Sitting the 11 Plus without tutoring?

I think the idea that paid tutoring is the way into grammar school is a myth.

What works best is a committed parent spending a small amount of time every day going through BOND books/ downloaded papers, whatever is appropriate for the exam in your area. This is 10x more effective than a intensive two hour session with a stranger once a week.

If you are supporting your child yourself, you can just slot the study time into the day in a flexible and personal way.

To be honest, practice only takes you so far anyway. Your child need to become familiar with the format and layout of the questions, and practice enough to become aware of personal pitfalls and strategies. It is a shame when bright children are not given the opportunity to learn how the paper works, but all the tutoring in the world won't get a below average child through, because they won't be able to work out the answers to enough questions, even if they are familiar with the format.

Have a look at www.chuckra.com or possibly .co.uk, can't remember - lots of online practice there, which will bolster what you get from the Bond books/papers (Amazon, WHS, lots of places sell them, though Amazon is cheapest for papers). Also google "11 plus practice" for others. Practice is key and worth as least as much as tutoring per se. It's also worth putting a request out on Freecycle or similar to see if people have old ones that just need pencil marks rubbing out...

That said, I would put a lot of effort into congratulating your daughter on deciding to have a go at this exam. Depending where you live, the pass mark can be VERY high and they will still only take the ones that do best, going down till they've filled all their places. Round our way, I estimated the pass mark at around 85%, with those who got offers coming in at more like 95%+, so it is necessary to make sure she isn't deflated later if she can't pull it off. So much in the media now is about having succeeded rather than having the courage to just have a try, to a point where, no matter what you do, they can feel a total failure unless they pass.

I really wish her determination (so that she'll do the extra work), maturity and luck (that she can pull it together on the day at age 10/11): I think she's a star to go for it (which you may have to remind her from time to time and be ready in case it still doesn't work after the results come out)!

We are doing this. Definitely check the Eleven Plus Forum and your area there. There are lists of practice past papers and VR books to buy on Amazon etc that don;t cost too much. You also need to register your dc to take the exam. I've just registered dd.

If she's in Y5 the presumably she will sit the tests this Sept or Oct. Agree with stonecircle, you need the Eleven Plus Forum and look at your region on there. Areas that administered tests based on verbal reasoning alone have been changing so that the tests are more wide ranging.

Lots of parents tutor their dc's themselves. It can depend on how much time you have available (ie do you work full or part time, how much time is available with your dc after school to study).

The forum is the best place for help and info.

So when you say without tutoring you mean tutoring her yourself rather than paying someone to do it?

Lots of parents tutor their dcs. Different areas administer different types of test of varying degrees of difficulty. To make sure you're using the right practice material, I suggest you look at your area on the Eleven Plus Forum (sounds like Bucks?) where you will get help and advice specific to your dd's requirements.