Could you pass the 11+ ?

Technically, I never did. And yet I passed it with the highest grade twice. The "problem" was that I was a year younger than most of my classmates, and in their wisdom, the BELB "back in them days" decided that meant I had to sit the test again on a special day, even though I had passed it the first time. To this day I still don't understand why nor why I was still not allowed to officially pass. Thankfully rich parents got me though the first year of "big school" until I passed yet another hurdle at the end of first year and was allowed to officially count. I'm told that these days pupils who are younger than their peers are given the opposite treatement...

Anyway, for those, and many other reasons, I am not sad to see the 11+ go. I believe 11 is a dreadful age to test children and, if they must be tested, 14 is a much more realistic age. It has never been an accurate or satisfactory system, but the problem is that it is so engrained that it has proved almost impossible to replace. Who knows what lies ahead for kids, but you might want to have a go at this fun 11+ test which the Beeb put up for us. That's if you can do it withouth your palms getting all sweaty and your breathing getting all panicy...

You'll be glad to know that I passed with 13 out of 15. Really. I actually ran out of time and guessed (wrongly) the last 2. Very revealing of both my stupidity and how hard these things were!