Results are out for the Herts. Consortium

[Mummyoftheyear]

How's everyone done?

The Bucks test changed this year (and no detail was given as to question types or past papers) so nobody really knew what to expect. Ds sat the preparation test on the Tuesday and it seemed very much as everyone had expected it to be. However the real test on Thursday was totally different, very high time pressure to complete the questions. When I picked him up there were quite a few tearful children coming out.

Ds said he missed a few questions but still did well so I can only imagine the test came as a total shock to many children used to the old format. The Bucks test is meant to have a pass rate of about 30% I think, though I've now heard of quite a few children who were expected to pass but didn't.

We have one Bucks school as our second choice, I was impressed by it but the journey would be less ideal than to Parmiters. Also if we got our second choice ds 2 would still have to sit the Bucks test next year.

How horrendous. Only consolations are that:
A) If your child found it hard, others will have, too (as you noted on the day). Horrible experience for them all. Seems so unfair! Do you know the new test's timings (per question)?
B) At least your second DC wouldn't have the pressure of passing the test attached to the whole experience. Just taking it.

Yes I think that's right (I mean everyone finding it hard) as the test (like Herts) is standardised. I can't swear to this as ds was a bit vague, but it was about 45 seconds per question, so it very much favoured children who were used to quick-fire problem solving and keeping their cool - if you got bogged down in one question you could easily miss the next few questions.

Ds looked a bit shell shocked when he came out, but I think it helped that he had sat the Herts test a few days before. If he had sat it after Bucks I think he would have felt less confident.

But even Herts. The VR is 100 questions in 45 mins. Maths is 50 questions in 50 mins.
Struggling with / spending too long on one tricky question without moving on and circling the number has more to do with technique, no?

Gosh, just looked at elevenplus website. It's really quite different! Scarily so! It's similar, apparently, to the Birmingham CEM ones:
www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/schools/regions/birmingham-walsall-11-plus/test-paper-content
;(

In my opinion all of it far too much for a 10/11yr old to be doing.
My dd came out of herts exam & her class mate was I floods of tears, I said are you ok, she said yes but inthe middle I felt like crying because it's all just too much! Although she was in good spirits at the end.
It's just sad that some children can't cope well with it at all.

True. Such a lot for them to go through. I remember sitting the exams myself ... 30 years later!

I must admit I felt a real pang of sadness when I saw ds waiting to go in for the Herts exam; he suddenly looked much younger than 10, clutching his little see-through pencil case and his chocolate biscuit snack. But at least with the Herts test it seemed to be consistent with what we had practised, and ultimately it was our choice to go through it. With Bucks you have to actively opt-out if you are a resident but wish not to take the 11+!

Ooh how odd to pressure people by forcing them to opt out. No one wants to do that.