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11 Plus Exams

Alberta

Super Moderator
Staff member
There are many posts on here from members who mention their 11 plus exams, but not the content of them.
I sat my exam 67 years ago and went to Erdington Grammar, I have no recollection of the exam content at all.
I know it was just one exam but was it in parts,eg. English, Maths Geography etc. or just a general knowledge exam. I know that if there was any Science in there I would have failed.
Do any members remember? Alberta.
 
Good Morning Alberta, I don't remember the content of the exam but I do remember that I had to take it in two parts. The 'preliminary' exam was taken at my own school, Court Farm Primary/Tedbury Crescent and if you passed that you went on to take the second part at the first school of your three choices (Erdington in my case). I went to Erdington in autumn 1958.
 
i also have no idea of the exam content alberta...whatever it was i didnt pass :rolleyes: however i did better at senior school staying on an extra year to pass amonst other subjects shorthand and typing which enabled me to do the office work i had set my heart on doing...then trained to also do telephonist work so i did not fare too bad in the end :)

lyn
 
Morning Lyn, I always felt that the 11 plus was not a good idea. I passed without any problem, not because I was any more intelligent than anyone who didn't pass, they just asked me the right questions and wasn't worried or nervous. My brother didn't pass and yet he was far more clever and hard working than I ever was. Everyone else in our gang passed and it had a profound effect on him from then onward. I think this was proved by the fact that I got two 'O' levels - Art and English Literature and he got 'A' levels in Physics, Chemistry and Maths. He got a place at university but Dad was very ill (although we didn't know at the time) and wouldn't let him go.
 
I remember taking it and passed for Bartley Green Grammar School but only went for 1 year. As an 11 year old I had to leave the house very early to get a bus into town and then another one to Bartley Green. There wasnt any other girl living locally that went there so I found it very clicky and never settled. Why they sent me so far away heaven knows. I then went to Harry Lucas and had the time of my life.
 
I just did two exams, one for Birmingham and one for Bishop Veseys, there was just one set of papers which as I remember contained Maths (General sums, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals and percentages). An English paper, cannot remember what was on that and then the usual IQ paper...'which two shapes are the same etc'. Passed both and was offered Bishop Veseys which I took or KE Aston, Central, George Dixons and I am sure there were at least two others. I do know I was within the top group, but not quite good enough for the big King Edwards (family disappointment only somewhat offset by the BVGS success). I know BVGS still exists (and they actually have girls there now, that would have saved having to stalk Sutton, Erdington Grammar Schools and a posh private school, I think on Birmingham Road between Maney & Wylde Green, trying to impress all those young ladies whose mothers had warned them about boys like us) as does the big KEGS, but are there any other Grammar Schools still going in Birmingham?
Bob
 
Lady P, I left 1958 with sadly only one O level English language.
In junior school I was very good at Exam time but when I got to 15/16 .
At 13 some Erdington girls were entered for King Edwards High exam, I passed but my parents changed their mind about me going, just as well I probably would have struggled to get any O levels there.
My husband failed his 11 plus, because he was not interested in anything academic but loved working with wood and metal (still does) and the same as you Lyn he did very well in the end.
He now loves History and Geography and has learnt more from TV and books since being an adult than he ever did at school.
 
Some people don't develop until later in life. I left Moseley Grammar with 4 O Levels, managed to pass a resat English Language at Bourneville Day Continuation College and didn't do anymore academic work until I was 43 at what is now Bournemouth Uni when I achieved an HND with Distinction in Computing.

Maurice :cool:
 
As far as I can remember the 11 plus English exam consisted spelling, grammar and comprehension. I passed and went on to K.E.G.S. Camp Hill but didn't settle and my time there was wasted really (Something I really regret now as in later life I come to realise the sacrifices Mom and Dad made to send me there) I still managed to come out with 5 'O' levels.
Like Maurice I studied again in later life (in my 40s) and went to Coventry University on a day release from work and achieved a H.N.C. in public Administration.
 
I know it is referred to as 11 plus but both my wife and I, on looking back, realise that we started at grammar school when we were still ten, some 69 years ago. Maybe as we have birthdays in October. She at Waverley and me at KEGS Camp Hill. We remember there was an IQ test, some arithmetic and some english, possibly writing a story.
 
I failed the 11+ because I was just not ready. ThIs was at least to me seemed to be a blight on my being. At William Murdoch School I started in 1d to 2c to 3b to 4a and 5a, get the picture. In the fifth form I graduated with distinctions in mathematics and science. Became a technical apprentice and got an ONC in mechanical and electrical engineering, like many others with day release and two nights per week.
Emigrated to the US went school at night for University degrees in electrical, mechanical and industrial engineering. Did post graduate work in statistics, process control and operations research. (if I had been really smart I would have bundled it properly and got a Phd.)
When I failed the 11+ it had quite a negative impact on me personally, like many many of us our families had very little to start with.
It turned out quite well for our family as it has for many of you. My only complaint is that there does not seem to be many Wolves fans on the Forum :)
Have a wonderful rest of the day!
 
My 11 plus (in1964) was Comprehension, Mental maths, mechanical maths and general reasoning each paper of 1 hr. I can't remember how many days it was sat over. We sat it in school as the whole class took the test.
 
But could you pass it now ?
Question before I start, What is a gram? I would prefer not to reveal my result because if I told you, I would have to........well you know the rest, but seriously children today must be smarter than we were, very interesting, they just emailed back to say that I had passed to Highcroft Hall.
Bob
 
From what I can remember of my 11+ (taken in 1962) there were three papers, english, maths and a sort of intelligence test.
 
But could you pass it now ?
Pedro, that is a really great question! Many years ago I was cleaning out my garage and found a lab book from my first year ONC, S1. As I paged through it (after completing my undergrad and graduate work and in an executive engineering position) could not believe that I wrote that lab book at 16, so I am not sure :)
 
I know it is referred to as 11 plus but both my wife and I, on looking back, realise that we started at grammar school when we were still ten, some 69 years ago. Maybe as we have birthdays in October. She at Waverley and me at KEGS Camp Hill. We remember there was an IQ test, some arithmetic and some english, possibly writing a story.
Hi Jim. Perhaps you were judged to be very bright and took the 11+ a year early. My birthday is also in October but when I joined KEGS Camp Hill in September 1954 I was certainly well over 11 years old. Started badly and went straight to 2C in the second year. Then picked up in the third year eventually passing in seven "O" levels and three "A" levels (Maths, Physics and Chemistry).
 
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