Could you pass the 11-plus?

[petermillard]

Well, could you?

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

15 questions, 10 minutes to do them in. Brought back a few memories, and not all of them bad

And yes, I can pass the 11-plus - 15/15, woot! - though I did take the full ten minutes; as my Primary school teacher said, there's no prize for finishing first.

Have fun, Pete

 

[monkeybiter]

Did last time I tried ['74]

 

[Digit]

I looked at that lot with the same blank look of incomprehesion as when I sat it in 1951. I failed!

Roy.

 

[Mark A]

Yes, A* - and it was well before my time!

 

[RogerS]

[smugmode] Yup...easy-peasy! [/smugmode]

 

[Anonymous]

doubt it

My lads doing it today at school, first half any way and the some of the bits I've seen at home I've just thought eh!

fingers crossed he does well

 

[Jacob]

I had to use a pencil and paper to sort out some bits. Is that OK or cheating?
Passed it in 1956!

 

[petermillard]

I had to use a pencil and paper to sort out some bits. Is that OK or cheating?
Passed it in 1956!

It was OK when I took it - you could use the paper to 'show your workings' but bizarrely not let those workings spill over onto an additional sheet...

 

[cutting42]

Yessssssssssss, In my head in 8 min 11 seconds.

Mind you I have been coaching my son (exam this year) and daughter took it 2 years ago and got into the local Grammar School

 

[defsdoor]

15/15 and in time - not quite past it yet.

We've got a 2 year old that we want to get into the girls only grammar school nearby (when she is 11/12). Might be a bit to young to start work on this kind of problem solving though perhaps

 

[Lons]

My thoughts were "I passed it once so not bloody doing it again" - but just had to (hammer)

15/15 in just under 8 mins but I did use pencil and paper. I'm sure it was harder 1st time around - but then it would be at 11 #-o

I remember being devastated when I went to grammar school 'cos my mates didn't. We lived in a small village and though my father was a miner and we lived in a council house I suddenly somehow was viewed as a stuck up grammy lad :?

Bob

 

[bugbear]

[smugmode] Yup...easy-peasy! [/smugmode]

[smugmode] I passed it when I was ten. [/smugmode]

BugBear

 

[Benchwayze]

This is more like an IQ test than a test of what a person learned at school.

I was most baffled by the 'code' question. Didn't quite see what they were getting at. Unable to work out the code, I would have been useless at Bletchley Park then! I think that says more about the way my mind works than whether or not my brainpower is up to the rest of it.

I sat the 11 plus in the 1950's. Failed it.

Five years later I managed to get into the advanced education stream in the RN at Ganges, the only non-grammar school boy in my class. What does that say? I was a late developer I guess! Do I wish I'd passed the 11 plus? Yes. I wouldn't have had the 'mickey' taken out of me so much by the ex-grammar school boys. Mind you my native guile usually provided me with a come-back!

Shall I take an OU Course? I gave up the one I started, when I realised all I had to do to get A grades was copy wodges of text from the course literature and present them as an assignment!

Too late now eh? :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Chems]

This is more like an IQ test than a test of what a person learned at school.

Obviously been much to young to have sat the 11plus at the time I thought this too, much more like something you'd get on a psychometric test than a school exam.

 

[Jacob]

...
Five years later I managed to get into the advanced education stream in the RN at Ganges, the only non-grammar school boy in my class. What does that say?

It says that 11 plus was a very unfair system - separating kids into ability streams for life, much too soon. Early achieving is good, so is late developing

Shall I take an OU Course? I gave up the one I started, when I realised all I had to do to get A grades was copy wodges of text from the course literature and present them as an assignment!

You wouldn't have got away with it. I've done a few. OU courses are extremely well (tightly) run and there are no shortcuts.
Which one did you start BTW?

Too late now eh?

Never too late (within reason).

 

[Benchwayze]

I did the BA in Arts Jacob. I got three certificates/units. (Cant recall what the certificates were actually called.) With my work qualifications too, I had enough to get the degree, if I had taken one more exam. That was in the Sociology aspect of the course though. Unfortunately, me and Sociology don't always mix! I reckon I might even have managed an Hons. But as I said, I became disillusioned with it; even more so with some of the more extreme fellow students at Summer School!

As for assignments, I didn't 'copy' verbatim. Just summarised and gave analogous versions of the course booklet notes. That satisfied the tutor, but I didn't feel I was learning anything.

I do agree the 11 plus then was very unfair, and I have to admit to always having felt cheated of better schooling, which would have enabled me to get a better education at University. (They call it Uni now don't they. Wonder if that's because they don't spell too well?)

John

 

[cutting42]

This is more like an IQ test than a test of what a person learned at school.

The test shown is a test of Verbal Reasoning and test is most definitely an IQ test, not a test of fact learning. It has been specifically designed to be un-coachable for. In this of course it fails, as parents who can afford it will pay for tutoring learning the various 20 or so techniques required. The course books are available on Amazon for home tutoring. The overall scores my children achieve have not changed much, they have improved maybe 5 percent points in 6 months of tutoring but no more.

The Maths paper is more traditional and covers a range of difficulty from very basic to grade B GCSE so this can be tutored for and much would be covered by std year 5 and 6 education but possibly to to a high enough level.

 

[Benchwayze]

Cheers Gareth..
I did manage to solve it eventually, but it took me a little longer than 10 minutes!

John

 

[Lons]

As I said, I passed the 11+ but comments are absolutely right in that it was a very unfair test at far too early an age. It definately was not a test of learning achievement but was an IQ test, the theory being that if you had a high enough IQ then with the right guidance and environment there was a good chance of a grammar school producing an academic :roll:

I disliked my time at grammar school and would much rather have enjoyed woodwork than latin etc. Mine was the only pass in my year group ( a small school / small village ). The extra travel involved and the changed attitude of my old school mates didn't help either and though I did alright at school, I felt at the time I was missing out as my old mates avoided me and new ones lived miles away.

Did grammar school benefit me? - definately yes - because the environment we lived in might have pushed me into a factory job. Did I deserve it? - definately no more than most of the others in my class.

Is it too late to start - NEVER - my brother failed the 11+, is now 58 and has recently completed his doctorate. To be fair, it became an obsession which has taken 30 years. My wife on the other hand attended university at age 52 and gained an honours degree.

Mature sudents are recognised these days as much better motivated and more likely to succeed. Life skills are also recognised as being valuable

Bob

 

[Digit]

Reminds me of those aptitude tests that employers use to use, (do they still use them?)
I filled one in once with every daft reply I could think of, often wonder they made of it.

Roy.