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Dame Alice Owens - Mock?

81 replies

Countrylifemama · 29/03/2024 10:03

Hi

We are preparing for DAO entrance exmas this year - child is doing tutoring. But I wanted to know what the mock exams they should register for before the exam?

Are there any that provide similar types of paper where they'll be able to do these assesments so we can get a view of strengths and weeakness

We are already doing past papers etc but ENglish is more challenging as its subjective. DAO write thier own papers

Any advice would be helpful thanks

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zpop · 07/06/2026 03:16

I would really appreciate any advice or recommendations on mock papers or mock centres for the Latymer exams (assuming CGP 11+ books on their own are not enough).

Original poster
Countrylifemama · 27/10/2025 18:23

Amazing big congrats!! great to hear xx

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purplejeanie · 27/10/2025 14:26

@Coolparentthat’s brilliant news! Well done to your son and to you. Much deserved! And thanks for updating, I was thinking of you .

Coolparent · 23/10/2025 15:43

@Countrylifemama @purplejeanie Thank you so much for all your advice for DAO. My son has scored a safe rank in top 65. Really grateful to both of you. 😊

MummyJill · 11/10/2025 22:41

Coolparent · 11/10/2025 21:29

oh you mean score @MummyJill . Yes I provided the score but not ranking. You asked about the ranking earlier 😊They knew the ranking I dont know how

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Dark Arts😀 some sneak perhaps

XelaM · 11/10/2025 21:52

I think it's a DAO insider on that forum (that was my understanding at least)

Coolparent · 11/10/2025 21:29

MummyJill · 11/10/2025 21:27

Seems a bit weird. Think you said your child got 121 and they’ve reported that was rank 74.

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oh you mean score @MummyJill . Yes I provided the score but not ranking. You asked about the ranking earlier 😊They knew the ranking I dont know how

MummyJill · 11/10/2025 21:27

Coolparent · 11/10/2025 18:16

@MummyJill No I haven’t provided the ranking. Yes, they do know a lot.

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Seems a bit weird. Think you said your child got 121 and they’ve reported that was rank 74.

Coolparent · 11/10/2025 18:16

MummyJill · 10/10/2025 19:42

Thank you @XelaM . I did take a brief look and was intrigued by how they knew the ranking from this years test? @Coolparent did you provide your child’s ranking on there?

@MummyJill No I haven’t provided the ranking. Yes, they do know a lot.

MummyJill · 10/10/2025 19:42

Thank you @XelaM . I did take a brief look and was intrigued by how they knew the ranking from this years test? @Coolparent did you provide your child’s ranking on there?

Coolparent · 10/10/2025 16:27

MummyJill · 10/10/2025 16:25

Thanks @Coolparent @XelaM . I might join that forum to see what’s the drill is.

@XelaM is absolutely right! Eleven Plus is a well known coaching institute for 11+ preparations and this forum is managed by them I reckon. Very insightful info on there @MummyJill

MummyJill · 10/10/2025 16:25

Thanks @Coolparent @XelaM . I might join that forum to see what’s the drill is.

XelaM · 10/10/2025 15:58

geoger · 07/05/2024 18:12

This website is an invaluable source of information and advice. Eleven plus exams
You can use the forum for Hertfordshire North or the subject specific pages to search for mocks etc

Edited

I was going to recommend this forum as well. There is an actual DAO person with insider knowledge giving advice I believe (on the Hertfordshire/North London forum)

Coolparent · 10/10/2025 14:07

MummyJill · 08/10/2025 20:16

Any ideas how the kids found this years exam?

Hey @MummyJill ny son found maths easy but English hard. Though, his general pref is maths over English so that was anticipated.

MummyJill · 08/10/2025 20:16

Any ideas how the kids found this years exam?

Coolparent · 21/09/2025 09:00

purplejeanie · 20/09/2025 14:18

No I’m pretty sure that wasn’t mentioned last time.

That’s a bit disappointing! But anyway, cant do anything about it. We’ve started with EPP for English n Maths. Maths seems to be going well over English. Hopefully, these EPP papers suffice as practice, we dont have much time left now. We’ll do the DAO English papers as well and that should be all the practice! Thanks @Countrylifemama @purplejeanie

purplejeanie · 20/09/2025 14:18

No I’m pretty sure that wasn’t mentioned last time.

Coolparent · 20/09/2025 09:49

purplejeanie · 20/09/2025 08:21

My daughter got 122 in VR and we were told it was a very good score. She did better in English and significantly worse in maths and sailed in. For the maths, they can pick up marks for workings too even if final answer is wrong. We did S and S rapid tests, I think the books go up to age 12.

