Transfer test 2013

charly3

My little girl is doing the test in november so would like to join this board to get support form other parents!Time is flying in and I can hardly believe it so far I'm pleased with dd progress she is averaging in and around 80% she struggles alot with similar meaning questions so if you have any tips for this it would be great, time management is also a problem I think she rushes too much, but its difficult to get everything sorted out!I am just spending my time trying to reassure as much as possible and keep things calm!

LMac

Not sure what you mean about similar meaning questions, but could you ask her to underline or circle important words in the question in practice papers at least?

DD is getting ready for test too- its getting her to check for silly mistakes is her issue! Her arm ( actually, both arms!) is in cast ATM so I have to write for her and its interesting as I'm seeing how she is making the mistakes. Generally not writing out sums is the biggest problem but her scores are high enough that I'm not pushing too hard- more a soft approach!

76_Debs

Hey! My daugher this year is also doing the AQE test. I have been through the process with my son in the first year the AQE was started. He was scoring, on average, around 86% in each practice test and then his AQE score was 116.

My daughter started around 77% and has slowly dropped and at the worst down to 55%, I just don't get how she was doing so well and now she isn't. The whole process is such a stressful one. I'm going over her papers with her and the questions she is getting wrong are silly mistakes eg, she's writing a number in words instead of numbers. In front of her is the spelling of a word in a passage but in her answer she's spelling it wrong! (I think) These will then be marked wrong even though the answers are right.

Just wish it was so much easier!! Grrrrrr x

charly3

Nice to hear from you all its comforting to know there are others going through the same strain of this dreaded process! I agree with the softly approach and thanks for your advice, my little ones marks did go up and down quite a bit over the summer but they do seem over the past few weeks to be averaging out, the teacher said at this stage thats what she was trying to acheive to get a better picture of where work was needed. My liitle one was really glad that the teacher did a back to basics kind of approach at the start of the year she thought this was really useful for a recap so it might help some others too, If I can think of anything else or come across any worries over the next ten weeks I will post them here!

Lets all keep up the good work :T

leftieM

My daughter is doing all tests in November. They are doing 2 tests a week in school. The first two were in 60s but this week into 70s and 80s. The school said they would drop after the summer. We're going with school suggestion that a tutor is not required and they will prepare children.
She's a late June birthday so we'll see how it all pans out regarding raw and standardised scores. God love her, it'll be the last important test she takes where her disadvantage, in terms of cognitive development compared with her class, is taken into account.

charly3

We are away this weekend and just checked my diary we have just another 5 weekends till the first test is upon us. I really think my little girl is starting to get fed up so hopefully a weekend away will recharge her. How is everyone else feeling and anyone who has been through this process whats your tips for encouragement to keep the momentum going?

Pmum

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd add my tuppence worth having had 4 through the transfer test in the past few years.

First and foremost. DON'T PANIC!!!

The schools mostly do a great job of preparing the kids so they can acheive their potential.

Don't overload them with extra stuff. It might make you feel better to think you are doing something but it might just make them totally fed up with the tests and switch off.

The 3 things I did with mine which seemed to help were:

Go through the tests they do at school and get the child to explain to you how to do any of the questions they got wrong. They often think they know what they did wrong but having them explain it to you will really reinforce the correct way to answer.

When they have made a mistake tell them it is great that they did it now so you can sort it out at this stage. That is what practice papers are for, finding out what you need to work on! It's a learning opportunity!

If "silly mistakes" are an issue, and they are for almost every child, I would give them a small pack of sweets. Those mini boxes of tiny Smarties are ideal. Everytime they make a "silly mistake" they have to give you one of their sweeties. They get to keep whatever sweets are left at the end. It really seemed to help mine to see that they were literally "giving away" marks (sweets).

But remember.

Don't Panic!

Oh, and make sure they know that they will never be defined by any number and that you love and value them no matter how they are getting on in school.

charly3

Thanks Pmum for all those useful suggestions. Its's OCTOBER cannot believe how fast September flew in. We are doing well, trying not to stress too much my little one is now scoring roughly 72% in each test but her birthday is late July so I dont know how that all works with her actual score, but to be honest I am at the whatever will be attitude now. I believe she is working really hard she does say that she has to deal with alot of distractions when doing test in school, so that might explain the silly mistakes, I am just so proud at the way she is working!:T

Pmum

They don't actually add or take away marks depending on when a child's birthday falls. They compare each child's score with the other children of that age and seem to draw a graph for each age cohort and then standardise from there. This means that the youngest children get compared to the other youngest children. It tends to mean that a very young child will come out with a higher standardised score than an older child even if they got the same number of questions right in the tests.
It really depends on the performance of other kids in the same age category.
At least, that's my understanding of it.

leftieM

Hi all.
I hope the tests went okay. It's a relief that they are over. Now it's the open days to consider. There are so many questions. Single sex or co-ed? Voluntary or maintained? Which secondary if she doesn't do well?
Happy new year to you all.