Transfer Test AQE 2014-2015

Workingmumof2

I think it will depend on what results my daughter gets in the tests and how she feels about them as to what we do that day. Our local coffee shop offers free hot chocolates to all the kids who have done the transfer test next sat though if daughter gets a disappointing result it might be upsetting for her to be around others with possibly higher marks. If she doesn't do as well as she'd hoped then we will prob go somewhere to try and lift her spirits like swimming, cinema etc. my nerves are really kicking in now, feeling as jittery as I did before the first test! Daughter doesn't seem too worried, she is expecting to have done well which is making me even more nervous as I don't want her to be disappointed!

motherearth

Hi everyone we are going to just keep our day as normal for our daughter as she has lots of activities on Saturday and in the evening going to go out for a family meal.
She seems quite calm about the whole thing, although I'll just be glad when next Saturday comes.

Luckymummy

I agree alot depends on the results and how they feel! Will do something either way as the most important thing id that they done their best whatever the result is x

Mrs_mum

Yep, we are going to play it by ear next Saturday and just go with whatever daughter feels like doing, the only definite thing we have planned is dinner, Frankie & Bennys, daughters favourite and her choice.

Has anyone else thought about getting the result from the sorting office instead of waiting for the postman? Must say I am tempted to get it from the sorting office, don't know if I can wait til the postman arrives!

MaggieMc

Think I'll wait for the postman and stalk him up the road:) For Luckymummy, I was chatting to a parent from 2012 exam and her daughter did not by finish the English paper but knew that she had done well in her maths. She got an A! It's so hard to predict the outcome as there are so many factors to consider, including the difficulty of the papers. It's all in the hands of GL now. Good luck for next week.

Kamand29

I have only just found this thread. I have had a similar experience to most of you, dd will fluctuate in her scores. In p6 had gone from low 70s up to 88 before the hols. School gave them a practice paper to do at home each weekend from Easter which surprised us as last year they did nothing! This year only two of her class were not sitting transfer tests which might explain why they prepared them more. We did not tutor. The school was doing a bit and I was doing the rest.

First paper I gave her in the summer.....54!!!!!
She is every bit as stubborn as me, so I let her mainly enjoy her hols as I knew if she felt pressured she might dig her heels in and ultimately refuse to even sit the papers. She did the odd paper or English/Maths exercise and by the end of August was back up to low/mid 70s.

Upon returning to school, she seemed to generate a standard mark of 77 in everything she did....in school or for me. This went on for the whole of September with me noticing up to 15 careless errors per paper. After trying every way of coaxing her, no improvement. I know what she is like though....for ballet and piano exams, she messes around in lessons and practices because she 'knows how to do it!' then pulls it out of the bag on the day. She was taking the same attitude to this.

Like the bad mother I am, I suggested that if she didn't reduce her careless errors, she might have to miss hockey the next night and do another paper instead...not proud of it, but BINGO! For my little donkey, the stick was more effective than the carrot and her score immediately raised to 89.

They stayed there until about 2 weeks before, when she took a dip to 74 and completely freaked out (as she wants to go to FSL which as scall1on pointed out is the hardest AQE school to get into in NI.....minimum of 106 past few years, and although she is our eldest, she does not meet any criteria since her primary school has not been a feeder school within the last 5 years, so she will need 111 to be safely in the door)

She gradually improved again, getting 92 the weekend before the first paper. I didn't want her to do another after that as another dip would completely ruin her confidence, nor did I want her to abandon the papers, so instead I told her we would take a little over an hour, and go through it with her telling me her approach to each question before she would commit pen to paper. I didn't interfere though, if she was approaching something incorrectly I let her fire on. It was merely to ensure she was taking time to think about what each question wanted. She got 91 in that.

She found all 3 papers easy enough. Finished in 45 mins and apparently spent the 15 mins checking over them, although I worry that she thinks they were easy because she didn't read questions properly?

She also did all papers. She was dreading GL as she always did worse in those....typically 75 in English and 85 in Maths. She sat it in the school where I teach and apparently had her head down working the whole time and bounced out of the English paper with a big grin (probably because it was over and they were being brought to the canteen for food lol)

Doing the papers didn't seem to phase her one bit, she didn't get stressed and I am fairly hopeful she will do well enough to get a place at one of the four Grammar schools she is interested in as they had varying lowest scores, 106, 101, 98 and C2.

I am just nervous about next week as although we will be proud of her however she does (she got her 'big school' mobile phone for her hard work after the tests, rather than waiting til results day) I just don't want her to be disappointed if she doesn't get the marks for her first choice.

I have been trying to play it down by telling her she will get the results for the school she is meant to be at and that everything happens for a reason. But I know that when I say this, she is simply thinking FSL!

Good luck to the children of everyone on here. I have enjoyed reading this. Most of it has calmed me knowing others are going through the same thing and some has freaked me out 80% = 103 aargh!!! I hope that whatever the results, your children will be happy with how they have done and enjoy the school they end up placed at. Fingers crossed!!!

Loka_loka

This thread has been a great help over the past year while my daughter has been preparing for and doing the GL. I've been a lurker but not yet posted but hope someone can help as I can't find an answer on the web..

Does anyone know what the results sheet looks like? Will it be easy to identify the grade? Reason I ask is that I might let DD open the letter on Saturday with me looking over her shoulder...if any one can post an image I would be grateful.

Sugarmummy

Roll on Saturday is all I can say. Very nervous for my wee man, though he seems happy enough and not worried. I'll be happy with whatever score he gets, because I know he tried. My concerns lie with the other mums who seem so hooked on what potential scores are and how the scores are going to compare with other kids from the school. They want to send texts to find out how each other child has done! Am I wrong to want my child's score kept to us? I just want to send a txt, saying he did well we r looking to send him to whatever school?

Craftyc

For those worrying about late post check if school are prepared to give out result by phone. Our school told the children yesterday that if post is late they can get result from headmistress if they phone school on Sat morn. Hope this helps.

flymetothemoon_2

MaggieMc wrote: »

Anyone know if Royal Mail makes an effort to get the results distributed early? Our postman usually doesn't come until 12pm on Saturdays.

Hi Maggia Mc

I don't think Royal Mail has ever made any additional effort to get results out any earlier than usual and in fact, the chances are, that most postmen will be running later than usual because there will be approximately 15000 extra letters to be posted through letter boxes this Saturday in addition to the usual mail. Even in the days of the old 11+ I don't think Royal Mail did it any differently.

Four years ago, we were waiting for my DDs results and our postman (who usually arrived at about 1030 or 11am on a Saturday) didn't arrive until 1.30pm !! My nerves were jangling, not least because as time wore on, more and more of her friends were phoning and texting to tell her their scores and ask what she had scored, but our postman had not arrived so she couldn't answer then and the fact that most of her friends had done well made us feel even more pressurised in case her score was not good. Thankfully it worked out ok, but the long wait was dreadful. Hence, I am not expecting to see our postman before 11 or noon this Saturday at the earliest. :eek: