Preparation for 11+ without spending much

[mom17]

DS would not be appearing for 11+ as we are not in UK, but few past papers made me that doing it just for sake of knowledge would benefit him. So far, I have liked English paper mostly, haven't touch others yet. I could download 30-40 past papers from various resources and I am very keen to do Bonds papers as well but those are costly in country I live as those are ordered overseas and mere size of those books are too much for me to invest as idea here is to just increase knowledge( no 11+ exams). I am looking for suggestion on cheap options to get same benefit, Can somebody please suggest what all books are really worth. I am looking for advance material. DS is almost 10.

I don't quite understand the purpose of doing the papers if not doing the eleven plus it would be a better approach maybe to focus on what areas you feel need to be worked on and why you've identified the eleven plus papers as some help and go from there. Also what do you use in place of eleven plus materials if you want to keep up the benefits? . Saying that here are some ideas from someone who did go through the whole exercise without tutors. We did mock exams to identify areas of weakness and to benchmark our DD against her peers - However I suspect you won't have that option open to you - but I still mention it as it was a good motivator for DD to focus on areas of weakness and it was quite key to our whole approach. We also worked on speed as this was needed for the tests and can help hone the ability to quickly spot an error. Decide if you want to do multiple choice type questions or having to write in the answer. A lot of the independent schools will have the latter format which are clearly tougher but if you have the ability are often actually speedier as you are not trying to pick out the right answer. You will find some of these papers on the school websites but they often don't have the answer papers with them.

Are there resources your DS's school could provide? Is there a reason he isn't getting the input you desire and thus looking elsewhere. Take a look at the Elevenplusexams forum including their apps www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11plus-apps - I didn't use the apps so cannot comment but I found their forum generally helpful. Khan Academy online is also helpful and free (but a donation is encouraged) - it appears to have a US focus but much of it is relevant wherever you are and we are home-educating DD for the last term of Y6 (age 11) and she is using this plus worksheets from Parents in Touch which is quite reasonably priced but not hugely extensive so fine for a short while like for us but possible not long term.

Since DS is my only child, I am not aware of any other material available here which would be good. I don't look at education from exams/need perspective, I go by knowledge. So, In case I come across anything which I feel is good for him, I just want him to learn it.

PettsWoodParadise , I read in your other post that your DD has amazing vocab, can you pls. tell me what all she does for it ? I am sure she reads a lot but does she work on voacb while reading when she come across new words ? DS is too reluctant to work on vocab while reading so I prepare list later n give it to him but guess that is not that productive.

We've just never talked down to DD and used a wide variety ourselves. If reading a book with DD when young we would check if she understood the meaning of words we suspected she didn't know and that got her into good habits to ask us. I sometimes challege her if she is readings and doesn't ask about a word and ask her 'what new word have you learned today'? Simple things that have become habits. When on approach to elevenplus we would be a bit more obvious about it and ask DD for synonyms or antonymns of words when we were out and about. No iPad during the week and so she reads a lot probably helps too. DD was also determined to get into the school she choose so it wasn't hard work for us - it was very much her choice which was made by visiting schools in Y4 and seeing all the options available.