Dame Alice Owens - Mock?

[Countrylifemama]

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

@purplejeanie thanks for the response. I understand EPP papers difficulty increases with the level of the paper, is that so? May I please ask which of the below packs would be parallel to DAO difficulty level? My son struggles with English standard format. He is just too lazy to write, to put it simply. It would be helpful if you can let me know which pack would be either of similar or more difficulty level to DAO, this way I can get him prepared. I do have the DAO papers as well; but I struggle with the answer bit as standard format answers can vary so much.

https://exampapersplus.co.uk/advice/11-plus-year-6/dame-alice-owens-school-11-plus-exam-information/?srsltid=AfmBOoqduNcNme7z0lkm32x5UkpUrNgtjPLc3Ax7UPSuwrDx6Ki2NZA2

There are 5 packs with answers, would you be able to suggest which one would be ideal?
Re Bond, I only see multiple choice comprehension books. Are there any standard format ones? Also, from what I heard, bond is very easy compared to other publications, is that so?

Any idea about CSSE and Queenswood papers, did you try those?

By any chance, do you know if DAO is liberal in checking the English papers at all or are they quite strict? You may not know this probably but just curious as the standard format answer can vary from person to person.

Once again thank you so much.

@Countrylifemama thanks for your response. Re the EPP, can you suggest which packs out of the 5 are relevant for DAO? I understand EPP papers are quite tough in general so don't want to stress my son unnecessarily by using an extremely difficult paper set. I did see the Manchester Grammar papers but there werent any answers on their website. Will have a look at Pi academy. Did you try the CSSE papers/Queenswood papers at all? Would you recommend?

Hiya, under don't suppose you remember what rank she was after the first round by any chance? My DD got through to round 2 (rank 242), so trying to figure out how realistic it is that she actually gets a place after second round...

Hi, good luck to the dc that have started there this Sept. We live in Welwyn GC and I was wondering if this is too far for us to consider? What will your dc commute be like? My dc is now in year 4 and only just now I’m starting to look at secondary schools.

Apologies just bumping up the post for a response re the English Practice papers and Maths. My child has passed the 1st round. I understand EPP school specific papers are good for English but I see there are many sets, would it useful to go the 1st 5 set for English and Maths? For Maths, is Schofield and Sims Rapid test any good (1aged 10-11 years)? @purplejeanie I know you said FPTP books, is that the worded problems one and if yes do you know if the intermediate level or advanced level is the same reflection of the DAO Maths paper? Any other FPTP books that you would refer for Maths standard format? @Countrylifemama are CSSE papers any good? Which EPP paper set did you use? Any other guidance would be immensely helpful. x

WGC is considered local to DAO, many travel from there by train which only takes 10mins and then walk the rest of the way.

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

@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?

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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)

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

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.

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

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