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Original poster

11+ independent schools entrance exams next week - now remote!

36 replies

mammmamia · 01/01/2021 11:39

My DS sitting exams next week for a north London boys’ independent school and we were told yesterday the exams will now be remote.

They’ll have to log into a zoom call and parents print off the papers and scan them and send back.
Is anyone else in this position and feeling very uncomfortable about it?

OP posts:
annahavana · 02/01/2021 10:26

Agree that it's not all just on the exam. I remember talking a while back to an admissions registrar I know socially, and she said that by this stage, the schools have a pretty good idea who they're likely to offer to - the exams are really a final check and confirmation of academic ability before the interview. Of course there will always be surprises - kids who perform much better or worse than expected - but generally the final offer list probably isn't very different from what an experienced registrar would already have predicted from CATs, references, grammar scores or whatever other data is available. In terms of practicalities on the day, can you start preparing now by setting up a quite sterile exam space, to replicate an exam environment as much as possible? When we were doing 11+ practice at home, we made sure the last couple of practices were done in exam conditions, with a cleared desk, sharpened pencils, rubber and ruler lined up with no other equipment nearby, an exam clock on the desk, silence in the room/house, and no getting down from the desk until the time was up, regardless of whether DS had 'finished' (to make sure he actually did check his work thoroughly). It seemed to help achieve a balance of taking it seriously enough but not getting too overwhelmed by the novelty of an exam environment on the day.

TheExtraGuineaPig · 02/01/2021 10:01

Yes - I’m not worried about people cheating (and would never dream of it) surely even people who don’t care about the morals realise they would be caught/ it was obvious?

I am however worried about DS focussing at home at all... I just can’t see him performing properly without a teacher or any exam environment pressure!

NoToMisogyny · 01/01/2021 20:50

I think it would be incredibly hard to cheat. And surely very very few would even contemplate it! They record the child throughout and would detect anything suspicious at all. It’s a total faff but I have total confidence that it will be pretty much cheat-proof

MrsWonderland · 01/01/2021 20:44

@mammmamia

Thanks for the reassurance *@highfiver* They’re just being invigilated over zoom so I don’t think it will be that sophisticated. Our biggest fear is people cheating. We would never cheat but I think people will and DS will lose his place as a result. He’s worked really hard and it makes me angry.
If it makes you feel better I swear that we will also be doing it to the absolute letter of the rules and I'm sure most will. I actually think it would be quite difficult to cheat and bear in mind there have been interviews and there are school references and for many CAT scores to compare it to. Not worth getting more stressed or stressing your DS at this point.
Original poster
mammmamia · 01/01/2021 20:31

Thanks for the reassurance @highfiver
They’re just being invigilated over zoom so I don’t think it will be that sophisticated. Our biggest fear is people cheating. We would never cheat but I think people will and DS will lose his place as a result. He’s worked really hard and it makes me angry.

OP posts:
highfiver · 01/01/2021 19:19

I think you will find it works out.

My son did a familiarisation test paper abs if he moved away or did a sudden movement it clocked this.

I don't think people with cheat.

Preferable now to in-person. I know that some pupils were meant to be in isolation and they still attended an in-person test.
This was the last week of term.

OV77 · 01/01/2021 18:38

My son is also doing an exam at home next week and I’m very uncomfortable with it all ...
Will the children concentrate at home as they would in an exam hall?
Maintaining a quiet house for the whole morning will be a challenge - we have three children and three dogs!
What if the WiFi glitches?
How cheat proof is it on zoom?
Printing, scanning and emailing the scripts will be a sprint!

Bunnyteam · 01/01/2021 14:38

We are sitting the entrance the exam for south west london independent and it has been move to online mode too.

Original poster
mammmamia · 01/01/2021 14:27

@warfinch I saw those and it’s been interesting to see what other schools are doing. But really wanted to hear what people think about the remote exams specifically.

OP posts:
MrsWonderland · 01/01/2021 13:57

We are sitting for the same school. Incredibly frustrating and I'm worried about the turnaround times for printing scanning etc but we're all in the same boat. What can you do?

warfinch · 01/01/2021 13:37

Hi OP, there are a couple of current threads on this that you might be better hopping onto - one on Tier 4 Entrance Exams and one on Upcoming Girls Entrance Exams - both in the Secondary topic.