11 plus Exam Prep

[MeAmy]

Hi, My DS will be sitting for St. Paul school, Kings College School Wimbledon, Hampton school for 11 plus exam this year. May I know how many hours your DS studied for preparation during summer holidays to get chance in these school? I would like know just a general idea how many hour DC needs to practise everyday to be selected in these super-selective schools. Thank you.

The 11 plus is quite different in different regions, but as you didn’t mention the region/schools in your title, many who open your thread having experience of the 11 plus elsewhere will not be able to advise on the specific schools you mention.

Although I don’t have experience of these schools (my DD sat the 11 plus for super-selective state grammars in the West Midlands last year) I am confident in saying that success will not be determined simply by how many hours your DS practises. There are all sorts of other factors that are more important, such as:

• Is your DS quite bright, very bright, or truly exceptionally bright?

• Does he go to a prep school / does he have tutoring already?

• Do you/he know in good detail what types of things are in the specific tests he will be sitting, and the format? Eg for many state grammars, the tests are computer marked and extremely tight on time, but for many private grammars and some state grammars there is a written element where they are looking for specific things that might require a tutor.

• Does he have targeted support (not necessarily from a tutor) to make sure he is working ‘smart’ on his weaker areas, which might be time constraints, writing, multi-step maths questions?

• Is he confident in his abilities and motivated to do well?

You may find pertinent advice for the specific schools you are targeting on the 11 plus exams forum:

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/

We have been doing tutoring for our boy since he started year 5 for the 11 plus here in Kent. Over summer we may do a few sessions on specific parts of the test and a few pages of a work book here and there.

We started in January for the test this September. There are some great resources on line in helping you establish which test they do in each county etc. There are also videos on you tube which show the methods for lots of the question types. Then its a question of buying the tests and practicing them.

We are currently doing 1 verbal test and one non verbal test per week. Hoping this will be enough ( it was for my older kids) although as we got closer to the rest I did focus more on the specific question types that they needed more help on as well

Good luck!

The OP @MeAmy is applying to private schools with Exams in the autumn and interviews in 2023. OP, the advice above applies to Tiffin if you are considering. Otherwise you are starting too early as your ds will burn out by Jan 2023. These schools are looking for naturally bright ds who pick up a novel and read it for choice, they don't want over tutored ds and will weed them out at the interview stage if they get that far.

OP the amount of work needed really depends on what level your DS is at already. Has he been doing structured preparation (at school or home) and have you downloaded sample papers from schools’ websites to assess his current level? I recall that Hampton certainly used to publish them; not sure about St Paul’s and KCS.

Searching for the most appropriate online tutorial platform for a school within the Hertfordshire Consortium that undertakes the CEM/ GL test.
I have been looking for online tutorial service e. g. BOFA, ATOM and Peak Prep. However they all seem to focus on ISEB rather than the CEM.

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My son has been doing about an hour a week with a tutor over the holidays and then an hour a day of practice questions over the last week.

I would agree that what actually matters is the level at which your child is working, not the hours he has put in.