, Olave's. For what it's worth. He'll be fine.
Last edited by turnip08 on Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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