Oh it seems they’ve changed the maths scheme this time as their email clearly says no marks awarded for working out, marks will be awarded for answers only. Do you recall them stating this in last year’s email as well? Ill order the rapid tests book, yes they go upto 12 but wasnt sure which one to take as they have 10-11 and 11-12. Thanks a ton @purplejeanie

purplejeanie · 20/09/2025 08:21

My daughter got 122 in VR and we were told it was a very good score. She did better in English and significantly worse in maths and sailed in. For the maths, they can pick up marks for workings too even if final answer is wrong. We did S and S rapid tests, I think the books go up to age 12.

Coolparent · 19/09/2025 22:41

purplejeanie · 19/09/2025 21:22

We worked our way through Schofield and Simms too. I think 70 per cent ok if English and VR are strong. For DAO it’s possible to drop in one subject but get through on the strength of the others.

Thanks again @purplejeanie What would you say is a good score for English or Maths? Thr VR score is 121. Maths is usually the stronger subject but in standard format my chd tends to make more mistakes in maths. English I wouldnt say is good over maths in general but do you think standard format is morr scoring in English over maths as in maths if an amswer wrong its a 0 straight away but in English you could get some marks for trying get the message out by writing something which is close the answer? For Schoefield. Is it the Rapid tests you did aged 10-11? Thanks again!

purplejeanie · 19/09/2025 21:22

We worked our way through Schofield and Simms too. I think 70 per cent ok if English and VR are strong. For DAO it’s possible to drop in one subject but get through on the strength of the others.

Coolparent · 19/09/2025 21:09

purplejeanie · 19/09/2025 20:08

Congrats from me too! We did similar to countrylifemama. The EPP DAO papers have answers. For the DAO school ones i think I marked them myself, bit of a slog. There isn’t a perfect answer but you can tell more or less if the comp answers are correct and for the continuation they’re looking for literary devices, continuing in the same tone, sticking to what has been asked and writing of sufficient length. FPTP were the worded questions. Apologies but I can’t answer about the level (I don’t remember those books well enough), but DAO maths was tricky. But it’s important to get the basics right and not make silly mistakes. So even if your child can’t do all the maths, they get as many marks as possible.

@purplejeanie Thank you. My child finds FPTP quite challenging. We are doing the Intermediate and Advanced level (not basic) and the score is around 70% so not promising. Would you recommend any other books for Maths? Thanks for the English update.

purplejeanie · 19/09/2025 20:08

Congrats from me too! We did similar to countrylifemama. The EPP DAO papers have answers. For the DAO school ones i think I marked them myself, bit of a slog. There isn’t a perfect answer but you can tell more or less if the comp answers are correct and for the continuation they’re looking for literary devices, continuing in the same tone, sticking to what has been asked and writing of sufficient length. FPTP were the worded questions. Apologies but I can’t answer about the level (I don’t remember those books well enough), but DAO maths was tricky. But it’s important to get the basics right and not make silly mistakes. So even if your child can’t do all the maths, they get as many marks as possible.

Coolparent · 19/09/2025 19:59

Countrylifemama · 19/09/2025 12:31

Congrats @Coolparent to your DC on getting through second round!

EPP we bought all the DAO papers 1-5 and practiced those. We bought the bundles that included Eng/Maths/VR rather than just the general English papers. But we also practiced papers from PiAcademy which were for other grammar schools such as NLCS, Habs, St Albans etc. We didnt use CSSE, however if the structure is the same (standard format english) then it would be good to cover those too... We were also lucky to have the DAO English past papers from friends that sat it a few years back which DC practiced

Hope this helps and good luck for the next couple of weeks xx

Edited

@Countrylifemama Thank you so much. For the DAO papers, I’m struggling to comprehend what should be an acceptable answer as there cant be one perfect answer. Do you know how flexible DAO has been in checking English papers? How did you check the DAO papers as they dont come with answers?

Original poster
Countrylifemama · 19/09/2025 12:31

Congrats @Coolparent to your DC on getting through second round!

EPP we bought all the DAO papers 1-5 and practiced those. We bought the bundles that included Eng/Maths/VR rather than just the general English papers. But we also practiced papers from PiAcademy which were for other grammar schools such as NLCS, Habs, St Albans etc. We didnt use CSSE, however if the structure is the same (standard format english) then it would be good to cover those too... We were also lucky to have the DAO English past papers from friends that sat it a few years back which DC practiced

Hope this helps and good luck for the next couple of weeks xx

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