Has anybody successfully tutored for the 11+ completely by themselves(need reassurance)

Do agree with seeker. His first attempt was too short. So I set a minimum number of paragraphs and we talked about what could go in paragraph 1, 2, 3 etc. It wasn't a very creative approach but worked with a boy who thinks in terms of right or wrong answers.

Blue - I found for ds2 just chatting through ideas helped. I also showed him how he could adapt an idea already used in one essay into another. For him the biggest problem was a complete freeze - which is why his first one was so rubbish. Chatting through possibilities, doing a couple and having a few easy to transfer paragraphs (eg a description of a person) helped. Even though the actual essay was something we hadn't remotely prepared for - he just had the confidence not to do a rabbit in the headlights freeze (which he would have without preparation). It was the last thing we did though - didn't look at it until the summer holidays (exam was in September)

With essay writing there is often a problem with just not writing enough. Boys in particular are inclined to say "well, I've said everything want to say- so I'll stop" even if that's after one paragraph. So aim for length as well as everything else!

I have thought long and hard about this and as others say I am sure it is possible. We have decided to pay a tutor, because Ds loves competition and having others preparing for the test will realy suit him. Also I work shifts so wouldn't be able to do it as regularly as I'd like.

Have some that we loaned to friend but will get back - can't think off the titles off the top of my head (I think I parcelled up those memories and put them in a locked chest until they need to come out again for DD!) but will get them back this week and let you know.

I know that several have suggested caution when dealing with the 11+Forum, but this is the type of question that many posters on there would happily answer, methinks? Also to get an idea of the content of your County-specific English component to the 11+?

I would suggest just reading a wide range of books with your DS and discussing writing styles, expressive language etc.... Upping vocab and range....

Finishing off the B&Q DIY challenge which is why I'm here - can't quite face being up a ladder at 7.15 am (slacker that I am!)

I seem to recall that DS implied that all his were letters or descriptions of his favourite thing type essays. I'm sure I've read somewhere that the boys' schools tend to favour a more 'factual' approach just because of the way that boys think/write, whereas essays for the girls might involve more use of the imagination.... Not sure what would happen for a mixed grammar school (of which there are a few are there not?) 11+ exam though....

Yellowtip, we may well have been! Although DS got a 5b in English in his KS2 SATS it's never been his strong point, so we thought that if he did fail any of his 11+ exams (he actually passed all three so very lucky) it would have been down to the English 'shortfall.' Obviously won't be making that mistake for DD (although she's still only Year 2 so a way off...)

I think the essay writing does lend itself to a formulaic approach which isn't good. It would be interesting to see how well the 11+ English essay scores tally with the levels that the DCs were actually at when the arrived at grammar school.

Wrong answer so chatting through potential titles was helpful.

I did hear some horror stories about the essay paper as it didn't lend itself to descriptions (& no choice of question) - which many children has been tutored to produce.

For essays I got ds2 to do a past one - it was dreadful. Pointed out all the problems with it & made him rewrite - far better. His next one was great. So we did one more - great. Then I put together a big list of potential titles and made him choose some to plan, then talked through ideas for the rest. Ds2 used to struggle when there was no right or wt

gazzalw I think the English paper is becoming more important nationally in the brave new world of 11+. You may well have had a lucky escape.

All this is really good advice. I would also say, as you are starting in plenty of time, that you may find puzzle books help if he finds papers of VR/NVR daunting at first. I remember we found a little WH Smiths book of puzzles quite handy for train journeys etc, without it seeming to be anything to do with exam practice. You'd have to pick the puzzle book carefully I(ours was down the back of a car seat......) and it is not a substitute for the real thing, just a bit of fun that can start you off gently. Good brain exercise anyway!

Good luck OP - glad you got some useful tips out of this thread.

I wouldn't ever advocate online only but I do think it has a place, as a mix and match approach with papers - but every family will approach prep slightly differently. We certainly found that it was good for DS in the early days of his prep (so around March/April/May of Year 5) - it was more about familiarisation than fine-tuning the technique.

Bottom line, Blueskies..., there's no definitive way but it's of trial and error approach which will produce a prep programme that is idiosyncratic to the DC - as I said we rather ignored doing much essay-writing practice with DS just because it was too much of a nightmare. He got in without it but ideally it should have formed a greater part of his prep than we failed to make it (if that makes sense).

Good luck and you know where we are if you need us!

Personally, we found that doing online tests was very very different than the actual pencil & paper tests and not very useful. It is easy to keep focused on a computer screen, what they need to manage is to focus on the paper. They are usually seeing one question at a time so it doesn't train them to avoid making silly mistakes because their eyes don't have to scan the whole page to find the question number, etc. It doesn't teach them to manage time by jumping certain questions and going back to them as they are being served one after another and they progress by answering them. Maybe there are some online tests that don´t work like that, but we didn't find them.

I would use my money to buy books and tests. You can also print lots of free samples from internet.

I know nothing at all about the 11+ sites but it's probably worth saying that things are changing pretty much nationwide and the focus of the exams is shifting, though in some places faster than others.

Oh, and be very careful with the 11+ forum. There are some lovely and helpful people on there- the mods are wonderful. But there are also a lot of mentalists. And sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. And you can very easily start doubting yourself.

Yes, I would second what Seeker says about finding free papers on-line....there are quite a lot out there.

Good luck!

The Bond Parent's Guide to the 11+ ( tried to link but for some reason couldn't) has tests you can do to see where your child is before you start.

I would always start easier rather than harder- confidence is really important, and starting with stuff that's easy helps.

Don't forget there are loads of papers you can download for free. And ebay is good for second hand.

I would go with your gut instinct. If it's NVR/VR I would probably start at the 9 - 10 ones and see how you go. If he is having difficulty you could always see if you could borrow ones for the younger age-group from the library/friends/family etc.... (we found that DD, 5 at the time, was rather good with some of the NVR ones - she hates to be outdone - because they involved recognising patterns and at that young age she wasn't looking to over-complicate the rationale for the odd ones out!).

With Maths and English I would use your knowledge of your son's latent abilities to determine what level you start him off on...(our son was much better at maths than English so I think we pitched him on 9-10 age English initially, whereas we started on 10-11 age Maths - if that makes sense?). FWIW, by the time it came to the 11+ exams time in early Year 6, DS was doing age 11-12 books in all four disciplines, although I am not sure that much of the more advanced maths actually featured in any of his 11+ exams.