Professional Documents
Culture Documents
11+(Year7)EXAMINATIONS
GUIDANCEFORPARENTSANDTEACHERS
GUIDANCEFORENGLISH
Whatisintheexamination?
TheEnglishexaminationisonehourandfifteenminuteslong.
Itisintwosections,ReadingandWriting.Thetwosectionscarryequalmarks.
IntheReadingsection,girlsarerequiredtoreadashortpassage,normallyaboutapage
long,andanswershortquestionsaboutthepassageinordertodemonstratehowwell
theyhaveunderstoodthepassage.
IntheWritingsection,girlsaresetawritingtaskwhichmaybebasedinsome
wayonthepassageintheReadingsection.Thistaskwillnormallybeofacreative
nature.
Samplequestionsareavailableasanexampleoftheformatused.
Whatarewelookingfor?
Wearelookingforevidencethatagirl:
Canreadwithdiscernmentandunderstanding,withafirmgraspofbothimplicit
andexplicitmeaning.
Canexpressherunderstandingclearlyandaccuratelyinwriting.
Bothunderstandsandcanuseawideandvariedvocabulary.
Canexpressherselfinwritingwithfacility,fluency,rangeandimagination.
Hasagoodunderstandingoftheeffectscreatedbylanguage,bothinothers
writingandinherown.
Howcangirlspreparefortheexamination?
Whileitissensibleforgirlstobefamiliarwiththeformatoftheexamination,wewould
emphasisestronglythatinourexperiencearepetitivedrillingofexaminationtasksand/
ortheteachingofaformulaicapproachtowritingareneitherdesirablenoreffective
formsofpreparation,eitherfortheexaminationorforourschools.
Thebestpossibleformofpreparationis:
toencouragegirlstoreadaswidelyandambitiouslyaspossible.
toencouragegirlstorespondtowhattheyreadinanindependent,freshandpersonal
way.
tonurtureinthemagenuineloveofbooks.
togivethemtheopportunityandencouragementtowriteinaswideavarietyofgenres,
stylesandcontextsaspossible.
toencouragethemtodeveloptheirownindividualanddistinctivevoiceintheirwriting.
Aboveall,wemustpointoutthattheWritingsectionoftheexaminationisdesignedto
assesshowwellgirlscanwriteinanunpreparedcontext.Theinsertionofpreprepared
piecesofwritingwhicharenotrelevanttothetasksetwillbeseverelypenalisedinthe
marking.
GUIDANCEFORMATHEMATICS
Whatisintheexamination?
Themathematicsexaminationisonehourandfifteenminuteslong.
Thecontentofthepapersinallareaswillbebasedontheassumptionthatcandidates
areworkingtowardsLevel5oftheMathematicsNationalCurriculum.
Therewillbeavarietyofquestions,testingbasicnumericalskills,problemsolvingand
logicalthinking.
Girlsmayalsoberequiredtodemonstratemoredevelopedpowersofreasoningandthe
abilitytosolvesimpleproblemswithanewlyintroducedconcept.
Thequestionswillnotnecessarilybecomehardertowardstheendofthepaper.
Girlsshouldbeencouragednottospendtoolongonanyquestionbutshouldmoveon
tolaterquestionsandreturntoearlieronesiftheyhavetime.
Candidatesonlyneedapencilandarubberfortheexamination.
Calculatorsarenotallowedintheexamination,norarerulers.
Whatarewelookingfor?
Wearelookingforevidencethatagirl
Hasasoundgraspofbasicmathematicalskills
Hastheabilitytocompletemathematicaltaskslogically
Hastheunderstandingtosolvemathematicalproblems
Howcangirlspreparefortheexamination?
Girlsneedtobeabletoshowtheirabilitywithbasicskillsbutitisalsoimportantthat
theyknowhowtousetheseskillstosolveproblems.Practicewithwordordiagram
basedquestionsshouldbeencouraged.
Itisrecommendedthatgirlsareawareofthetypeofquestionstheywillbefacingas
showninthesamplequestionsavailableoneachschoolswebsite.
Girlsshouldbeencouragedtochecktheirworkforaccuracyandtoshowtheirworking
whencompletingmathematicaltasks.