11+ exam boards: CEM vs GL – what's the difference?

Guide to the GL Assessment and CEM 11+ exam boards. ... producing or endorsing any published practice papers, the continually changing format of the tests, ... Pleaseupdateyourbrowserforthebestexperience. Skiptocontent Skiptonavigation 11+examboards:CEMvsGL–what’sthedifference?    Whenyoufirststartresearchingthe11+,oneofthefirstthingsyou’llcomeacrossarereferencestothe‘GL’and‘CEM’11+exams. Simplyput,GLandCEMaretwodifferentexamboardsthataretheexaminersforthe11+invirtuallyallregionswherethe11+isstillused. Althoughtheycoverbroadlythesame11+topics–English,maths,verbalandnon-verbalreasoning/spatialawarenessexercises–thereareveryrealdifferencestothewaytheGLandCEM11+examsworkandthiswillhaveanimpactonhowyouprepareyourchildforthe11+. Tohelpyouprepareyourchildforthe11+,we’vesummarisedthekeydifferencesbetweenGLandCEM: Background GLAssessment:PreviouslyknownasNFER,in2007NFERwaspurchasedbyGranadaLearningandre-named‘GLAssessment’.Sincethattime,GLAssessmenthavedevelopedandadministered11+examsinthemajorityofgrammarschoolsintheUK. CEM:DevelopedbytheCentreforEvaluation&MonitoringattheUniversityofDurham,theCEM11+examwascreatedinresponsetofearsfromsomegrammarschoolsthattheexisting11+examsystemhadbecometootransparent.Theexamwasdesignedtoaddressconcernsoverquestionspottingand‘teachingtothetest’. Uponlaunch,theCEMexamwasfavouredbysomeregionsandschoolsasitwasseenasmore‘tutor-proof’,withmuchemphasisplacedon:CEMnotproducingorendorsinganypublishedpracticepapers,thecontinuallychangingformatofthetests,andtheperceivedincreaseindifficulty.Oftheirapproach,CEMhavestated:“CEMaimstoreduceanydisadvantagecreatedbetweenchildrenwhoaretutoredfortestsandthosewhoarenot.Wefirmlybelievethatchildrenshouldnotbetutoredforourselectionassessments.” Regions GLAssessment:Buckinghamshire, Dorset,Kent,Lancashire&Cumbria,Lincolnshire,Medway,NorthernIreland. CEM:Berkshire,Bexley,Birmingham,Gloucestershire,Shropshire,Walsall,Warwickshire,Wolverhampton. GLandCEM:Devon,Essex,Hertfordshire,Trafford,Wiltshire,Wirral,Yorkshire. Unknownattimeofpublication:it'sstillunclearwhatexamboardSurreywilluse. NB:Pleasenotethattheselistswerecorrectatthetimeofpublication.Schoolsandregionsdochangeexamboards,soit’sessentialthatyoucheckwitheachgrammarschoolthatyouapplytoastowhatexamboardituses. Subjects GL:GLcoverthefour11+subjects(English,maths,verbalreasoningandnon-verbalreasoning/spatialawareness)andschoolscanchooseanycombinationofthesetobestsuittheirselectionpolicy.Forinstance,inDorset,maths,Englishandverbalreasoningaretested,whilstinLincolnshire,onlyverbalandnon-verbalreasoningaretested. CEM:CEMcoversverbalreasoning,non-verbalreasoningandnumericalreasoning.Inpractice,‘verbalreasoning’encompassesmanyoftheskillstestedintheGLEnglishexam,includingcomprehension.Likewise,‘numericalreasoning’involvesthecoremathsskillsneededfortheGLexam. Forbothverbalandnumericalreasoning,theCEMexamalignsmuchmorecloselytothecontentoftheKS2NationalCurriculumthanGLAssessmentdoes.Again,individualregionsandgrammarschoolscanchoosewhatsubjectstotestaspartoftheir11+exam. Format