11+ How to complete the papers in time allowed

[Boondoggle]

DS will be sitting 11+ in English, maths and VR in January, for a private school. He is currently at a state primary which does not (and will not) assist in any way with 11+ preparation (I have asked).

Over the course of the summer holidays we have done quite a few practice papers in the VR, which he has not encountered before. On the whole he seems able to answer nearly all the questions correctly. However, he is really struggling with completing the whole paper in the 50 minutes. I've explained that each question is only worth one mark, so if he hits a tough one, better to move on and go back to it at the end. He gets this concept but when it comes to it, every single time he will stick at doing the difficult question and then freaks out when he realises he then has only 10 minutes left to complete 45 questions. The earlier in the exam a difficult question comes up, the worse the effect on his mark.

With unlimited time he scores 85-95%. Being timed, it's anything between 65-85%.

Although he is fairly strong on both English and maths (he was a 5B in both at end of year 5), the timing problem is going to affect him in those exams too. At the moment we are not using a tutor but just doing practice papers at home.

I am really concerned that if he cannot get to grips with timing and exam technique, he will not be able to perform well on the day. Every time we sit down to do a practice paper, I remind him beforehand about not wasting too much time on tough questions, but to mark them to go back to at the end, and move on. Every time, he does not do this. What can I do to help him to "get" this? Do other children struggle with this aspect of exam preparation and what do other parents do?

How do you know that the VR papers you are doing are the same as the ones that the school uses? The ones he may do for the entrance test may have less questions.

I'm afraid that boys are very hard to train to do what you want in terms of exam technique. Try bribing him!

Thanks trinity. The school admissions lady recommended Bond practice papers as closest to what the exam is like, so we've been doing those.

Bribery has worked a bit but my God it is hard work. He gets so hung up on proving he CAN do the difficult question that all strategy goes out the window unless I'm standing over him saying "move on".

Give him a timed minute per question (or however long he'll have) and once a minute's up he has to start the next question regardless of if he's finished? No excuses or just a seconds. See how he does like that.

It'll at least give him an idea of how long per question he should allow.

Have you analysed the 'hard' questions that he gets stuck on? Are they the same sort? I say that because with VR there are common questions that fit into categories. The bond papers do have all the different sorts, and if you do a few papers yourself, you'll see the common thread... then once you've homed in on the sort of questions he's having trouble with, you can do some intensive work on those.
Another really good tip is to go right back to Bond papers for 8-9year olds. Really really easy for him, but the questions are still the same categories of question, just much easier... It'll build his confidence and give him time to master those tricky (for him) questions.
Some 11+ papers are not designed to be completed. My son didn't finish his Maths paper, but still got in (We later found out he was 35th highest score overall, so there must have been plenty of others who didn't finish the paper)
Final point - passing 11+ is not just a matter of being able to answer the questions ; being able to do it quickly and in a exam situation is also part of the test.

go over the 11 plus forum (www.elevenplusexams.co.uk). Wealth of info on there and this particular issue is discussed regularly. Also I would check with the school (or on that forum if you name the school) that Bond papers are the most similar to the test - there are many others out there.

More practice. You're taking the correct steps. Some never quite crack battling the clock - but they can improve.

Thanks all. Jobforlife yes, it is 2 or 3 particular question types he struggles with. Good idea re focusing in on those. We have some of the 10 minute tests so I will use those to give him extra practice in the question types that he finds harder. Also I have a younger child who has the 8-9+ books so we can look at those, which I hadn't thought of doing but sounds good advice for building confidence and the skillset.

Will look on 11 plus forum again. Was a bit frightened off when I looked before...

I'd try getting someone else to tell him about leaving tricky questions. He may take it in if it is someone else - either because they have a different way of saying it or because they have authority in a way you don't!

Have you got any friends who are teachers or who have prepared their own children?

I'd also maybe try a different test format than Bond - just in case that jolts him out of his bad habits. And it may be useful anyway - schools sometimes recommend Bond but then use the NFER (or whatever they are now called) to set the tests.

Good luck to him!

Yep, peppin, I too am avoiding (and will continue to avoid) the 11 plus forum. Much too scary - full of real obsessives ....

To practice particular question types,see the free videos on www.11plus.co.uk/videos/verbal-reasoning-videos/21-verbal-reasoning-question-types.html

Or Susan Daughtrey's books on VR give all the types and tips/examples.

Try doing the whole paper but when the time is up, swap the colour of his pen. That way, you can see how much he can do in unlimited time and also how much he can do in the time allowed - then he can aim to gradually increase the numbers of questions written in colour 1 until virtually all of them are. But he can still feel he's trying all of them.

Practice! My DS sits the 11+ in a couple of weeks. At the beginning of the summer he wasn't anywhere near finishing a paper - usually about 3 sections left at the end. This summer he's done a little bit almost every day (he doesn't mind because I let him stay up late to do it!) and a couple of weeks ago it just clicked and he now finishes easily.
Things that may have helped are races! Take some questions and both of you do it and see who finishes first. You may want to give a head start to start with. But eventually he will beat you without it.
Also does he work through the paper from start to finish? My DS said that he finds it easier to find the types he can do quickest and get them done, leaving the slow ones to the end. I remind him to put a circle round any questions he's leaving out so that he can find them again easily.