Eleven Plus Tests

The word testing has many different connotations. In Eleven Plus terms tests are used to pass or fail children. In the world of computers testing is used to try to find errors. A successful test of a computer program is one that finds an undiscovered error. This would not do at all well for our eleven plus children!

A computer programmer tries to develop a test strategy that is appropriate for what he or she wants to test. The programmer loads a little data into each module and then runs the program. This tests basics like updating and deleting functions. The programmer then makes the necessary changes and additions and then runs the test again to check on progress.

Computations need to be tested first of all. Is the program following all the necessary arithmetic calculations?

Programs run through loops. Each loop has to have a correct ending. Devotees of `Thomas the Tank Engine’ will know what happens when an engine runs off down the wrong branch line!

Of course the programmer may have to keep changing the original remit in light of the outcomes. Here close co-operation with the author and the programmer is required.

Parents of eleven plus children need to be equally meticulous. They need to check and recheck that their child has understood the work. Parents also need to help their children to stay on the straight and narrow of eleven plus work – and not go off on tangents – or branch lines.