11+ prep

It does depend on what the school wants and what exam board they use. Some schools its maths and English others it's maths, english/comp, VR and NVR along with a written essay. It varies widely school to school, area to area so therefore prep will vary as well. Yes children are above average but most student prep for longer than 6 weeks especially if doing the larger amount of content.

Which is obviously grammar

@Tellmeifimwrong
My dd had no tutor and I only showed her nvr on u tube for things like cube net.

She just got over the line. In hindsight I should have perhaps got her a maths tutor for a while she definitely didn't need any help one the English side.

However she's just done year 10 and has scored extremely high in the school mocks saying she's really high in the cohort.

Everyone tutors in one way or another here. Some (like mine) go just to a 1hr a week group class where they teach basic concepts but more focus on timing and how to record the answers on the test paper. Other kids have a 1:1 tutor for an hour or up to several hours a week. Some of them also do the group coaching on top. A friend of my DD has been going to a group session plus has 3 separate 1:1 tutors and spends all their spare time doing practice papers. Crazy. People usually start practising the year before the test. In DD’s group session of 10 kids several of them are still only in Y4. So they will be doing that for another full year. I feel a bit sorry for those kids. Then there’s extra mock tests you can book in the holidays that are under proper exam conditions. Locally those are always booked up.

The kids not doing paid tutoring are doing quite a lot at home with a parent in terms of practice papers, work books, online subscriptions. It’s all the same thing really. I don’t personally know of any child that has done no practice for the 11 plus .

That’s all state school. I know some kids at private who already have the advantage of being coached during school hours for the 11 plus / entrance tests…and are still also having extra paid tutor sessions and online subscriptions. The experience is wildly different. At the Grammar school open evening I asked one of the Y6 girls what the homework volume was like and she said it was less home work than she had when she was in y4 to Y6 at prep school.

Any child passing the test with zero prep has done very well indeed, especially if state school as unlikely to have had any exposure to VR type questions or any help from school, ours won’t even comment on suitability for 11 plus.

I think those that pass with little to no tutoring/prep are those that are supposed to go to Grammar and therefore won’t struggle. They must be extremely bright.

Those that are intensively tutored since YR4 and then scrape in will most likely struggle. Plus all that pressure from a young age. The system is a bit shit as round here everyone tutors. It’s not supposed to be like this.

My DC did 30 minutes a day online from the summer holidays and got into top schools in London. No tutoring whatsoever. They only started then as I think you can peak too soon. We didn't do interview prep either, they just read widely and did what they enjoyed.

My child passed with no prep whatsoever. Only just scraped a pass, but passed nonetheless. I don't consider them particularly bright. I was worried they would be bottom at their school, but they are pretty average (without trying very hard, much to my dismay). Apparently it's quite common for children to be tutored to pass and then either struggle, or need constant tutoring going forwards to keep up.

They spent a lot of year 7 going over stuff they had already done at primary.

I know someone who did 8 hours a day for 6 weeks so it isn't telling us much. (yes the child resented it and was angry even thou they passed)

I would also agree with the above post. I didn’t realise your DC had got into super selective. With only 6 weeks prep getting into a super selective means he must be really bright and able. There will be a range of kids at the new school (within the super selective group)- I really wouldn’t worry.

All four of mine are/were at grammars - the boys at superselective. They all got varying grades on the 11+ - and their academic trajectories have all been completely unrelated to their marks.

I would say a child who has passed after only 6 weeks will be absolutely fine, and possibly in many cases, fare better than those who have been intensively coached/tutored/prepped because they obviously have a strong aptitude for dealing with academic challenge. Congratulations to your DC!

And obviously if you go to a prep lots are prepped for 11+

One of my dc was at gymnastics on Saturday, the school also hires out a hall to a tutor company. There were dc from yr 1-3 getting tutored, even I was shocked!

I think it depends on where you live. In certain parts of the country, the prep starts ridiculously young because the competition is insane (e.g. certain parts of London). I have a friend with a naturally bright son, who went to a private primary school and was tutored, and he passed the 11+ by the skin of his teeth for one of the three schools he applied to.

It probably doesn't help!

I don't know anyone who got in without tutoring because the schools here are so competitive that to get into the grammars or the comprehensives with the streamed sets you need to not just pass but score high.

Sounds completely bonkers to me the amount of tutoring that goes in. Tests should be designed to pick the brightest children not the ones whose parents have spent the most on tutoring!
i know that’s a simplistic view. Pleased there is no such pressure in these parts

All my children are in grammar schools. All practiced 11+ papers at home during the summer holidays before the exam in September.

You need to understand what the questions are asking, but once you know that, then you know it

Where do you live?

It probably doesn't help!

6 weeks is about normal prep, so passing after 6 weeks prep puts you in the top 25% ish

Where I am, prep normally starts in Yr4!!

Before DD took her 11+ the advice I got was to make sure she is well and widely read and that her maths is up to speed. She did a few past papers but no real prep apart from that. Imo, there is no point hothousing a child into passing an exam if they won't be able to keep up in a grammar school. Anyway, she passed, can't remember the score but enough for her first choice grammar. If your child has passed with minimal preparation they should find the academic side of grammar relatively easy.

Quite a few in our area have little to no prep or just some summer holiday prep / summer term 11+ area.

We didn't have a tutor and my daughter passed the 11 plus with flying colours. She even got 100% on the English paper. 2 of the children we knew were tutored for 2 years and didn't get in. I don't think tutoring really helps after a certain amount. Diminishing returns.

They’ll be fine. My son just scraped through the 11+ with no tutoring and has done really well academically (now yr 11) - better than some of his friends who were intensively tutored to pass.