10 minute maths tests 11 plus

[VirginiaTonic]

Hi
Anyone using Bond or CEM 10 minute Maths tests for practise? What are your DC scoring at the moment? Mine is doing really well on the VR but the maths we can't seem to get more than about 5/10 . Is it too late to turn it around before the test? Please help!

What age book are u using?

We are using the bond 10-11 books, dd will sit the test in Oct- she is currently in Y5 (and Aug birthday) so youngest in her year, for Sept 2016 intake.

she still has time to improve, we did one test a day mon-fri over the summer holidays before the test (which she took in sept 2014) she was scoring 8/10 and over before the test and passed with a good margin. My dd is a December birthday.

I just feel really dis-heartened at the moment, this evening she scored 4/10 on a fractions test. 6 is the most she has scored so far on these tests. Most of her problems seem to be lack of understanding of the Qs, simple claculation errors, or not reading the Qs properly, rather than the actual maths. So frustrating! She is , however bright, and forcast to get level 4A/5Cs in her end of year 5 assessments at school. She is a brilliant reader and has great comprehension skills, but maths Qs she finds hard to work out what they are asking.

Are they really silly mistakes, or does she not understand the underlying maths? Is this definitely work that she has been taught, and given she won't have done some of the topics yet in school, who has been teaching her? When you say that she understand the actual maths, in this case fractions, how do you know this?

In terms of "can this be turned around in time?", I think in part it depends on which area you are in, and what type of exam she is facing. Typically children should be getting 85%+ on the 11-12+ papers by the end of the summer, so you have a long way to go (though as the marks will be age adjusted, I guess 80% may be a better target). There will be many children who will get 100% on the maths papers, and the average mark on maths is usually much higher than for English. If she has never got 6/10 in any of the Bond tests, then I would be worried about the tuition that she has had.

Why does she have to do the 11-12+? I thought 10-11 was equivalent of the 11+ level and 12+ for those that sit the test the following year. She will be only just turned age 10 when she sits the test. We have been told to aim for 80% to pass for the local grammar, although it is a highly selective one with no catchment, just the top kids offered places based on their scores.

Most of the children aiming for a grammar will be a comfortable level 5 at the end of year 5, and will be aiming for Level 6 in year 6. The 10-11 bond books don't quite stretch to this level. As I said earlier it does depend on which school you are sitting for, but if it is a no catchment superselective then it is likely to be very competitive indeed. Typically for such schools without a catchment there will be at least 10 pupils sitting for each place. Bond books are amongst the easier tests. Do you know who sets the papers at this school?

When I go through the Qs with her she can solve all the calculations, e.g working out fractions, area etc. She often doesn't seem to be able to choose the correct way to solve the problems, eg She answered a Q on area where she was given the area of a square as 64cm2 and asked to find the length of the sides. So she divided 64 by 4 to find the answer. However she could easily find the square root of 64 when asked, and knows that area is found by multiplying two sides, but wasn't able to see how this would give her the length of the sides by herself.

The school sets it's own test.

So I guess she will be sitting a multiple choice test in maths?

Does she ever check her answers? I appreciate the in the real test she won't have time, but if she checked through the example you gave presumably she would have realised that 16 x 16 doesn't equal 64?

Are you tutoring her yourself? If so, I would buy the Bond stress free guide to 11+ - it has some good tests which will help you find overall weak areas. There is then another Bond guide to 11+ Maths then goes through each topic in detail.

If your dd is not scoring well in a large number of areas, then would you consider a maths tutor over the summer?

I'm not sure what format the maths takes, other than I know it is 80 Qs in 50 minutes. Also verbal reasoning and a written piece of creative writing. She is predicted level 5 for end of year, but lacks confidence in maths, much more confident in other areas.

Regarding the area Qs, the problem was it didn't occur to her that she would have to do 16x16 to check that was the correct answer? When pointed out afterwards she seemed to understand though.

80Q in 50 minutes? For maths? That seems very time pressured, closer to the norm for vr.

Which school is it? The 11+ forum can probably tell you the format (standard form or multiple choice).

Actually I think its 50 Q? You are right, 80 for VR!

Anyway, just done another 10minute test with her, gave her unlimited time and strict instructions to read everything twice and take CARE! She got 8!!!!
And the two she got wrong were silly mistakes which she could correct straight away when pointed out to her.