GL:Again,thisvariesfromregiontoregion,butbroadlyspeaking,mostGL11+examsareeitherStandardFormat(whereanswersarewritteninspacesnexttothequestion)orMultipleChoice(whereanswersaremarkedinaseparateanswerbook).Thelengthoftestpapersvary,although45minutesisthemostcommonexamtime. GLtakesitsquestionsfromtheGLAssessmentQuestionBankandusesavarietyofdifferentquestiontypesacrossallfoursubjects.Throughpracticeandpreparation,itispossibleforchildrentobecomefamiliarwiththeseparticularquestiontypes. CEM:OneofthekeydifferencesbetweenGLandCEMisthatCEMpapersaremixed,withoneexamcombiningEnglishandverbalreasoningandanothercombiningmathsandnon-verbalreasoning.StandardFormat,MultipleChoice,oracombinationmaybeuseddependingonschool/region. Inaddition,thepapermayquicklyflitbetweenashortmathssection,alongerproblemsolvingexercise,thensomelogicpuzzles.Timingswillbeallocatedtoeachsection,andchildrenwillneedtocarefullymanagethetimetheyspendoneachsection. InCEMexams,therewilltypicallybemorequestionsthanarelikelytobeansweredinthetimeallocated,andtheweightingofeachsubjectforyourchild’sfinalmarkwillbeunknownbeforetheexam. Skillsrequired GL:Strongvocabulary,logic,mathsandspellingskillsarerequired. CEM:StrongEnglish,comprehension,vocabulary,spellingandmathsskillsarerequired.CEMverbalreasoningisverydifferenttoGLandsuccessisdependentonchildrenhavingamuchmorewide-rangingvocabulary. WhatdoesthismeanforhowIpreparemychild? The11+isabouttestingyourchild’snaturalaptitudeandtheimportanceofawell-roundededucationcannotbestressedenough.Readingwidely,buildingvocabulary,developingmathematicalskills,areallkeywaysofhelpingprepareyourchildforthe11+.Withthatinmind,herearesomekeypiecesofadvicethatwillhelpyourchildpreparefortheirspecific11+exam. Findoutexactlywhatexamsyourchildwillbetaking–thiscanchangefromschooltoschool,notjustregiontoregion!Alsobearinmindthatschoolsmaychangetheexaminertheyuse,sodokeepchecking.Looknotjustattheexamboard,butsubject,format,lengthoftestandanyadditionaltestssetbythatschool(e.g.creativewriting). IfyourchildissittingaGLAssessment-examinedtest,useplentyofpastandpracticepaperstofamiliariseyourchildwiththequestiontypesineachsubject.(PlentyofexamprepusingpracticepapersisalsoimportantforCEM,butthequestionstypesthatappearintherealexamaremuchmoreunpredictable.) IfyourchildissittingaCEM-examinedtest,workhardondevelopingadeepandrichvocabulary: Useavocabularybooktorecordnewwordsandtheirmeaningstoensurethatyourchildreallyunderstandsthenewwordstheyaremeetingandcanusethemincontext. Readwidelywithyourchildanduse‘grownup’wordsinordinaryconversation,explainingtheirmeaningasyougo. Practisesynonymsandantonyms,forexample,encourageyourchildtousemoresophisticatedwordstodescribesomething,orcompletecrosswordstogether. Forbothtests,butespeciallytheCEM-examinedtests,timemanagementskillsareofgreatimportance: Makesureyourchilddoesplentyoftimedpracticeandisaccustomedtomanagingtheirtimecarefully. Usepracticetestpaperstosetmocktestsunderexamconditionstohelpthemgetusedtoformalexamconditions–gettingusedtoworkingintestconditionswillhelpyourchildfeellessintimidatedbytherealexam. Developgoodexamtechnique–encourageyourchildtopickoffthequestionstheycananswereasilyorthosethatcarrythehighestmarks.FortheCEMtestinparticulartheymaynothavethetimeorbeabletoanswerallthequestions,soteachthemtofocusontheonestheyaremostsureabout.Thiswillhelpthemfeelpreparedgoingintotheexamandquicklybuildconfidenceintheexamastheyamassacollectionofquestionstheyarehappytheyhaveansweredwell. WehopethisintroductiontoCEMvsGLhasbeenuseful.IfyouhaveanyadviceorquestionsrelatingtoGLorCEM,whynotsharethemonourFacebookpage?   Ifyou'relookingforGLandCEM-specificpracticepaperstohelpyourchildprepare,takealookattheBondrangesforGLandCEM. 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