St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Jan 9

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Daogroupie
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St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Jan 9

Post by Daogroupie »

From the email received this morning. "Examination papers will be posted first class to your home address for completion this Saturday morning. These will still be written papers that will be returned in a self-addressed First Class envelope. Clear instructions on the procedure will follow today."

Hopefully there is going to be some type of Zoom invigilation, otherwise others could actually do the papers and they could just copy it in their handwriting. DG
mad?
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Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by mad? »

There is simply no way of ensuring the integrity of the test materials if this is what they are doing. What a mess.
mad?
ToadMum
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Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by ToadMum »

mad? wrote:There is simply no way of ensuring the integrity of the test materials if this is what they are doing. What a mess.
Something else to file under the You couldn't make it up heading...

But yes, at the very least, remote supervision of a completely intact, sealed envelope being opened no earlier than ten minutes before the start time. It would almost certainly mean using a lot more staff than normal on-site invigilation needs, though.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
PerpetualStudent
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Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by PerpetualStudent »

Is it possible the questions themselves will be given online and only the forms for answering have been sent out?
hermanmunster
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Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by hermanmunster »

PerpetualStudent wrote:Is it possible the questions themselves will be given online and only the forms for answering have been sent out?
that certainly sounds like a sensible ide - having said that, no-one will know actually know who has answered the questions
squareofthewicket
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Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by squareofthewicket »

DD did ABRSM Grade 5 theory online exam this year. They used some software (can't remeber the name off the top of my head) which allowed a kind of remote invigilator mode. She had to show the surroundings - the room, the floor and the table and have her camera and microphone turned on throughout the exam.

ABRSM did have issues with people connecting online on time; other than that it went smoothly considering this was the first time online theory exams were being used.

Not sure whether this approach will work for 11+ exams though, but if the Indies insist on written exams, then this is the least they could do to ensure fair assessments.
mad?
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Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by mad? »

I have supported job applicants who qualify for reasonable adjustments during testing virtually. To ensure integrity of materials they were delivered by me online, having first checked the room etc. The conditions were much like squareofthewicket mentions above. However, 1-1 invigilation was required. I guess schools could film the candidate and then check for cheating later. I have done seen enough apprentice/grad scheme video interviews to know that there will be more helicopter parenting in the room than one might hope, let alone at 11+ stage. The technology often fails, that will be stressful for a 10 year old. It also somewhat ignores the widening participation aspect in that candidates might not have the technology, quiet room etc etc (not sure how many bursaries St Albans give out but the principle remains the same).
ETA - Apparently MSTeams can run on a playstation. Who knew?
mad?
FAC51
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Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by FAC51 »

Was going to post earlier about how online invigilation could work.

But apparently St Albans aren't going to bother with any of that - PARENTAL INVIGILATION!!

So, refer back to mad's 1st post on this thread:
mad? wrote:There is simply no way of ensuring the integrity of the test materials if this is what they are doing. What a mess.
Daogroupie
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Location: Herts

Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by Daogroupie »

The papers were sent by First Class post this afternoon so some parents will receive the papers tomorrow morning.

So what is going to stop them from opening them immediately and spending two days working through them? There will certainly be plenty of 100% scores in the Maths if parents have got two days with the papers.

Edited by moderator
Why couldn't have they done opening the papers live on Zoom? DG
nylon14
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Re: St Albans boys will be posting written papers for Sat Ja

Post by nylon14 »

oh wow, that's so odd. so how do they know who had help? what are the rules?
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