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

dprovan · 17 August 2011 at 8:25PM

Hi,

My daughter is sitting the transfer test this November and because of our great system she will need to sit both the AQE and the GL tests as the two schools she is interested use each of these.

I watched the support thread last year for the AQE test with interest, knowing that our family would be living through the stress this year. I thought there must be many other parents out there going through this this year and others who have lived the experience and can support the 'newbies' like us.

My daughter needs to sit both the AQE aznd GL tests:eek:. The joys of our system. To be honest I am not really sure how things are going... Her Primary school is a good strong school and her report for the end of P6 was positive. Her teacher spoke in general terms and I didnt push for specifics like how he felt she would do etc but her teacher said she was above average and in the top 1/3 of the class. We purchased a booklet of test papers "helping your child to prepare for the tests on numeracy and literarcy published by fairfields".

Since returning from holidays, we decided to start doing some of the tests. We were surprised and panicky when our dd was getting 50%. When I marked these I could see that there were loads of careless mistakes. When I would mark these as incorrect and ask my dd to do these questions again she was then getting 75-80%. Unsurprisingly I was quite firm explaining that the careless errors could cost her choice of school... And needless to say I now feel guilty at the idea of upping the pressure:o

Today we gave her one of last years AQE tests and it did not go well. I looked at it and was terrified at how tough it was...

We deliberated long and hard about private tuition and decided to go for this. She started just before the summer and it seems to have been going well. The tutor says she has been doing excellent and making great progress. Now I wonder what that means, my wife takes her to the tutor and we have agreed that whilst we dont want to make a big play of things she will try to have a chat to clarify... Are scores expected to improve as the weeks get closer? Or is this my dd level?

I am also wondering if anyone else is using or has used the fairfields materials and if so how helpful they were? And what other materials are you all using?

I know I am going to value the support and shared experiences of others who are going through this or know how it feels so I look forward to hearing from others in the same boat or from those of you who have survived

Ex-Spendaholic · 17 August 2011 at 11:49PM

Hi there

My son did the AQE in it's first year and we lived to tell the tale as he is now starting year 2 of what was our first choice grammar. :j

My advice is to stop panicing. If your daughter was achieving 80-90% now then she would may peak too early, find it hard to sustain or get complacent. As she does more anymore practice she will develop her technique and gain confidence.

I used Fairfields, packs bought in Easons and some others bought through school. Sorry I cant remember the names.

Sorry I have nothing of real use to say but thought I'd reply incase your thread dropped off the first page.

One thing that I will say now andI frequently tell other parents and post on these forums is a bit further down the line. When you are selecting schools put down all the schools you would consider in order of preference. Do not be swayed by other people or previous cut off marks etc as each year is different.

Good luck to you and your daughter and hopefully this time next year she'll be getting ready for the school of her dreams.

steveymp · 18 August 2011 at 11:31AM

Went through this last year and at the time DS seemed fine about everything, we did loads of practice tests for the AQE and they got a lot of help in his school, all be it 'Hidden' help as schools cannot actively tutor pupils for these tests such is the stupid country we live in.

Taking the children to an unknown environment to sit the tests seemed to spook my DS and the scores he received where lower than all his practice school and home tests:( Thankfully he still got accepted into his first choice school, so it worked out great in the end.

The only advice I can give is try not to put too much pressure on you daughter, and keep parent fears (we all have them) hidden from her, if she is doing well in school it should show up on her tests, Good Luck we will all have our fingers crossed for you.

dprovan · 18 August 2011 at 11:55AM

thanks for the replys guys, it really does help to ease the nerves to know that what we are feeling is normal.

I soo recognise that the key is to try and protect dd from any worry anxiety. In many ways it's like a tug of war... small pulls to ensure she focusses and then giving some by reassuring her that its not everything also....

But I recognise that as we get nearer she is going to understand the significance from other sources so my role needs to be more about supporting...

ni-mum · 19 August 2011 at 8:50PM

Start saving for the uniform now!

Bought a pair of PE track bottoms today - £32 :eek:

travelling_light · 20 August 2011 at 1:46PM

we're facing this too! My son is smart and capable - I think, but his confidence is not great. So we got a tutor- on personal recommendation and it has been very helpful. Initially he would have been devastated by getting something wrong - now while he's annoyed it doesn't completely floor him. It's such a delicate balancing act. He's also doing both tests. Really glad to see a thread start here.

dprovan · 21 August 2011 at 10:03PM

yes it is such a balancing act.

My daughter asked to do a test today and couldn't wait for me to score it. She did very well and everyone was delighted and happy.

I look forward to sharing advice, experiences throughout the next 3-4 months.

Fortune · 22 August 2011 at 4:22PM

DD will be sitting GL Assessment. So I am joining this thread. Good luck to everyone.

Tiny_Mum · 23 August 2011 at 10:41PM

I know I'm going to sound incredibly dumb but could someone explain the marking system to me. My dd is doing practise tests at the moment each one marked out of 80 but if 145 is the max score how do they work that out?:(

one2escape · 24 August 2011 at 10:15AM

Im struggling to find a tutor for my son and we are debating whether to get one as well. My son is a paradox trapped in an enigma. We were told by the school to send him in for it and his tests marks a usually very good but on quite or number of occasions they are rubbish. We are debating whether to send him in for it or not. Hes intelligent enough for it but hes a lazy child in school. Hes the type, (like me!), why write a paragraph with one word would do.

He scores usually high on the tests because you only need a one word answer but the times he has a disaster he makes easy stupid mistakes due to is concretration. We are worried that if he gets it, (the school has said theres a good chance he would get a score to get him into a grammar school), he will not be able to cope with the workload. This is not because hes not smart enough just because hes a lazy. For me grammar school could make him or break him. BTW he has ADHD and is on medication for it and its the happy medium of not zombie and not totally hyper.

dee1000 · 24 August 2011 at 5:00PM

Hi everyone :j

So pleased to see this thread there is not much support for parents going through this and it is us that panics the most I think!!

My daughter is going through the tests both AQE and GL and i have her doing practice tests too. The AQE ones have the 58 questions and at the moment she is getting anywhere between 40 and 48, what i want to know is - is this good??? I know looking at it, it doesnt seem too bad but its a competition basically and is it good enough to get a place its hard to know what your child needs to get.
She has good days and bad days obviously and is throughly sick of the whole practice paper thing but she really wants to go to the local grammar school and it is her decision to do it. We are just doig our best to support her.
She is much better at the AQE ones rather than the GL, she seems to struggle with them a bit more, and they do seem a bit harder to me.

Thank you for reading, I hope we can all get through this, I know i am ready for the hills.

Dee xx

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

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free