11+ and not enough time to finish. Is there still hope?

[SamPoodle123]

My dd just completed a bespoke school online adaptive test for Math and English. She managed to complete English early (they were given 30 mins for each), but for math she had 27 questions and had to guess for the last 5 quickly as she realized she had just one minute left in the test, and she got many word problems with fractions. This is my first experience with 11+ and my dd first exam. Please tell me all is not lost. Is there anyone who had to quickly guess on the last few, but managed to move on to the next round?

I'm not familiar with the type of test you're talking about but if it's for an independent school the last questions are sometimes harder so that they can identify which candidates might be suitable for academic scholarships.
They wouldn't necessarily expect the majority of candidates to be able to answer them.

Many thanks @Chuckiegg for your response. That makes me slightly better. I hope you are correct about this! It is for a London independent school, so competitive to get into. It really made me worry when she did not have time to finish all 27 properly. I also was not sure if it is better to not just guess at the end and to just not answer them.

Good luck and hope you get the best school for your daughter. Sorry if it sounds mean if she doesn’t pass this school and she she isn’t near top of any waiting list maybe she isn’t cut out for the school - will they expect her to perform at that level

Depends on how selective the school is. Good School Guide review of a school usually has this information (how many apply vs how many places)

From the sound of it, looks like you are looking at CEM style tests? And this being November, probably independent school tests.

If so, our experience from last year (also first time 11+) is that for the very selective schools (CLSG or similar), it was not possible to clear the first round in the situation you have described.

DD struggled with CEM style tests and few practice exams she had, she was facing similar problem as your DD. She couldn't clear first round of a very selective school we had applied for (about 1 in 9 selection rate), but had better luck with less selective school exams (about 1 in 5 or so).

She also fared better in ISEB tests with slightly less emphasis on speed, so unless all your exams are CEM styled, you will likely have better expereince with the other non-CEM based tests.

This is very stressful time for everybody involved, but especially the children, I really hope all goes well for you. And good luck for the exams!

Maths papers tend to get progressively harder so this is normal. Instead of guessing I would encourage her to try to do the first steps of a couple of the questions as there will be marks for working out (so maybe 4 marks for 3 stages of working out plus a correct answer).

Is she sitting the 11+ this year for 2023 entry? If you are worried that she won't pass, have you got any back up schools? Where are you applying?

I know which school you’re referring to and think the outcome will depend on whether your DD got onto the highest level questions or not. If the last five questions were on more challenging topics (e.g. algebra), then she might have a chance at going through as she will have probably done fairly well in the rest of the test. If not, then missing out on the last five questions (unless her guesswork was very lucky!) is not great. The other factor is how well she did on her English - she’ll need to have put in a decent performance there. Having said that, one can speculate endlessly about these things and be entirely wrong!

@Bagzzz yes, I get that. For her math mocks on Atom learning she would get a range of 130-142 for math and English 120-137. She did not spend much time studying. She comes from a state school, which is taught entirely in French half the time, so no 11+ prep at all done in school and she only started preparing May as we did not know she would be applying to British private schools (long story). I think she is more than capable to do well at selective schools.

@justanotherdaduser according to Atom, children who got 116+ for the mock exams got in this school, so normally, I think my dd would have a good chance as she scores well for the mocks. But this whole having to just guess for the last 5 bc she didn't have enough time makes me worry she just did not preform as well as I hoped.

@KindergartenKop yes, we have backups. And she still has the other exams to sit.

@readingcat she said she kept getting long word problems with factions, that take time to do. She claims she had at least 20! Although, I cannot believe that she would keep getting these types, even if she got them wrong, they would eventually move on to another type of easier question as it is adaptive.

CEM select tests are not adaptive

The original poster does not say the test is CEM. The poster just says adaptive test.

@SamPoodle123 Can I suggest you join this thread on London 11+ where everyone is discussing exactly what you're talking about - specific exams and which DCs timed out for them - it might help relieve your anxiety a bit! (Lots of children seemed not to finish particular exams):
www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4643252-sw-london-girls-private-grammar-applying-for-year-7-in-2023?page=22

@LondonMum20222 Thank you so much! That is very helpful!