What are the Mocks?

Main Mock Exam

We have four main mock exams (A, B, C, D). Each exam will include a Maths paper, an English paper, a Verbal Reasoning paper and a Non-Verbal Reasoning paper for those who need it (boys preparing for the Bishop’s 11+ or children sitting exams elsewhere). There are several opportunities to sit each exam.

Two-Paper Exam

This is for the boys preparing for the Bishop’s 11+. It is much shorter than our main mocks (in line with the real Bishop’s 11+).

Nervous Exam

For those children who can’t bring themselves to enter an exam room. This as a stepping-stone and teaches the children all about exams in the security of their own homes so that they can enter a real exam room with more confidence. Some children the Nervous Exam for convenience rather than nerves.

What to expect from each exam

The exams are of the same level of difficulty: that of the 11+.

No one expects the children to do well in the first exam, its purpose is to give the children an idea of what they are preparing for and why.

Until their first mock the whole experience of 11+ preparation is rather like playing your first ever football match in thick fog, where you can neither see the goals, your team mates or the opposition, or even know that they exist. If you are going to have a “car-crash”, do it as far away from the actual 11+ as possible and practise enough so that you can look back on these mistakes and laugh.

Nine-year-olds make the mistakes of nine-year-olds: not writing their name, crying, forgetting pencils, writing their answers in the wrong place, cheating, chatting….the list is almost endless.

What to expect from each Exam

Mock A

• Nerves
• Finding out what the 11+ feels like and looks like
• Really silly mistakes
• A baseline by which to measure progress
• How it feels to await results
• They find out that they really can concentrate for a whole morning

Mock B

• Tearfulness
• Better concentration
• Keen to see results
• More silly mistakes but a growing realisation that it isn't all Sarah's fault!
• Learning the drill: when to get up, what snacks, hair, pencils etc

Mock C

• Settling in well
• Getting on with the exam
• Finding out which I's to dot and which T's to cross before the Summer Holiday
• The children start to believe in themselves

Mock D

• A really strong positive energy towards the exam
• The process no longer holds any mysteries
• They enjoy the morning
• They now recognise many children preparing for the 11+
• We identify how to use the final few weeks most effectively

 

 

Remember that the children will experience the effects of the first exam whether they sit it in January or August.

What we want to achieve through these exams is a sense of familiarity with the exam process so they can just concentrate on the questions. Try to resist the temptation to keep changing things, this only leads to increased stress and an expectation of stress. We want the children's first experiences of formal exams to be calm.

You don’t fatten a pig by constantly weighing it. Four exams are enough to identify problem areas; do more if you fancy or feel there's a need. The rest of your time should be spent playing and fixing the problems.

Click this image to see the collected results for Mock Exam B 2023

Click on this image for a light-hearted look at what to expect from your first Mock Exam

Or watch Mrs Sock training to be an exam invigilator

Your Mock Exam Report