Where do I find the 11+ thread?

[BaconAndAvocado]

That's it!
DS2 sitting his Kent test on Thursday and need some advice.

Im not sure I could pass myself either

@Gileswithachainsaw, word on the street on the playground in Kent was that the English section was 'ok', the maths was much harder than usual and that non-verbal reasoning was ok as well.
The essay question choices (not sure if you have these) were uninspiring.

My DD managed to answer all of the questions in the time. She didn't have any tutoring but we did practice papers at home throughout the summer holidays (10 mins a day and a couple of timed tests the week before). Hopefully that should reassure anyone whose children have had more 'input'.

Whether she answered them correctly remains to be seen

I wonder if there is any question overlap between counties?

Was it lots of individually timed sections or 50 mins to do whole thing?

Lots of individually timed sections I believe (can't get much out of DD!)

Damn it...

We are screwed

I've realised I haven't yet asked DSs school to sign his ID doc.

Giles Maths, English and Verbal were separate exams of about 25min each. The NVR were short timed sections. You need to know the format for your exam though as different regions have different formats (well your ds, but feels like you). Make sure you have looked here www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/index.php for your region.

Blimey alot to wade through.

From.what I can.make out it's a CD and individually timed sections but doesn't state if it's the book style 5mins to 15 questions or the timings stated in the pp.

Still some debate on whether it's multiple choice or not.

Guess will find out Tuesday as it's the administration then.

Hopefully dd can follow the instructions

Familiarisation

Oops dd. The exam my dd sat will be entirely different so go by the comments on the eleven plus forum will be more likely to be correct for your area.

Giles did you get the link in your confirmation email to the familiarisation booklet? It looks like it is s combo of own sneers and multiple choice.

Answers not sneers!

No email. Maybe we aren't supposed to get one they just sit a practice tomorrow

Are you doing Bucks? I got an email from the Registration folk with a link to download this:
www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/4508568/familiarisation-booklet-2018-entry.pdf

Yeah im.bucks..no email. Was told that registration was automatic unless you specifically requested they be withdrawn. I shall look at the link thank you

Sutton SET emails are coming out, we got ours earlier this morning but a friend doesn't have hers yet - apparently they're all coming from Sutton grammar rather than the individual schools.

Yeah we has the familiarisation test today...

I also know we are the ones who are never lucky in these things, while everyone around me gets what they wanted.

Have missed out befire and will likely miss out again

Chin up Giles. We were there too. I'm trying to stay positive. It was so busy the big Tesco where I parked ran out of loo paper.

I don't want to press DS (who is not very talkative about these things) too much about how it went, especially when I saw lots of kids coming out from the first sitting (we were second sitting) saying it was "great". He said it was "ok" but who knows? I just told him well done for doing it but please don't fuck up on Thursday.

I also met a mum of a child who used to be in DS's class a few years ago who told me she'd been sending her DC to tutoring since year 3 and that the tutoring company was fab and "teaches them how to pass the exams" and also recommends they sit as many grammar exams as possible (we are talking in the SE and Greater London) in the hope that they get in one. I could have cried.

Although tutoring for years before the exam wasn't for us (and risks burnout and masks what may turn out to be an inability to cope with a GS later), I do get why some others do it, if they are at state school for example where kids don't get taught NVR (still don't like it); but the scattergun approach to exams? FFS! I couldn't hold my tongue on that one and told her I thought it was wrong. She told me that some parents she knew made their DC sit 10 exams!

My consolation and I hope others' is that such parents cannot make unlimited school applications via the local authority so the rest of us have a fighting chance.

Well we says it went well and some was easy.

Which means

A) it was alot easier than the real thing. There's no way anything about the 11 plus is easy.

B) she made lots of if silly mistakes (usual for her)

C) she's now going to be lulled into a false sense if security

Ditto. Good if they go into Thursday's exam feeling confident though. Meanwhile I continue to shred the skin round my nails.

Not a good sign is it?

Oh bless you - I know it's easy to say but try not to overthink it. When my two said parts of their 11+ was easy, it turned out they were right, it was. Which meant that the pass mark for that paper was higher, as everyone else found it easy too. If I remember rightly, one year the passmark for the English paper was 16/24 and the following year was 12/24.

If there's one thing I've learnt going through this four times is you don't engage with other parents.

And as for results day, keep your head down and avoid eye contact regardless of result.

I can't work it out

Our pass Mark is apparently 121