ALL NEW; WHITGIFT/TRINITY/DULWICH/ALLEYNS 10+/11+ 2016

[MrsPatmore]

Thought I'd go ahead and start. Found the old threads really interesting and would welcome ongoing input from those who've been through the whole process.
Ds in Year 5 and we are looking at a mixture of grammar schools and indies for 11+ Whitgift recommended this year - we've been told there is a drive to raise academic standards. We're going to the Open afternoon on 10th Nov.

I think that it is worth bearing in mind that the papers are marked by humans not machines, so there are plenty of marks for working etc. Those scores aren't bad at all as they demonstrate that your son knows the maths. Everyone makes silly mistakes.

It is always tricky to say what a typical pass mark would be as some children are looking for bursaries which require a fairly high mark, others scholarships, but certainly for Whitgift for a full fees place those marks should be fine if English and VR are at a similar level. Alas there is an element of competition, but given the number of grammar places in the vicinity as well as Dulwich and Trinity within reasonable distance, there is a good chance of a place somewhere if you can afford the fees.

The bonus you have is that on the basis of two papers your dc is fairly consistent. Many of us have dc who can produce wonderfully inconsistent results - one of my dc could oscillate between 30% and 95% depending on the day.

Thank you Ladymuck, that's very interesting. We are definitely not hopping for a scholarship, we would be delighted with a full fee place, but as you write, other subjects must be at a similar level and I know his English results can oscillate a lot. However unlike your DC the cap is lower as I don't think he can score above 70-75% in essay writing. We're going to do as much prep as possible over the next 10 days as as it will be virtually impossible to do anything during Christmas holidays.

This thread has become very quiet! Hope everything has gone well so far for your DC. Mine sat both DC and W. He found DC maths and VR/NVR easy but was less inspired by the English. For W it is the opposite: he's very pleased with his essay and comprehension. Maths was ok but he left a couple of questions, same for VR. He seems quite confident overall but then that's the way he is so doesn't necessarily mean something good...

Hi
My DS did W today, and ditto to your experience which surprised us. Found the English and essay papers far better than the Maths and VR! But worrying as English is usually his weaker subject. We hadn't done any anagrams so that caught him out..... He also said Maths paper had no fractions in which surprised us! Waiting game now........ He enjoyed the day though! Hope everyone else's son had a good day

Same here, he's strong in maths but weaker in English so I'm also very surprised and a bit worried. He also mentioned a type of VR question he had never come across before so must be the ones you are referring to... As you say, the waiting game has now started... Good luck to everyone.

Yes, it's been surprisingly quiet this year on this thread! Good luck to you all for the next few weeks. How did the boys find the timing element of the tests?

Yes definitely found the VR hard and "different", and said there were some types of questions he had never seen before. No problems noted with timing, almost too much time for essay. Fingers crossed for them all. At least it's over!

I don't think time was an issue in general, only in VR he said he did not do the 5 last questions out of 100 as he probably spent too long on some of the ones he had never seen before (we did not do any practice under time constraint at home).

Hope it ŵent well for all those sitting W today. Ds was an exam room monitor today (most fed up that he didn't get a day off like most of his friends!) and said that the 'little boys' all looked nervous but it seemed to go fine - I reminded him that he had been one of those 'little boys' a whole three years ago

Now the waiting game begins!

Mine did W today as well. He also thought the English was fairly easy, which worries me because that usually means he's missed the nuances. He was also a bit thrown by the 5 anagrams at the end, and I'm kicking myself now as we used to do them in puzzle books as a fun type thing but I didn't quite realise they'd be on the VR and we haven't done any for ages, although he said he got 3 of them and his mate got 4. Timing seemed fine at least. One hour each for the comprehension and the essay seemed generous and was good for him.

Worried about T tommorow now as the English seems to be one 1 hour paper so half an hour for a comprehension and half an hour for an essay which seems really tight to me and will be a struggle for time for him I think.

My son did Hampton, DC and Whitgift. He found tricky word reasoning for Hampton, comprehension for DC and some questions in maths and VR for Whitgift. As I understand there were some hard questions or anagrams using "musical" vocabulary in VR for Whitgift

Yep that was the last 5 questions I think, one was Brass band apparently and one had horn in it but he couldn't work out the first bit ibthibk he said one was electric guitar and I can't remember what the third one he got was (yes I am dangerously obsessed :) )

Hello. Is anyone's DC attempting 13plus? My ds attempted Trinity today and found the maths paper long and difficult .

DS sat W today; he found English OK, but struggled with the anagrams, like many other boys. He said that out of the 19 boys in his room, none was able to solve all anagram questions, so perhaps there is no need to worry about this one too much. I am panicking about his maths paper, though - he said it was easy and he finished well before the allocated time. I am seriously worried he may have turned two pages together and skipped loads of questions! The teacher who supervised DS's group apparently told the boys that W would call as many as they can on Saturday regarding the interviews, so hopefully not too long a wait to find out one way or another... I'm trying not to worry too much at this stage (hard as it is!) and focus on Trinity tomorrow. Good luck to all of your boys who are sitting Trinity and other schools in the next few days.

Bloody anagrams!! I'll be so glad when all this is over!

i think there was Grand Piano according to DS...(no, I am not obsessed...). Mine also overheard or read somewhere that they will try and call many as possible on Saturday.

Am glad to see this thread has become more active... DC sits Trinity Saturday so any insights on the T exam before the greatly appreciated! Also well done to all those that have already sat exams... Fingers crossed !

Gosh phonecalls?? We were thinking we would be notified by post!! How on earth do they mark 500 or so papers by tomorrow?

DS has confirmed over his cereal that they will try to notify parents tomorrow!

Both W and T usually start ringing round fairly quickly! I don't think they mark all the papers before they start ringing - if it looks as though the candidate has potential, they are offered an interview.
good luck to all sitting T today. Personally my Y9 is still in bed - I'd only just got used to him being back at school

glad this thread has perked up! ds sat DC on Tuesday - found the VR/NVR and maths straightforward but the English more challenging - some things never change!!

DC interviews start on Monday so presumably some people will be (have been?) contacted about those this week?

DC apparently they mark all papers that afternoon so would know by now which of Tuesday's lot they want to see again?

DS did W 10+ yesterday. English paper one, was fine, but fine can mean a lot of things as creative writing is his weakest subject. Said maths there was 2 questions that he found really hard and managed all questions time wise in VR not sure about the accuracy of it. Also had anagrams but 10+ related to "school" I think he said. Thesaurus, Dictionary can't remember the rest or he couldn't do the rest.

Doing T tomorrow :/ good luck to all other 10+

T 11+ today, more bloody anagrams! Mine found English and VR OK, no drama, maths he said fractionally harder than W but had a go at everything which is all you can ask.

Done with Trinity today. Adrenaline gone and I feel completely deflated - and it was not me who had to sit the exams! All staff at Trinity were really friendly and doing their best to make boys feel at ease. The only snag we had was that my DS managed to trip up in front of the entrance and fall flat on his face. He didn't hurt himself as such, but was a bit shaken and started feeling sick; not a good start to 3 hours of test papers. He said English was easier than W, maths a bit harder, especially towards the end of the paper. What will be, will be... The highlight of the day was that a six-former who was looking after his group took them to the cricket pavilion, so they didn't have to spend their break-time sat in the classroom.

Berora, poor boy! Hope they unpleasant start turned into a fabulous exam's results!