11+ verbal reasoning tips pls

[Birders]

Ds has entrance exams for private secondary in January. He is good at maths but also needs to get through verbal reasoning. His vocabulary is letting him down. Ideally I’d go back a few years and enforce a bit more reading. But I’ve only got 3 weeks . Does anyone have any tips? Thanks for any help

Our Prep school gave us a massive list of vocabulary for the 11+ about 3 months before and I just binned it - DD was dyslexic and didn’t read enough so I found it soul destroying!

For 3 weeks, I would recommend one of the book versions (unless they are available online now) and firstly make sure he understands what the questions are asking, and see how he does. Do 15 mins a day and he’ll definitely improve and get quicker as he gets used to the formats.

If he has an English comprehension test, that will also challenge his vocabulary a little but there should be books on that too. But putting him under the time pressure will be useful, if he’s not used to this.

Fingers crossed for him, don’t let him get too stressed about it, he needs the right school so the outcome will be the right one. But make sure he has some preparation so he feels able to perform his best.

Thanks for you tips. I have downloaded some resources and planning to do a bit each day. I didn’t really realise there was such an art to it - wish we’d got started earlier

If any consolation we had a similar situation last year when I found my daughter hadn't covered key parts of the maths curriculum last year.

I would suggest, 2 things 1 Atom learning as the reporting will give you in granular detail the questions they struggle with, so you can keep setting these and looking at those. Also paper questions with a pack of highlighters, pick out what you know and don't know , the action and and the number and then you start to see his thinking and steer it.

My daughter phrased it they are trick questions and you have to show you are cleverer than them! Little and often, 10 mins here and there.

Vobcab two prong through a list, do 5 at times, also audiobooks and radio all help.

Also understanding the marks needed for the school you are applying for. If they are averaged out then if another area is better then you might be ok if they are stand-alone then you can keep assessing and Atom will give you an idea.