Eleven plus exam Totally Explained

Everything about Eleven Plus totally explained

In the United Kingdom, the Eleven Plus or Transfer Test was an examination administered to students in their last year of primary education. The examination's name derives from the student age group, 11-12 years. The Eleven Plus examination once was used throughout the kingdom, but now is used only in a number of counties and boroughs in England, and, more widely, in Northern Ireland. The Transfer Test is especially associated with the UK's Tripartite System, used for twenty-three years, from 1944 to 1976. The Transfer Test examination tests the student's ability to solve problems using verbal, maths and non-verbal reasoning. Introduced in 1944, the examination was used to determine which type of school the student would attend after primary education: a grammar school, a secondary modern school, or a technical school. The base of the Tripartite System was the idea that skills were more important, rather than financial resources, and that different skills required different schooling.

Structure

The structure of the Eleven Plus examination varied in time, and among the using counties. Usually, it consisted of three papers:

(i) Arithmetic — A mental arithmetic test.

(ii) Writing — An essay question on a general subject.

(iii) General Problem Solving — A test of general knowledge, assessing the ability to apply logic to simple problems. At the age of eleven or twelve, most children sat for the Eleven Plus transfer test examination in their final, primary school year. In certain counties (Buckinghamshire) it also was possible to sit the test a year early — a process named the Ten Plus; (recently, the Buckinghamshire test was called the Twelve Plus and sat for a year later than usual).
Originally, sitting for the transfer test was voluntary, currently, some 30 per cent of students in Northern Ireland don't sit for it.

Current practice

Eleven plus and similar type exams vary around the country but will use some or all of the following components.

Verbal reasoning (VR)

Nonverbal reasoning (NVR)

Mathematics (MA)

Writing (EN) In Buckinghamshire children sit just two verbal reasoning papers. In Kent children will sit all four of the above disciplines. However,The London Borough of Bexley has suggested carrying out only two tests - Verbal Reasoning and Non Verbal Reasoning but it isn't yet known if Bexley Borough will go ahead with this plan. If so, it'll mean children will have to do 2 tests instead of 4. In Essex children sit Verbal Reasoning, Maths and English. Other areas use other combinations. Some authorities/areas operate an opt-in system, whilst others (such as Buckinghamshire) operate an opt-out system where all pupils are entered unless parents decide to opt out.

Importance

The eleven plus was created as part of the 1944 Butler Education Act. This established a Tripartite System of education, with an academic, a technical and a functional strand. Prevailing educational thought at the time argued that testing was an effective way of finding which strand a child was most suited for. The results from the exam would be used to match a child’s abilities and future career needs to their secondary school.
When the system was implemented, the technical schools didn't appear on the scale envisaged. Instead, the Tripartite System came to be characterised by fierce competition for places at the prestigious grammar schools. As such, the eleven plus took on a particular significance. Rather than allocating according to need or ability, it became seen as a question of passing or failing. This led to the exam becoming widely resented.

Controversy

Hadow report of 1926 called for the division of primary and secondary education, to take place on the cusp of adolescence at 11 or 12. The imposition of such a stark break in the Butler Act seemed to offer an ideal opportunity to implement streaming, since all children would be changing school anyway. Testing at 11 emerged largely as a historical accident, without clear forethought.
   Criticism of the eleven plus arose on a number of grounds. Success was determined not only by ability but also by location and gender. 35% of pupils in the South West secured grammar school places as opposed to 10% in Nottinghamshire. Due to the continuance of single-sex schooling, there were fewer places for girls than boys.
   The merits of testing at 11+, when children were at varying stages of maturity, has been questioned, particularly when the impact of the test on later life is taken into account. Children who developed later (so-called "late bloomers") suffered because there was inflexibility in the system to move them between grammar and secondary modern schools. Once a child had been allocated to one type of school or the other it was extremely difficult to have this assessment changed. (It was however possible, at least in some areas, for academically able pupils from secondary modern schools to transfer to grammar schools around age 17 in order to study for GCE A-levels, and in some cases to progress to higher education.) Areas using the exam today have recognised this concern, and offer reassessment in later years, notably at Key Stage 3.
   Critics of the eleven plus also claimed that there was a strong class bias in the exam. JWB Douglas, studying the question in 1957, found that children on the borderline of passing were more likely to get grammar school places if they came from middle class families. For example, questions about the role of household servants or classical composers were easier for middle class children to answer but far less familiar to those from less wealthy or less educated backgrounds. This criticism was certainly true of the earlier forms of the exam, and as a result the eleven plus became more like an IQ test during the 1960s. It has been argued that middle class opposition to the eleven plus rose partly as a result of this move to greater fairness.
   Overall, it has been suggested by some that a large number of students were unfairly treated by the eleven plus. The sociologist AH Halsey claimed that as much as one quarter of pupils were misallocated by the exam. It is generally agreed that there were problems with the eleven plus exam and even those advocating a return to the Tripartite System usually acknowledge the need to review testing methods.

Use of the eleven plus today

In counties in which vestiges of the Tripartite System still survive, the eleven plus continues to exist. Today it usually takes on the form of an entrance test to a specific group of schools, rather than a blanket exam for all pupils, and is taken voluntarily. For more information on these, see the main article on grammar schools. The largest area still operating the eleven plus is Northern Ireland, although it's planned to phase the exam out this year. For more information, see the main article on the Tripartite System.
Independent schools, particularly those Direct Grant Grammars which seceded from the state system after the abolition of the Tripartite System, often model their entrance exams upon the old eleven plus.
The content of the examination differs from area to area, but most children sit a Verbal Reasoning paper, many sit a non-verbal reasoning paper and some sit a mathematics paper or different combinations of all three.

Scoring

The scores in a few cases (mainly in Kent, where the eleven plus is commonly taken in its most standard form, but NOT in any other areas of the UK) add up to 700. The verbal reasoning, mathematics and writing are all out of 141 (in standardised scores). Writing and mathematics are doubled and verbal reasoning added on to make a total score out of 700 standardised points.
When used to decide whether students are eligible for a grammar school education, a pass mark is set to decide. Usually, the pass mark is between 500 and 510. People who exceed that are given the opportunity to study at grammar school while those who fall below that are often not. Should a score be close to yet slightly below the pass mark be achieved then the candidate may appeal to get into grammar school. Generally someone who gets between 500 and 530 has achieved just enough to pass. Those getting 530 to 600 are most likely fairly able to carry on to grammar school without a problem. Students who score between 600 and 650 are considered extremely bright. Those that exceed a score of 650 are rare yet exemplary cases and will have no problems whatsoever in making the transition from primary to secondary education.
In Northern Ireland, pupils are awarded grades in the following ratios to pupils sitting the exam: A (25%), B1 (5%), B2 (5%), C1 (5%), C2 (5%), D (55%) and there's no official distinction between pass grades and fail grades.

Further Information

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