Support thread for parents of chilldren sitting the transfer test in 2011

beccasmum

Impatient mother.
Am I the only one or is anyone else just longing for these exams to start and finish so that we can all just get back to normal and think about Christmas holidays. My DS seems oblivious to all the stress his poor mother is under and no-one in work is even slightly interested in my rantings about how little the school has done to prepare or how daunting it is going to be on the day when all the kids are in the room together. I think my patience are running thin with old age and I know I shouldn't be wishing my life away BUT... roll on 12th Nov, 26th Nov and 3rd Dec!!!

elliemoo

beccasmum wrote: »

Impatient mother.
Am I the only one or is anyone else just longing for these exams to start and finish so that we can all just get back to normal and think about Christmas holidays. My DS seems oblivious to all the stress his poor mother is under and no-one in work is even slightly interested in my rantings about how little the school has done to prepare or how daunting it is going to be on the day when all the kids are in the room together. I think my patience are running thin with old age and I know I shouldn't be wishing my life away BUT... roll on 12th Nov, 26th Nov and 3rd Dec!!!

You are so right, I am even beginning to bore myself about the whole thing. At the end of the day our primary has no interest in preparing the kids for the transfer test and any preparation my daughter has had is due to me organising it.

My daughter is unconcerned and to be honest that pleases me. She wants to go to a particular school and so to have any chance of getting in she has to do the test. We are taking it steady, she is doing all her usual activities but with some additional targeted studying but nothing too heavy.

I will be glad when the whole thing is over.

beccasmum

Glad to hear I am not alone Elliemoo. I too have tried to keep everything quite low key but as the first test approaches I know I am starting to stress a little bit. I am letting my DS get on with all his activities and have hardly seen him at all over half term but he is happy and that is what is most important. He too has his heart set on the school his sister is attending but unforunately it is heavily over subscribed and turns away almost half of it's applicants most years so he needs to get quite a good mark to be confident of a place. I wonder has anyone heard how many kids are sitting the tests this year, info would be a little thin on the ground and there is not as much chat as there was 2 years ago when my DD was in the guinea pig year. It all turned out for the best that time and I just hope for my DS's sake that we have a repet performance. Must go now and take my tablets as I feel a twitch coming on... just joking!:rotfl:

dee1000

Beccasmum

I completely know how you feel and it is good to know that other people feel the same and i am not the only other neurotic mother with that same twitch lol.
Did you attend a familiarisation day at the school your ds wants to attend. Ours was quite helpful they told us how many people where sitting the test in the school which would maybe give you a rough idea of how many children may apply. If not I emailed the AQE office sometime ago about the age standardisation issue and they emailed me back with some info, they were quite helpful. So maybe you could ask them directly how many children were sitting it, it would do no harm.
It seems like months ago this practising all started and although i will be glad when its over I cant believe its the weekend after next. OMG there seems to still be so much that my DD has not grasped and sometimes it throws me into a wobble thinking about it.:eek:
But I am trying to keep calm for her sake, its hard sometimes :<

Speak soon

Denise

beccasmum

Thanks dee1000
We did go to a familiarisation morning but they didn't give out any info of that type, just did a dry run of what the kids could expect on the actual days. I have since heard how many are sitting the test at our preferred school and unfortunately the numbers are up since last year and that doesn't include the other kids from the next town who apply to our local grammar but sit the test in their home town. My DS's teacher says he should find it no problem but you never know how they will be on the days. I am so glad this site is here as it is the only place I can voice my concerns and not bore everyone to death. keep posting and we can support each other through this chaos.:T

dee1000

hello everyone

Getting close now :eek:

A wee quick question again lol On the AQE website there are some past papers for 2009 and 2010. My dd has already done these but there is very little english on them not sure why, whether it is copyright or because they may be used again. I know the 1st test is on saturday but i would have loved to have given her an actual full test paper to see how she did with it. Does anyone know if the full tests are available anywhere or do we have to go with the shortened verson.



Thank you


Denise

sandraann

Best wishes to everyone who has children doing the various tests.My daughter did the AQE test last year and thankfully did well enough to get into the grammar school of her choice.She attended an integrated primary school which took the attitude that they would not prepare them in any way for the tests. Despite me having taken the innocent attitude that it was only maths and english so she couldn't really need much preparation it all went ok. However, i was really struck by the need for preparation. My daughter's english ability in particular was excellent and she had achieved the highest results in her class in the incas tests but came out of the aqe test with 95 which wouldn't have got her into a grammar school in many areas.
Anyway, take a deep breath and best of luck.

steveymp

dee1000 wrote: »

hello everyone

Getting close now :eek:

A wee quick question again lol On the AQE website there are some past papers for 2009 and 2010. My dd has already done these but there is very little english on them not sure why, whether it is copyright or because they may be used again. I know the 1st test is on saturday but i would have loved to have given her an actual full test paper to see how she did with it. Does anyone know if the full tests are available anywhere or do we have to go with the shortened verson.



Thank you


Denise

I had a few on PDF for my DS last year, I cannot find them:o

but this site lets you download some for free, in PDF format, that you may not already have done

http://www.transfer-ni.co.uk/practice-tests.html

GOOD LUCK to all sitting AQE and GL this month:T the hard part is the wait till February :eek:

Catherine_:]

Its getting close now

beccasmum

All the best to all the kids and parents on Saturday. Hopefully all the preparation over the past weeks will pay off and everyone will get their choice of school. I for one will be glad to see an end to all the wonderful dreams where we get to the exam 20 minutes late and the paper is unreadable. Oh the joys of parenthood!! :rotfl: