Tutors please - need a tutor to help prep DS for QE Boys entrance exams

[Timbachick]

Hello,

I think I must have entered the third level of hell ... this is such a scary time.

I am searching for a tutor to help prep my DS for the upcoming QE Boys entrance exams. He is a bright boy and just needs a little additional help fine-tuning his exam procedure and to help him feel properly prepared.

Can anyone recommend a tutor who covers 11+ exam prep (possibly with a working knowledge of prepping boys for QEB)? Maybe you are a tutor who would be willing to take on a/nother student?

Thank you in advance.

[Northernlurker]

Just clicked on this thread because I was wondering exactly what those exams were but now I'm posting to say Pixie - I think your 'advice' is way out of line. The op isn't asking if she should tutor her child, she is looking for a tutor. Her post makes it clear that her child has ability but she wants to ensure he has the correct 'technique' for the exam. That's a good idea whatever age you are and whatever exam it is.

[huffythethreadslayer]

If you don't manage to find a tutor, had you considered buying the Bond books? You can get them from WH Smiths.

It's also worth checking out the 11+ forum (just put 11+ forum into google). They might have specific guidance for you.

Good luck with it all.

[Ladymuck]

"The 11+ exam was designed so that children couldn't be 'prepared' for the exam"

Very general statement there - which particular 11+ exam are you talking about? There are very few exams where some degree of preparation can't help. At some of the local schools for example, the questions are reasonably straightforward, and could be answered by many Year 5 pupils, but the exams are so time pressured that unless you were used to the speed needed, you would have no chance. Very common to hear untutored children to come out and feel that they had done well "but they hadn't finished the paper".

I have to say that I do get frustrated seeing children who would probably be up to scratch, but just haven't has any experience of the required exam technique, presumably because 11+ tests are far ahead of Yr 6 SATS.

[Northernlurker]

Of course it's a free forum - but it's hugely unhelpful to tell people you think they are all wrong when they're just asking for help on how to do something - not if they should. I disagree with you about the 11+ - I actually took the 11+ many, mnay years ago (and passed it) and whilst I wasn't tutored all my class had numerous practice papers to do beforehand to prepare us for the question format.

[Northernlurker]

Doesn't make what right?

The op's child is bright - she knows that. She is proposing to get him a tutor. She's not asking how she can pay for the exam answers in advance or disguise herself as him and take the exam in his place.

[Northernlurker]

That's a reflection on the fairness or otherwise of selection in general though - whilst a valid observation in general it has no place in the specifics of this thread and does nothing for the op. Is she supposed to not take steps available to her in order to create a more level playing field for hypothetical other bright children? I wouldn't do that and I don't think you would either.

[Northernlurker]

Oh and the practice papers we did were provided by the school so were in fact available to all.

[GypsyMay]

PixieOnALeaf,

Do you know anything about QE boys? I suspect not. It is not a typical grammar. Entrance is highly competitive and I would be surprised if anyone gets in without tutoring.

It would be unfair on the boy if he didn't have chance to practice the question types and understand what will be expected of him. QEB does verbal, non verbal, maths and english.

Good luck OP

[GypsyMay]

I should add that when I say tutoring, I mean with an outside tutor or by parents.

[Timbachick]

Thank you for your advice. You all make such valid comments.

I have got the Bond books and papers and all the 11+ preparation books from Galore which are quite good. I just wanted to help him prepare for these exams which are so different from anything he has come across before. They are timed - his time keeping (across the board) is not his strong suit and I feel that he needs someone other than Mum or Dad to help him.

I understand differing opinions on tutoring and, indeed, peoples opinions of testing for entry to schools in general. I don't want my DS to be stretched beyond his ability (beyond that which any school should stretch their pupils), in that I wouldn't want him to gain access to a school on the basis of a test and then not be able to keep up. However, he is bright and I feel it is important that his Dad and I do all we can to help him. One school we are applying to has a general Verbal Reasoning test and then interviews. However, QEB has VR and NVR as their first tests and then, if successful, the student gets invited back for Maths and English.

I have already decided to get a tutor for him. The discussion of whether that in itself is right or wrong is not one I was going to bring up, I just wanted to ask whether there was anyone who could be recommended or if there was a tutor on MN who could recommend themselves

In an ideal world there would be no need to select schools as they would all be good and there would be no need to test children as they would al be brilliant. It is a sad truth that the world is not ideal. I would never knowingly disadvantage another child but my focus is my child and his education.

Thank you, all of you, who have replied. I welcome any further comments or suggestions.

[Timbachick]

Pixie - your comments are/were all welcome. Didn't mean to accuse you of turning the thread into a debate - it is always good to hear others views.

[defyingravity]

Pixie if I understand correctly your children attend independent schools. They weill have had regular verbal and non verbal reasoning lessons as part of the normal curriculum. My childrne certainly do.

Children in a state primary will not have had this advantage. They will be unused to the format of the paper and exam technique strategies.

A tutor will help with that, not hothouse them into passing for a school they are not capable of.

[defyingravity]

Our do 11 plus, but the BR and NCR lessons are seen as a useful skill full stop regardless of whether the kids sit the exam. The Junior & Senior schools are linked though, there are no state grammars (apart from Catholic) in our area so not many sit any other exams.

[animula]

Timbachick - no advice re. tutor-name. Rather more generally, I would suggest making sure your ds has covered all the maths syllabus for national curriculum level 5 before the exam.

(I think the scare stories about post-level 5 stuff coming up are just scare stories. Though there should be some lateral questions.)

Obviously, I don't know anything about your ds' school, but many, many state schools don't cover all the maths covered in these exams by the end of year 6, never mind before the start. Standards of tuition in schools vary widely.

I changed my dc's schools and was ... surprised to discover that my ds was about two years ahead of his new class. He's no prodigy, it was just that his new school was ... very different to the one he'd attended previously.

[norflondoner]

Post on elevenplusexams.Co.UK instead of mumsnet and you'll have more success and a better reception.
Good luck to your DS. Mine did it jlast year so I know what its like.

[GypsyMay]

I don't think it's very helpful comparing the preparation necessary for a (presumably?) state educated child to sit a state school 11+ with a prep educated child sitting a 13+ indie exam.

Face it Pixie, it's just not the same thing.
I don't pretend to know anything about your child's school, but I do know quite a lot about north london selective state schools and what it is like for a state school child to try to gain entry to them.

You could argue that sending a child to a prep school is giving them 25 hours a week of tutoring. It begs the question - what is tutoring and what is teaching. Children's educational experiences are different according to where they are taught and sometimes parents need to compensate for that.

Sorry OP the only north london tutor I have direct experience of I couldn't whole heartedly recommend.