How did you prepare your child for the 11plus?

[Soubriquet]

DD has been given her 11plus dates. September.

We are now currently using old practice tests to see how she would get on, and then studying what we can from that.

Im not talking hours. Maybe an hour tops, with weekends off.

Her verbal reasoning is pretty good, but we are struggling with the non-verbal. Which doesn’t help when I don’t really understand it either.

So what did you do? I’m emphasising that it doesn’t matter if you pass or not. I didn’t, but I want her to try her hardest too as she would like to go to the grammar school

For one dc very little.
I'm got the books from wh Smith and here and there we did some. More like fun puzzles... Rather than serious sit down time to "study".

To familiarise her with cloze etc.
Then for nvr we found loads on u tube.

She was already leaps ahead with vocabulary, reading, extremely strong at maths.

It was some minor fine tuning shall we say. Then so again she knew what to expect I put her into a mock test with a 11 plus school.

Second dc we had no idea how she would do so we put her into the actual class for several weeks which covered all aspects.

She didn't like it or want to carry on so we stopped it.

It varies by region. Having worked in a couple of grammar areas my experience is that almost all parents use a tutor for at least a few months, some a lot longer, plus of course some parents send their children to preps where 11+ content is on the curriculum from year 3.

You have a good chance that the responses on an anonymous forum will be honest; be aware that in real life almost everyone underplays the amount of prep that they have done.

Keep in mind that the 11+ competitiveness varies hugely so advice might not be applicable to you.

If you're in Buckinghamshire, then the top scoring 30% of kids will get a place in grammar - so if your child is academically strong and doing ok on a few test paper runs, you don't need to worry too much. If you're trying to get into a highly competitive London grammar where there are nearly 100 applicants per place, even very bright children are likely to need to be taught specific test strategies to be able to get in.

For a super-selective:

Group tutoring session once a week for a year

13 mocks from the Spring before 11+

A week of 11+ summer school at a local hotel

An Easter course (I think 3 days) of just NVR which was her weakest subject

Extra work with me over the summer.

Which fees like a lot written down, but she got in so it was worth it.

I didn't do anything in particular, certainly no tutoring, but we had always enjoyed doing some educational things together. The school was excellent and prepared the children well. I understand what you say about NVR, I find that difficult and it takes me ages but I suppose that doesn't matter as it's me :-). My son was always good at that sort of thing, thankfully.

Dc1 one hours tuition as week in Y5 with three mock exams before the real thing. Tutor set between 1-2 hours homework a week more over the summer. She did a a paper every day except Sunday over the summer.

Dc2 Tutor one hour a week Y4. 2 hours a week in year 5 plus the homework set and a paper everyday except Sunday over the summer. She also did 3 mocks.

Dc 3 and 4 will do a group tuition once a week y4 and then swap to a one on one tutor for y5 same one I used last time and lots of practise papers and 3 mocks.

It's a bit different where I live (trafford) there is the consortium exam and also individual exams for the Catholic grammars.

I put dd1 in for everything and she passed them all.
Dd2 I just put in for the the girls Catholic grammar and she passed.
Dc3 and 4 will probably sit for everything.

Certainly wasn’t the top 30% in my DD’s Bucks primary - 5 out of 70 from her year. We did an hour a week with a tutor and about half an hour in between sessions for about 6 months. She passed with a really high score, I think she would have passed anyway but not done so well and went into it knowing we had done all we could do max her chances. Cost about £700 in all.

Get her to read some older classic books for the flowery language and hand her a dictionary. Encourage her to look up every word she comes across that she finds difficult. Discuss each chapter to work on her comprehension, unpick it and ask probing questions.

A word a day post it note on the front door as she leaves, the challenge being to find the meaning and use it in a sentence by the end of the day.

DS did practice papers for a few weeks before the exam.
No tutoring.

I agree tutoring is unnecessary. Exam practice and some work on areas that are weaker (with you) should be enough if she's bright enough to get in she won't need anything more.

Atom learning is good! Online resource

Thanks all!

Work on timing too, there's no point in being able to get the answers right if you can't get them down on paper in time, or they panic and rush through it all then have loads of time left but get more wrong. It's more of a skill than you might think when you're 10/11!
I would hestitate to do much tutoring, the only people I know who really struggled at my grammar school were those who'd been tutored to pass their 11-plus and then couldn't keep up once they got in.

She’s pretty good at the timing I just say. She had half an hour earlier to do a practice test and she finished with 4 minutes to spare and was quite confident. She managed to get 48/68 correct which I’m not sure would be a pass or not, but for a first time, I was pleased

Full test twice then pick the areas that caused a problem to look at for half an hour three times a week. If you've got to cram they are going to struggle at school

We did 1 hour tuition per week for 6 months, plus 1 mock exam. The tutor gave her homework to to which took about another hour per week. In the Summer hols before the exam she did a few hours extra per week working through the workbooks and practice papers. We are in Gloucestershire where the primary schools do absolutely no preparation with the kids and some of the exam content isn't in the curriculum until year 6 (after the exam).

Sorry to hijack but I am also prepping for 11+. Wondered what percentage marks in the past papers people think are needed to get into the most competitive schools? Also any tips on English in particular as I find it harder to mark as obviously no right answer unlike maths/reasoning.

If this is any help I know grammar schools near me, eg Newstead Woods, require a mark of 210 points.

Approximately 80-85% pass is needed for most grammars.

Some areas of the country are not as competitive as some of the other areas that take 11+ and there's not a set score as a cut off as such. The scoring is standardised with ages. Here is some info on Lincolnshire for example grammarschools.lincs.sch.uk/the-11-plus/selection-process
I think any familiarisation with past tests is sensible, and there's a mix of those that use tutors and do it themselves.

Ironically, I’m lincolnshire

Kent test here, they need to be hitting high 80/90's to be sure of passing well.

Dc1 one hours tuition as week in Y5 with three mock exams before the real thing. Tutor set between 1-2 hours homework a week more over the summer. She did a a paper every day except Sunday over the summer

Thissounds about right. They need to fluent readers with thier times table secure before you start (so end of Yr 4)

Hi, does anyone know a reputable 11plus tutor in Birmingham. I live in Harborne B17 9LZ.