sutton schools selective test today

I'd assume the individual schools will test problem solving and writing skills, which requires a human to mark each paper which is more expensive, hence having a computer mark the first round. I'm assuming that if they are that over subscribed they may need to increase the number of "eligible" boys to ensure that they have enough boys who would pass AND place them first.

I have always assumed that ds's literacy would be too weak to pass a grammar school test, but given that this was one test that would eliminate that possibility, and that mc isn't arduous for him, he sat it anyway. So he's one who wouldn't have sat under the old system, but had nothing to lose under this year's system.

Really good point - how bizarre if they were under subscribed - I presume they have done this whole selective eligibility thing to save time and costs ? You're right though it could fail big time , especially as they have no idea of the "top 600" 's intentions to sit which school .

I agree the test this year is unfair, my son told me about the sea pond put in order question which IS VR. In answer to your q I reckon they will do comp and essay hedge their bets. I have a wider issue with the tests, my son is dyslexic despite having an iq in top 2% - multiple choice by the very nature are unfair for dyslexics due to two questions being v similar. There was no extra time given. I understand but disagree with this belief that tutored kids may not keep up but sadly it's necessary because the standards of education are so poor( in our experience) . How can we compete with a boy privately educated with classes half the size ? My son wasted 2 school years with awful teachers who utterly destroyed his confidence. His dyslexia was only picked up a few months ago and so has struggled through believing he was stupid or at best scraping average. I provided my son with what he missed. He went to classes not 1-1 and loved every minute of it. What are they testing? The ability to do tests? The standards of education they have had or THEIR POTENTIAL ?? If the latter then just do IQ tests put everyone on a level playing field. !! By the way my older son is at one of these schools and every mother I know gave their son tuition - they are all keeping up ! Good luck to you all too on Thursday x

There are just under 2,000 year 6 children in LB of Sutton. So around 1,000 year 6 boys. Which would give a very different intake, especially as there are 420 boys grammar places.

My DS did the test today, finished the English paper with more than 5 mins to spare, he said that the Maths paper was not that difficult but time wise it was as he did not answer the last 2 questions.
He also said that the papers were what he does at school, he only goes to a local wallington primary school.
I think as parents we may want our children to get in to a good school but if we take the view that say 2800 took the test today and only 700ish will get through then 75% will be disappointed on Thursday, with another 50% being disappointed after the second round of tests.

The point here is that the system it's self is the problem, comps don't meet all parents ideas of a good education(I went to a comp and was very happy and so did my friends who in the main have gone on to have very good careers) The supply does not meet the demand and the fact that the grammer schools are so focused on keeping the positions in league tables means that they have lost morality, if my son got in to one probably none of his friends would which in real terms is a shame. The local grammer schools should be taking the top 5-10% in sutton schools before opening up the places to anyone and everyone from anywhere in the south of England.
Just to confirm this point a friend was in the que at Wilsons and a women asked where the local town was, her son by the sound of things is being carted to every school in the Home Counties taking tests.
Good luck to you all and your DS's

In terms of numbers they had expected 2,500 across 4 venues, so I am guessing that a 5th sitting meant they exceeded that, so somewhere between 2,500-3,000. I am more curious as to the geographical spread as I wonder whether everyone would sit for all 3 schools. If today's pass mark is to select the 600-700 who will be eligible to sit the exams for the 3 schools, and yet some of these will also be sitting for schools in other areas, is there a risk that they won't get 420 who want a Sutton place (ahead of their local school)?

Ds finished the English, but felt it was harder than the maths. He said there was no VR, though I overheard one child talking about having to put pond, lake, sea etc in order which sounded akin to some VR questions. Sounded as if those children preparing for L6 SPaG would have been well prepared - 2 of the spellings were from the SPaG sample paper. If anything prep school pupils could be at a disadvantage as it certainly wasn't like the traditional NFER/Bond papers, and many of the local preps don't sit SATS.

The lack of any familiarisation paper seems a bit unfair in comparison with other areas. Especially as next years boys will be better prepared as to what to expect.

So, given we're all in the dark together, expectations as to Wilson's English paper? Comprehension and essay, 45 min essay or 2 shorter pieces of writing?

I just asked DS and he he said that he did finish the English, but with only a couple of minutes to go. He also said that there wasn't any VR in it.

He's going to do the Tiffin test so he's been practising VR/NVR so he would recognise it.

Disappointed to see the Sutton Grammar schools being less than honest about the content of the selective eligibility test - it said categorically that there would be NO Verbal reasoning in the exam, yet there was! How ridiculous what are they trying to prove?
Interested to hear that no one seems to have finished the english paper my son missed a few out too, I understand there were 72 questions which is a lot in 45/50 mins.
I would love to know how many sat this year ???

My DS said that the maths was 'very easy', but he 'struggled' with some of the English paper. His Maths is better than his English so not really surprising.

General feedback so far is that the English was tougher than the maths. The resuts are out on Thursday though, so not long to wait.