BBC R4 Today
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BBC R4 Today
This morning on Radio 4's Today programme (and being all bright people, I'm sure you all listen) there was an item about 11+ exams of yore partly to plug a book of very old 11+ questions from the 50's & 60's (so mentioning this isn't competition for this site and therefore should be allowed!).
On their web site are 8 sample questions to try out. I found them rather good fun. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/ne ... 478154.stm
Also on the same site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/today/evanda ... ories.html is Evan Davis' blog, mentioning his 11+ failure and subsequent admission to the school 'by interview'. This was how it was done back in 1972 in Surrey - about 1/3rd of the places were kept back for the staff of the grammars to look at the borderline childrens work, have a chat to them and then allow in the appropriate ones; it was a great system, in that it allowed for the 'brilliant but nervous in the exam' children - but they also interviewed all of us who had passed outright (they just couldn't turn us down once they'd looked at our work).
I can confirm that what Evan says in the blog is true - I sat next to him in some lessons (and he did participate in the world record daisy chain that we made). Dorking Grammar was a nice, mixed school, but once the fence came down between us & the girls secondary modern next door, the boys were outnumbered 3 or 4 to 1.
On their web site are 8 sample questions to try out. I found them rather good fun. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/ne ... 478154.stm
Also on the same site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/today/evanda ... ories.html is Evan Davis' blog, mentioning his 11+ failure and subsequent admission to the school 'by interview'. This was how it was done back in 1972 in Surrey - about 1/3rd of the places were kept back for the staff of the grammars to look at the borderline childrens work, have a chat to them and then allow in the appropriate ones; it was a great system, in that it allowed for the 'brilliant but nervous in the exam' children - but they also interviewed all of us who had passed outright (they just couldn't turn us down once they'd looked at our work).
I can confirm that what Evan says in the blog is true - I sat next to him in some lessons (and he did participate in the world record daisy chain that we made). Dorking Grammar was a nice, mixed school, but once the fence came down between us & the girls secondary modern next door, the boys were outnumbered 3 or 4 to 1.
Capers
I did mine in Surrey an awful long time ago - all on my own in County Hall in Kingston in August as we had just returned from abroad. I remember the tests as being very similar to today's but a mixture of VR and NVR on both papers. My friends told me that only borderline people were interviewed and that one girl in the class had failed but her headmaster had intervened to get her into the Grammar. She is, of course, the one who turned out to be super-brilliant and went on to take a first class degree and doctorate in applied physics.
I think it was more than just the odd one or two - I think half my school got in on interview, although the Reigate schools seemed to have a lower percentage than that (I went to Dorking primarily because it was mixed, even though I lived nearer to Reigate and had an offer from there as well).Alex wrote:My friends told me that only borderline people were interviewed and that one girl in the class had failed but her headmaster had intervened to get her into the Grammar.
I'm sure that this system seemed fairer, got a more balanced intake, and a lot less appeals than nowadays!
Capers
