Eleven plus

I don't even remember taking it, but I did. I failed mine but went onto do a Masters when I was older.
Got a good bunch of O levels at my Secondary school, I did much better than some of my old school friends who went to Grammar school.
During my career I took a further Education qualification, as I had to teach and assess at Degree level. During my Education Phycology module we was told that the 11plus was eventually seen as a failure of assessment, as the Girls marks were loaded, the boys didn't have to score as high as the Girls to pass. I was told 11 isn't the right age to segregate into different schools and unfair on lots of girls.
Not a fan of Sat's either.
Thankfully now Comprehensive schools adjust all the time (or should).

I don't remember much about the day except being more confident with the English test rather than the Maths. As a result I did pass the Eleven Plus in English and failed in maths. This meant joining a Secondary Modern school and not a Grammar. That said, we were taught ballroom dancing at my new school and I went on to gain medals for my junior dancing years so I have no complaints! Now retired, my love of English remains and several of my short stories have been published by an American publisher and I've self-published two books on Amazon. Over the years my maths has improved out of necessity!

@BridgetPark
When I was sitting the 11+ maths exam, my headmaster was also patrolling the aisles. My desk was in front of the teacher’s desk where he returned to sit. I noticed he had a blank exam paper in his hand and was pointing to a certain question. It was definitely for my benefit. I looked back through paper and found that I had mistakenly answered the opposite of what the question asked - instead of saying how many there were, I’d answered how many weren’t. It was a simple mistake. I changed my answer.
I passed. I have NEVER told anyone what he’d done!!!!!

We went to a school in a nearby town to sit the exam. I remember that we had to go across the yard and upstairs to have our lunch. I had been having special coaching sessions with the headmaster in mental arithmetic because that was my weakest subject. Maths was never my strong point. I failed my maths gce twice! Also after special coaching sessions with the Grammar School head!

Remember it vividly; we sat in the upper hall of our primary school, and I recall the smell of the polish on the parquet floor. Maths always a fearful challenge, English flowed easily, and there were some questions which I believe are now called 'lateral thinking'. I did pass, along with quite a few contemporaries, and as we left school with our brown envelopes, one child said 'Here come the scholars'. That has stayed with me - the other children must have felt second best.

I remember an iq type of test, arithmetic and language.
When I got home, I was presented with a duffle coat. If I remember, they were a new fashion, and I had been fancying one. It wasn’t the colour I’d have chosen, but I was still delighted. The results were sent to the house during the Easter holidays, while my mother, myself and two cousins were staying with relatives on the w coast of Scotland ( we were from eastern Scotland ). My aunt had a phone, so one of my cousin’s dad went to the local phone box and called us to say that all three of us had passed, and had been allocated places at the senior secondary schools of our choice. Great jubilation.

Some of the local grammar school girls had to walk past the secondary modern school on their way home.

Part of the grammar school uniform was a hat which looked like a pair of inverted navy bloomers with the school badge sewn on the front.

When the grammar school girls appeared a group of sec mod girls used shout "Here come the martians, got any mars bars" or "Knickers for a hat".

I don't remember anything about taking the exam so I obviously wasn't too traumatised by it 😁 I don't even remember any discussion about it. I do remember my parents getting the letter saying I had passed it and was going to the grammar school. My brothers went to the Secondary Modern nearby.

My Dad gave me a hug and said 'well done'.

My mother said 'you needn't think you're better than anyone else just because you're going to a posh school', and tried to talk my Dad out of sending me there because of the expense of the uniforms. Fortunately for me my Dad put his foot down for once.

I always wished I could have taken an 11 plus exam. I lived in the first county to go fully comprehensive and missed taking the exam by two years.

Three from my primary school sat exams and then went to private schools. The other 42 went to our nearest secondary school. It just happened to be the old grammar school. Most of the staff were the existing grammar school staff.

In the first week we all sat exams and were then put into forms. Our form teacher told those of us in 1C that we passed our exams. Forms 1A, 1B, and 1C were the grammar forms so we would get to do latin. 1D was the first form secondary modern and they would get to do latin for the first year in case anyone moved up a form.

I managed to work my up to A2 by the start of the second year. So I suppose I did get a grammar school education. I did have friends from both the grammar and the modern forms so maybe going comprehensive was a good thing.

As I said previously, I passed the 11+, and was in a two language stream at the ‘ grammar ‘ school, so must have performed fairly well. I had no way of knowing in primary school how ‘able’ a pupil I was, but later in life, I realised that I must have been. On my last day of primary school, as I left the class, clutching the book which was the first prize of that year, my teacher told me that I didn’t deserve it as I hadn’t had to work for it! Locking back later I thought that was mean spirited of her. However, she was right, as, once in the senior school, work was required, and I wasn’t always invested in it.

I think it was 1947 I did the 11+ ,I was just 10 , but we had moved from Glasgow to Northern Ireland and the nuns said I should have a go ,
We went to the school accross town and I remember the classroom looked very like any other school, I just did the one paper , missed the next being in hospital with appendicitis, I must have done ok in the one paper
I remember having to read a passage and answer questions about it , this passage was a source of debate after , seems it was too difficult , but when asked I said that I just guessed the answers from the story !
To add insult to injury , I was despatched back to Scotland to convalesce at Grannies house , I was sopeely wally that she wouldn’t let me go home by myself , so I had to wait till she and Granda were coming to Ireland for their annual holiday , so I was a week late starting grammar school ,
I hated it !

