The format of AQE & GL tests
07-09-2009Belfast Telegraph
The format of AQE Tests
Pupils sit up to three tests in English and Maths in November and December.
The best two scores will count.
Sitting the test costs £35 — but costs nothing for children entitled to free school meals.
The tests will include questions on a poem, a prose passage, maths and basic skills.
Pupils will write in pencil on the answer booklets and extra working out paper will be provided which must be returned with the answer booklets.
The pupils will sit their exams in the grammar schools. The plan is that they will be grouped with others from the same primary school.
There will be orientation days before the tests so that parents and children can get an idea of the school layout and where they are sitting. They also may get to know their exam invigilators.
The papers will be marked in two centres locally by experienced markers. When the marks are calculated, age related adjustments will be made.
These are the first transfer tests compiled by AQE — which has an unnamed chief examiner and a team of revisers who are primary school teaching professionals with experience of preparing pupils for the 11-plus.
The format of GL Tests
The GL Assessment test involves two multiple choice papers — one for English and the other Maths — sat by pupils on November 21. There will be a supplementary test on December 12. The test is free.
The GL Assessment test involves two multiple choice papers — one for English and the other Maths — sat by pupils on November 21. There will be a supplementary test on December 12. The test is free.
The first paper, English, will last 50 minutes and will contain three reading passages and 65 questions. The second, maths, will require the children to answer 45 questions in 45 minutes.
There will be a short practice session before each paper and a break between the two papers. Children record their answers on a computer marked sheet — similar in appearance to a Lottery ticket.
The assessment paper will be marked independently of the schools by GL Assessment. The children will receive grades on February 6 — A, B1, B2, C1, C2 or D — and grade boundaries.
GL Assessment was founded by the National Foundation for Educational Research. It is the UK’s largest independent provider of educational assessments.
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