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

A question about : Support thread for parents of chilldren sitting the transfer test in 2011

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. 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

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

Best answers:

• 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.
  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.
• 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.
• 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...
• Start saving for the uniform now!
  Bought a pair of PE track bottoms today - Ј32
• 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.
• 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.
• DD will be sitting GL Assessment. So I am joining this thread. Good luck to everyone.
• 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?
• 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.
• Hi everyone
  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
• Just wanted to say hi Dee and that you're not on your own in this. Back to school next week and going to chat to teachers about marking system and what is required etc, hopefully I'll be able to get some straight answers.
• My daughter is sitting both tests in November. Both her older sisters did the old 11+ so new experience for me!
  She is top of her class & has been doing well in practice papers but it does not stop you worrying! I am concerned about her nerves on the day but luckily she will sit the tests in familiar surroundings.
  Handy to have support on here for the coming months!
• Thanks for starting this thread, good to hear others experiences!
  My ds is going to do the AQE test in November, been doing practise tests all summer with good days and bad days!! I emailed a private tutor at the end of June when I heard the school's current P7 teacher was leaving, and he told me to get in touch at the end of July - of course I went and lost his number, so emailed him again and he hasn't replied... May try Kip McGrath in Lisburn instead - has anyone any experience?
• So glad to see this thread starting, followed last years and to be honest is where I found out alot of info. Have daughter sitting test in November, been doing tests all summer. School really didnt bother that much in P6 so got a tutor who comes to the house every week. Don't know how much help he is but makes me feel like I'm doing my best for her! Results have def improved sitting in the mid 70%s most tests and to be honest am quite happy with that. Anyone know what lowest scores accepted this year for Belfast schools, Victoria, Methody or BRA? Not easy to find this out and know it will have been different to last years. Any help welcome, bring on Christmas when it's all over !
• Hi fellow stressed parents,
  Just posting an update. Well dd is back at school and things seem to be fairly slow paced to get them back into the way of things. We agreed that dd would do a test today and she completed one of the faifields tests and we scored it straight after. Dd continues to be able to manage her time well getting all the questions that she could do completed. I can also see that despite her body language at the time she must be listening some of the time to us as she was getting things right that she had struggled with before. She is managing the formulas and sums well but is really struggling with the conversions i.e. transferring metres to killometres or grams to killograms when decimal points are involved. Dd also continuing to make lots of careless mistakes ie she works out complicated sums to work out averages but when writing down, writes down the wrong number!!!
  I am still trying to manage the balance between encouraging dd to do her best and to learn from these tests whilst not being critical etc. She got 70% which I congratulate her on, but at the same time I can see with a little more concentration and some work on those converting sums it could be in the 80s.... Dd ended up crying at the end.... So I will probably struggle to sleep tonight for the guilt. She was ok 10 mins after and now it is a distant memory but I think it just shows how much it is in the back of her mind.....
  I still can't wait for this to be over.... 8 weeks and it will all be done... Im off to buy a couple of beers from tescos to see if it will help to deal with the late night guilt... Hope everyone else is doing ok
• Just to clarify - my nephew has a Statement and he had to be assessed by an educational psychologist as suitable for Grammar school before he was accepted. It was by no means as easy as his parents choosing grammar and him automatically getting a place.
  What is the case is that a grammar school will get an additional funded place for any child with SEN that they accept above and beyond their enrollment number and therefore most Grammar schools are happy to accept any statemented children deemed capable of the demands of grammar school education as it gives them additional funding.
  I'm not saying this to be argumentative but it is important that one2escape understands the process involved and that a place is not just automatic.
• Hi
  This is message of support to dprovan just read your message and I completely symathise, it sounds just like my house at the minute.
  My daughter has been is tears a bit also, i am trying to be supportive and encouraging but she gets disappointed when she doesnt do too well.
  I can see she is improving because there are questions especially in maths that she is getting right that she wouldnt have got right a couple of months ago, but she is also so careless. Sometimes when I look at her working out sheet i can see she has made a simple little adding up mistake and its made the whole answer wrong. It is so frustrating.
  She is still having trouble with measurement, area of certain shapes and some of the maths problems.
  Just wanted to sympathise with you cannot seriously wait until it is over our house will be alot happier.
  Take care
  Dee
• dee,
  sounds like we have the same child. She is really struggling with how many centimetres/metre how many mill/litres, metres/killometres and will turn it to 100 instead of 1000 or the opposite and then work out the complicated equation perfectly but obviously get it wrong from this starting point.... I try to explain that she is doing the hard bit and that we will have to memorise the cm/metre part and you can see her eyes filling up....
  I keep reminding myself that i am not one of those pushy parents, I will love my child no more or less no matter what the result and will be as proud of her whatever happens.... Instead I can see that she is very capable and just needs to make small adjustments/learning and then she will be cool. I also know that she will be devastated if she does not do as well as friends etc.... And after I think all of this, I can't help but remind myself that she is 10!!!! still my baby who should be outside on her bike or running about without a care in the world. But thats another story.....