A quick test for you all, do you think you could pass the 11plus test

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7773974.stm

I'll confess i got 11/15 it's the maths i struggled on but apparently i still passed so yay

I got 13 out of 15; there were two number ones I got stuck on.

OMG my mind went blank, i never finished it lol x

Err no!  I got 12 out of 15 and failed on the find the missing number ones.  My brain just doesn't think like that, I need simple logic.  Worrying that I didn't do particularly well since I am currently studying for a masters.

15 out of 16 :-)

Mind you, I did pass the original 11+ many years ago with an A+ (not that I'm bragging ;-) ) but I must admit I was stuck on the number ones, and I am good at maths :-D

>15 out of 16

errmm ... there are only 15 questions .... :-D

> I am good at maths

> 15 out of 16

Are you sure you passed?  there were only 15 questions..

WOW !

I passed - again!    I was a Grammar School Girl :-D     Nice to know I can still do it :)

15 for me too :-)

Bah! 12 out of 15 for me too and it was the number sequence thingies that got me. Boo

;-p so who's paying attention then :-D

I got 1 question wrong :-p

I'm sure that my brain stopped working several years ago, after I had children. I'm sure it does something to the female brain cells :-) :-) :-)

I got 12.  Not too bad.  My kids both did 11+ (Bucks) but both didn't pass although they received good scores (110 and 114).  I refused to pay for a tutor and to spend the whole summer holiday making them practice the sample papers you can buy.  A lot of their friends did and some passed, some failed.  Imagine a child failing ater their parent spent so much dosh trying to ensure they passed?  I also know that some kids that passed went on to find the grammar schools extemely heavy going, as they had passed not because they had natural ability, just been taught to pass the exam.  Some moved to the local secondary after all that.  Bloody awful system that should be scrapped.

Full marks, woo hoo.
Never did anything like the 11+ myself.

I got 15 too, never did 11+, they were gone by the time I went to High School. These questions are based on IQ type questions though and you can be trained to pass them so only indicates one type of intelligence :-D. Would not have liked to do it at 11 and under pressure though

>Bloody awful system that should be scrapped.

It's odd how selecting on musical ability is fine, selecting on sporting ability is fine, but selecting on academic ability is somehow 'elitist' ...

Children should go to the sort of school where their innate strengths will be encouraged.

I'm surprised - I too got 15/15 .....and it is 56 years since I took my first 11+!!!   

I passed that time too :D

> Children should go to the sort of school where their innate strengths will be encouraged.

Completely agree, but I do think that basing that education on the results of one test taken at age 11 can be misleading and a big mistake! I know a number of people whose parents avoided the 'shame' of their children not passing the 11+ and not getting into the 'High School' by sending them to private school.

I know a number of people whose parents avoided the 'shame' of their children not passing the 11+ and not getting into the 'High School' by sending them to private school.

It is parents' attitude to the test that causes this problem :-( When I took  my 11+ back in the Dark Ages I didn't even know I had taken it - it was just one of the regular tests that we did at school. I passed it but there was no stigma attached to those children who didn't but I think children handled the perception of "failure" far better in those days as we were brought up to realise that some people would always have more than you and others would have less, whether that be sporting, academic, monetary or whatever.

Both my children also passed their 11+ and this system still operates in our area but if they hadn't it would not have been a "disaster" - far better for them to be coping well with their school work than struggling at the tail end of an "elite" school.

I wonder if people think that streaming in schools is elitist?

I think that the whole point of the 11 plus is sometimes missed.  The idea of the test was the first step to check the child's suitability to either an academic future i.e. the Grammar School education or a different education involving a 'trade' for the boys and maybe secretarial (Yes, it was considered non-academic in those days!) or shop work etc. for girls.  In my opinion, it made way for happier kids.  The opportunity for an academic education didn't stop at the 11 plus, there were various opportunities for children who matured at a later age to cross over from Secondary schools to Grammar Schools.  Incidentally, I passed the 11 plus at the age of 10 and would have had another 'try' the next year had I failed.  