I must have taken my 11+ in 1963 but I also don’t remember very much about it. I certainly didn’t want to go to the secondary school - snobbery got me to the grammar school with my mates. My brother failed and went to the local secondary school. Saying that though I hated the grammar school - it was too academic for me - I wanted to be an artist. Ended up getting expelled at 15 and my dear brother went on to get 7 o’levels. I did go on to university in later life and don’t regret a thing. Still can’t make up my mind whether 11+ was a good thing or not.

My parents were pleased and proud when I passed, but distinctly remember Dad saying, “Well, you’ve been top at ….school, but when you get to Grammar School, everybody will have been ‘top’, so it will be different”.

Very true.

They never wanted us to get ‘too big for our boots’.

I remember walking home afterwards and my friends were saying what their answers were. I was horrified as my answers were different. As it was, none of us passed. There was a scandal years later when it came to light that girls had marks taken off them.

We had to go to another school to take the 11+. I had a flask with something to drink in it but when we had a break I discovered the flask had been broken! I hadn’t dropped it so presumably this was a deliberate act by someone. We had maths, what is today called non verbal reasoning and English tests, and also had to write an essay. I passed and have no idea how my parents afforded the uniform which had to be bought from Harrods!
Two of my grandchildren live in an area where the 11+ is still taken. The eldest passed last year but chose to go to a single sex non grammar school where she is very happy in the grammar stream. A lot of her classmates at her primary school were being tutored from year 4 but they didn’t all pass.

Yes, I remember the day very clearly, and most of the questions.
I also remember the day when the result arrived in the post. My parents were delighted that I passed and then had high expectations of me. I proved to be a big disappointment.

It wasn't called 11+ in my day, but the "scholarship". I remember being annoyed that I had to do it on a Saturday morning. That must have been the County one because after that I did a Manchester one and an entrance exam for the school. I passed these, and was always puzzled why most girls were given an envelope at the end of term, and I wasn't. Years later a prospective employer said to me "Of course, you went to a private school!" I said "No way could my parents afford a private school", but then realised that the envelope must have been a bill for the fees. I was supposed to be very intelligent, but obviously not!

I remember doing the exam, and particularly how we got the results. Hard to believe now, but our teacher just called out our names and said, "You've passed" or "You haven't passed." It was an appalling way to give out the results in front of everyone.

I can heartedly recommend this book (sadly no photos permitted as yet).

The Eleven-Plus Book by Michael Omara, with a foreword by the High Master of St.Paul's School, genuine exam questions from yesteryear.

It makes a great quiz book for after dinner party challenges, especially after a few drinks 🍸 🏀🥂🍷🥃.

I remember being so upset when I finished the actual paper not knowing the female of maharajah .

I took the 11 plus in 1963 at my own school, which was the final Kent test. We did Kent tests each year through junior school, which counted towards the 11 plus result. They were English, Maths and IQ tests.
20% passed with the top 10% to Grammar school and the next 10% went to Technical school. The rest went to Secondary Modern where no exams were on offer and most left at 15. I think we were told the results at school - I passed.

Elusivebutterfly Didn't secondary modern children take exams known as CSEs and a top grade pass was the equivalent of an GCE O'Level?

I thought that the modern GCSEs were an amalgamation of the two exams but I may be wrong.

I took my 11+ when I was 10 and my then best friend (who failed) said I only passed because I’d been given ‘age points’. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I remember the day, it was in January 1963, in the worst snow for many years, and even in London the snow came over my boots, which admittedly probably weren’t that high. My mum dressed me up really warmly and sent me off with a hug and a “do your best”. We took it at our school, in the hall. There were verbal and non verbal tests and an essay to write. When the result came through the post my Dad was ill in bed, for the only time in his life - I think there was a flu outbreak that year - so I ran up to him and he was so proud of me, I was the first family member to get to a grammar school. I admit I struggled, and was always in the lowest set, but I’m eternally grateful I was given the chance to go, I’m sure the name of the school opened doors for me later in life , for college entrance and for career choices. I was lucky enough to be able to join a profession whereas my former primary school friends who went to the secondary modern ended up as shop assistants, then married young, had children and then had no career to return to.

My 11+ exam must have been one year previous to the OP . I don’t really remember much about it . It was held in our very large primary school and we were told before it to leave out any questions on decimals as we hadn’t covered that subject in our lessons.
The results were sent out by letter to my home because I remember my dad saying that I had achieved my first choice of the five grammar schools that I had put down .

Indigo8

Elusivebutterfly Didn't secondary modern children take exams known as CSEs and a top grade pass was the equivalent of an GCE O'Level?

I thought that the modern GCSEs were an amalgamation of the two exams but I may be wrong.

Before GCE O levels I think students had to pass at least five subjects in a School Leaving Certificate and it was called Matriculation.
Perhaps some Gransnetters might remember taking that.
If you didn't pass at least five subjects, including English and Maths, you failed to matriculate.