13+ common entrance exams - where do we even start with revision?

[originalmavis]

DS is sitting these for next year, and he does need to unslacken his backside on his revision (or lack of).

Does anyone know where to start?

[Gruach]

It was definitely for the intellectual challenge here.

At our prep the top set in yr 6 became the scholarship set in yr 7 (with some movement in and out) and they were stretched and pounded and fed the entire literature of the known universe. (I am not sure to what purpose; it seemed ridiculous to hear 12 year old boys dropping The Great Gatsby into conversation.) And of course parents are full of hope. But realistically, when 130 odd boys across the country and from outside it are taking the KS - and there are 14 awards to be had - (don't recall the Winchester figures) there have to be other attractions beyond the remote possibility of a prize.

I do know that accessing and practising scholarship papers out of school was strongly discouraged; the papers from Radley, E and Winchester (plus a few others) formed the meat of year 8.

Being in the scholarship class avoids the immense tedium of CE and means you take your exam earlier (sometimes much earlier) leaving time for trips and tours and whatever else. Once at your new school your scholarship results help with setting and you should generally find yourself in higher sets than children who took CE simply because you've covered far more stuff at a higher level.

OP If your DS has conditional offers which are not dependent on his gaining a scholarship it's really very unlikely that anything will go awry.

[originalmavis]

He has (phew). I think they decide after the entrance exams who is a likely candidate (which seem to have been the hardest ones he sat) then they have an interview and I think they decide on the basis of what they see.

His other offer place has scholarship exams but they are worth about £3 and a stick of gum per year.

He said that they did a Latin CE paper last term for fun and he is currently doing GCSE maths. Our school does seem more relaxed in comparison with others!

[originalmavis]

Out of interest - what books are tbe kids enjoying reading? DS read Animal Farm over the hols and loves it, and Mockingbird whick he enjoyed too. Currently working through the hobbits.

[Gruach]

You are so not asking "out of interest" ...

[originalmavis]

I'm on Amazon actually. He has read his stockpile and I am stealing ideas.

And also being nosey as to what kids actually enjoy rather than what their patents enjoy saying they read ('oh he's just finished reading the bible in Aramaic').

[KingscoteStaff]

In Year 7 my DS liked:
the Patrick Ness, Knife of Never Letting Go trilogy
Adrien Mole
the 'Young Adult' Terry Pratchetts
Charlie Higson's Young Bond
that blue one that was made into a film about the boy and girl with cancer
original Sherlock Holmes
all the Gerald Durrell books
a white one called (?) My sword hand is singing
all the Louis Sachar books (re-reading)
Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Hitler's Canary (bit of a theme emerging here...)

He did read other stuff that was on his school reading list, but these were the ones that had to be pried out of his hands when I turned his light off.

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

DS1 is in yr8 and in the middle of 13+ joy at the moment (our household is an ocean of stress calm reflection)

I have loaded up a fair bit of science fiction on to his kindle - things like HG Wells, Jules Verne. They cost pence on the kindle as they are out of copyright. He was getting a bit stuck on war fiction e.g. Boy in the Striped Pyjamas etc. Also some Sherlock Holmes and Oliver Twist.

[originalmavis]

We have stacks of that kind of thing (a family of publishers, journos and English grads!). It's always a case of "Ive got copies of that somewhere...'. I've no idea what the 'new classics' are!