Popsycal can I pick your brains?

[charlize]

I hope you don't mind popsycal but I read on another thread that you are a year 6 teacher.
My ds is in yr6 and is currently preparing for an entrance exam next month.
Do you know anything about these ? Do you have any tips.
As a yr6 teacher what percentage would you expect a child to achieve on Maths , english and verbal reasoning to get a scholarship?
Don't want to ask my own teacher these questions as Don't want to seem pushy.
She has given me some extra VB papers for ds to practise over the holidays though.
Thanks in advance if you answer, if you haven't got time don't worry.

[popsycal]

hi there
been away all weekend and it was a nice surporsie to see my name in a thread title!!
WHat is the entrance exam for?
A grammar school?
A fee paying school? If fee-paying, is it a 'high flying' fee paying school?
If you would like to contact me via mumsnet (contact another talker) I will be happy to hlep you that way or via this thread....

[mimm]

Sorry if I'm butting in Popsycal! But if it helps when I marked the entrance exams we took the students in rank order - so in other words we just took the top 20 % whatever their mark was and the actual marks could vary alot from year to year.

[popsycal]

no, mimm, feel free!
I know very little about entrance exams but can help out on what a bright (level 5 or above) 11 would be expected to know....

[charlize]

Hi, popsycal. thanks for the response and also you too mimm.
It is not a grammar , alas we don't have them near us. It is a fee paying school of which he currently attends the prep. I am not sure about being high flying.
The situation is he regulary gets 95 to 100 % in his maths exams and is the top of this by a good 10 % each time. In english he gets around 70% but we are hoping it will be higher in the exam.
For VB Iam not so sure. What percentage would a scholarship require.
Around 22 children will sit the exam and only the top 3 will be awarded an academic scholarship so although he can't be beaten on his maths Iam wonderind if his English and Vb might let him down, or is 70% a reasonable mark?
Iam told that the top mark in his yr for english in the last exam was 84. Does this sound about right to you?

[charlize]

Sorry that should be 200 children will sit the exam not 22
of these 100 will either fail or not attend the school

[mimm]

We certainly took candidates who scored over 90% in Maths as long as their English was reasonable - and your ds' is obviously also strong. Sounds like he is a very good candidate. In our school (it would be described as high-flying I think!!) we would not expect candidates to score equally in all papers but would assume that they would have certain strengths. HTH

[popsycal]

I thikn he sounds like a very bright boy who will cerntainlly do very well!!
Do they have an interview aswell?
I work in the state sector but every year 4 or 5 of ours apply to the private secotr and do the entrance exam/interview. The children who get a place are normally those who are in the top sets and are very good at at least one of the subjects. Your son seems to fit the bill!!
One of my pupils was offered a scholarship last year to start in Year 7 at a local fee paying school. In the ned her parents turned it down and she stayed where she was. She was a good allrounder. I don't know whether this helps or not. Your son sounds VERY good indeed where his maths are concerned. Have you ay idea what the english exam will be made up of?

[charlize]

Hi mimm and popsycal, sorry I took so long to reply. My ds does have an interview but this is just a formality and the marks in the exam determin who gets the 3 scholarship places up for grabs.
The English papers he does are a comprehansion worth 20 marks a closed test missing word thingy worth 10 marks and a extended writing exam worth I don't know what?
He then has to do a VB exam and a maths exam.
mimm you say you have marked entrance exams before? Do you know if the total english mark is the same as the total maths mark or does one take prescedence over the other?