I managed 12 out of 15, I got 2 number sequences and the last of the 'find the missing number' wrong.

I'm not too gutted though, mental arithmetic and recognising sequences in numbers has never been my strongest point, so I'm pleased to have answered some of the number questions correctly.

I got 12.  Not too bad.  My kids both did 11+ (Bucks) but both didn't pass although they received good scores (110 and 114).  I refused to pay for a tutor and to spend the whole summer holiday making them practice the sample papers you can buy.  A lot of their friends did and some passed, some failed.  Imagine a child failing ater their parent spent so much dosh trying to ensure they passed?  I also know that some kids that passed went on to find the grammar schools extemely heavy going, as they had passed not because they had natural ability, just been taught to pass the exam.  Some moved to the local secondary after all that.  Bloody awful system that should be scrapped.

Whilst I'm not sure I agree about the scrapping of Grammar schools, I agree wholeheartedly that kids shouldn't be coached in order to pass the exam.  It's one exam out of the rest of their school life, what if they struggle through Grammar school just because they were ok at one exam?

I passed the 11+ many moons ago, we didn't even now what we were doing a test for in those days!  There wasn't the pressure & hype there is today about it all.

ETA I got 13 out 15 didn't understand the team codes, but have to say my brain is frazzled after Crufts & just pretty fried in general these days ;-)

> It's odd how selecting on musical ability is fine, selecting on sporting ability is fine, but selecting on academic ability is somehow 'elitist'

I agree. It's a strange one that a lot of people find academic achievement unworthy. Parents are applauded if they encourage their children in sport - maybe running them to matches and practise etc. A buddng Wayne Rooney is applauded, but a young Stephen Hawking is often mocked and the parents condemned - why ????

> I agree wholeheartedly that kids shouldn't be coached in order to pass the exam

I agree to a point. Coaching shouldn't be necessary if ALL primary schools teach to the same standard :(

Daisy

Here's what I dislike about the system nowadays (years ago there were far more grammar school so the competition wasn't as hard to get into one - both by parents went to grammar schools, but I went to a comprehensive school (Herts) and did well with the streaming system there.

Now, however, private schools prep their students to pass 11+.  I know for a fact that over 75% of our local single sex grammar school students came from the private school system.  Our local state run junior schools do not prep them, apart from two measly practice papers.  Therefore, it is a system weighted towards the better off in society.  If it's such a fair system, all students should receive a fair chance of passing the exam.

You wouldn't put someone in for a driving test if they hadn't been taught how to drive, would you? You wouldn't expect someone to pass an exam paper in a subject they hadn't been taught about either.

The 11+ is (or was when I took it and my son took it) more of a test of a child's ability to think as opposed to what they knew.

But that's my point: junior state schools are not preparing their students to pass the test.  Which makes it an unfair system.  Being taught the method to pass (which private schools and tutors do) may help the students get in, it does not necessarily demonstrate their intelligence or their ability to cope with the grammar school workload, which I previously mentioned.

Then state schools should raise the quality of their teaching.

> Being taught the method to pass (which private schools and tutors do) may help the students get in, it does not necessarily demonstrate their intelligence or their ability to cope with the grammar school workload

But life is not fair :( Even if there were no private schools or tutors, would you stop parents helping their child at home ? I enrolled my son at the library the day after we moved to our new home - he was 11 months. We visited the library every week and I read to him every night until he was old enough to read to himself. We played spot the aisle number at the supermarket as soon as he knew the basic numbers. I helped him learn his spellings from school.  Etc etc etc. Was I giving my son (and my daughter) an unfair advantage ??

It would be lovely if ALL schools were identical in the standard of their teaching - but the pupils (and their families) are not identical :(

Daisy

The 11+ here takes you to either the college (single sex|), the mixed Grammar or the comprehensives (now known as high schools).
A| lot of people coach their children with multitudes of 11+ papers before the series of exams in the hope of selection.
My view was I would rather have my children at the school that they were selected to go to.
So many times children have got through only to struggle and/or need extra tuition to keep up.
Karen

Couldn't agree more.