What books are best practice for 11+ entrance to fee-paying schools?

[greyfriarskitty]

Can anyone help with this as I can't seem to see anything on line (and I am too scared by the 11+ forum to go in).

Both schools set their own exams, so not Common Entrance, one is GDST. The exams are maths, english and VR/NVR. They say that the level is equivalent to a level 4 or 5, but the comprehension on the one past paper we have seen is way more sophisticated than anything DD does at school, so she probably does need to try a few more.

Bonds

Do they give sample past papers too?

There are lots online; which means they are free and your kids will love them.
Look for independent school entrance ones as well as 11+
It might be worth asking your potential school for pointers as they are always extremely helpful

www.sats-papers.co.uk/11-plus-papers

www.11plusguide.com/11-plus-papers-books/free-11-plus-papers/

Thanks for all of that - I will talk to the school today as well.

There is a very good book of tricky 11+ comprehensions published by ISEB. I'm afraid I can't remember the exact title and haven't time to google at the moment.

Galore Park's "So you really want to learn English". Its a text book but also designed for home-ed. You can buy the teacher's book as well but we did not bother. We did some of the class exercises in the car or as a family over dinner. Also rather than DD just write essays, we got her to write essay plans for some of then. That way she could get in the exam and automatically write the plan rather than just panic.

If this school doesn't give sample paper, you can always try other schools' sample paper. I remember for my DS1, I printed off a few private schools and grammar schools sample papers, these are more difficult than bond papers.I don't remeber much now, it seems London boys, Habs, you just go to their admission page to find out the sample papers.

Galore Park ISEB comprehension are good.

Print off all the past papers/sample papers from the London independent schools. Try the 11+ forum - it's not too scary on the independent discussion forum and if you name the schools, there will be specific advice. We found the GL papers to be good for VR/NVR but it's multiple choice for English comp and maths so not so good for the independents . Manchester Grammar School papers good for maths but may be harder than the level required as they're around old Sats Level 6. Good luck!

Many schools put past papers on line. Practise the maths ones and note what might be a tough hurdle, then google help on that style of question. There is plenty of useful maths help online. For English look at some of the creative writing cards on the market which might help with the sophisticated challenges in both writing tasks and comprehension.

Thank you everyone, I am amassing a set of papers from the internet right now.

start with Bond and move onto CGP
or combine Bond with CGP 10 minute tests

They say that the level is equivalent to a level 4 or 5
^^ nonsense! High level 5 minimum

Nocampinghere - how can you say it's nonsense and it's a high level 5 when you don't even know what the school is?

ok well just my experience! if you don't want it feel free to ignore it.

but from your OP "but the comprehension on the one past paper we have seen is way more sophisticated than anything DD does at school"

Hi I bought this book the other day it came up on my google search for other things .
what’s the aim of the book thank you

I'd avoid Bond (they're ancient) and look at using the CGP and RSL papers.

For a good, reliable pack of questions, look at these:

www.examninja.co.uk/11-plus/year-6/gl-11-plus-workbook-pack-ages-10-11/

For a really challenging set of comprehension questions (with very good answers) look at this:

www.examninja.co.uk/11-plus/year-6/11-plus-comprehension-practice-papers-pack-1-ages-10-11-rsl-education-9781916193116-1916193110/