Failed QTS skills tests- Help!!

Hey, it seems like you weren't really that far off from passing so that's good. I passed the literacy one in the first attempt. I recommend doing all the online practice tests and aim to get atleast 65% on them. I felt the spellings were much harder in the real one so maybe go through spellings that relate to the school setting and are quite hard to spell. For example 'recommend', 'accommodate'.
For the numeracy test, I was 1 mark away in the first attempt and then I passed in my second attempt. Same thing goes to this-try getting 65% atleast on practice tests. YouTube videos are very helpful. I also bought a book by Vali Nasser which was really good as it gave examples and also gave practice questions.
I hope I was helpful. Good luck

I passed both on the first attempt primarily through watching youtube videos. There are youtube videos that go through each question for the numeracy, which I found invaluable as they showed you the method. So I'd watch a youtube video, take a test, watch another video, another test, etc.

I second the comment about spellings in the literacy - I seem to remember I had 'accommodate' on mine!

For the numeracy, the best advice I received was simply not to panic - as it begins with the mental maths section it's easy to miss a few and panic, and let that put you off the rest of the test. Don't panic, just keep thinking 'I can still pass', even if you miss quite a few mental maths questions.

So I've failed both QTS skills tests, Numeracy by 5 marks and Literacy by 1 mark (so annoying!) . Need some advice/help to make sure I pass them both on the second attempt.

Get yourself some books. I recommend these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Passing-Literacy-Skills-Test-Achieving/dp/1473913438/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504164179&sr=8-2&keywords=qts+test

Don't fret about your spellings. There are millions of words to learn and you will be tested on 10 random words. I learned lots of words and none came up in the test. Do focus on grammar and punctuation though as you can pick up lots of easy marks in these sections.

As for maths - all I can say, is read the questions very carefully and check your answers. But keep half an eye on the clock.

Good luck!

Hi, Thank you for your suggestions. I have passed both tests now. What a relief! I did actually use that literacy book. It was really useful!

Pleased to hear that - good luck for Uni! The PGCE year is great - I still say it was both the best and hardest year of my life so far

Congratulations and well done!

This has given me hope! I took my QTS maths today and failed by 2 marks, mainly on the mental section and I am gutted! Does anyone think it's worth having a go ASAP or should I give myself more time? I mainly freaked out and panicked on the mental section, not listening to the questions properly so I think that's what killed it for me.

If you can I would wait until you feel really confident with all aspects of the test. I have until the end of June to pass mine so I am going to revise, revise for a couple more months and then take mine. I have already got my literacy out of the way so that I can focus solely on the maths one as maths is my weaker subject out of the two.

I had originally booked to take both of mine on the same day but after taking the maths practice and doing the same as you panicking on the mental maths section and missing questions and scoring miserably I cancelled the maths until I am feeling more confident.

Good luck! Sadly I don't have that much time on my hands as I'm going through the teachfirst route, so need to get them over with ASAP I've given myself a month to revise unless I feel so confident again that I can do them sooner.