Children sitting the 11 plus this September, in Birmingham or Warwickshire, will have to adapt to some major changes to the format of the real entrance exam.
In December 2014, KSOL researchers highlighted a major proposed change to testing in Warwickshire and Birmingham; this came hand in hand with the suggestion of a joint consortium for schools in Birmingham and Warwickshire (See January post).
With this new information, KSOL made the decision to change the format of their Birmingham mock exams to reflect this proposed change, in order to continue to provide students with an experience that would reflect the real thing. New information, released about ‘The Test’ on the Birmingham Consortium of Grammar Schools website, confirms that this format will be put into place for the 12th September 2015 11 plus entrance exam.
KSOL have been running mock exams in Buckinghamshire for the past two years, which follow a similar format. From this experience, they have seen the impact that it can have on a child. Anita Dhunna, Director of Education at KSOL comments:
We noticed that the majority of children were taking significantly longer to tackle the questions as they were unfamiliar with the format. In fact, most of them were unable to complete all of the sections, missing out on so many questions”
Furthermore, feedback from the first KSOL Birmingham (Shirley, Solihull) mock exam using this format, has found that the same issue has occurred. Timing is such an important technique to have in preparation for an exam and tackling this issue only comes with practice. Luckily, students who have already taken a KSOL mock exam have had their first taster of what to expect in September and will be able to improve over the course of the year as they take further exams. This proves that KSOL are ahead of the game and have a child’s best interests at heart in helping them to prepare for the big day.
KSOL will be running further mock exams in preparation for the Birmingham and Warwickshire entrance exam, in Shirley (Solihull) in March, May and July. For more information, visit the KSOL website or follow the link below:
http://www.ksol.co.uk/contents/11CoursesProducts/11CEMMockExams.aspx
