11+ prep? What you recommend?

[Animalover]

Hi,

My daughter is in year 5. She is academic and self motivated to study. Her GLA scores was 137 in Maths and 136 in English. Still, we would
like her to practice exam techniques and questions.
Which one do you recommend:
ATOM learning-
Kumon -
First Class Learning-
Explore Learning-
or online or 1:1 tutor (which I dont know how to find- which website is the best for that?)

Meanwhile we have ATOM account - when she does test she takes number 9 or sometimes 8 ? and her SAT results are about 130 (Anyone know what these grades means?
Also do we need to practice on “ATOM Test fpr year 5 or Year 5 Curriculum?

Thanks in advance 🙏🏻

You’d get more help if you specified which schools you’re aiming for, they’re all different.

@Maybeicanhelpyou Hi she would like to try City of London Girls, Putney High and JAGs. Thank you

We used atom (through school) and my son got offers at all schools we applied for so I think it helped

You need to find out as much information as you can about each school's entrance exam.This can change year to year.
A local tutor who has got pupils into the schools will help.

We are in a completely different area but started Explore this year and my child is really enjoying it. There are good online resources too.
It’s small group sessions so like a classroom experience as my child didn’t want the pressure of 1:1. Their confidence is blooming :)

good luck whatever you decide

It sounds like your dd is off to a very good start. Continue with Atom and make sure she is cover all 4 areas - Math, English, verbal and non verbal. Also, if coming from a state school, get a tutor to make sure she has covered all the curriculum and knows exam technique (or you could research this and go through w her yourself). As someone else mentioned, check the schools you want to do and see what exams they use so she is comfortable with the format.

We worked through lots of 11plus books, some better than others.

If you are like us and from coming from the state system then you’ll need to make sure you have covered the entire year 6 syllabus.

Only in the last few months did we sign up to Atom. One of the features that was most useful was the ability to put in the school that you were aiming for. It then gives you an indication of how to are scoring compared to others. It was pretty accurate for us.

I would suggest a specialist 11+ tutor in your area unless you have the time to put in yourself. Definitely don't plump for Atom tuition. They pay their teachers £20 an hour and I can't imagine that translates to experienced/quality tuition. Having said that, their website is helpful.

I use a mix of CGP and Bond books with my tutees and have them sit Mocks in the Summer for realistic practice and time management purposes.

Good luck! 😘

Thanks everyone for the feedback.
I would like to know which area we need to focus on in Atom Learning - do we need to complete the islands? Atom Baseline, CATS, curriculum or ISED assesments?

Also there are 11+ grammar school Practice assessments 🤷🏻‍♀️

It depends what schools you are applying to. You can ask Atom what to focus on after telling them the schools you apply to. They generally say to focus on the islands to build a strong foundation. Practices are for the weaker areas. Baseline tests at the start to see where your daughter is at. Did she do the baseline tests and get 9s? That means she has a strong foundation. If she is getting 8/9s in the other mocks, that is very good. You need to look at the schools she is applying to and see what is required. Every school is different. For my dd it was mainly online. For my ds it seems mainly written.

London-based http://jacquelinewheelertutor.com has a good track record with top schools at 11+ - building confidence and skills in English (incl creative comprehension and VR) .

We had a tutor. We found one locally, but my friend also recommended tutordoctor. Personally I would have found it hard to know where to start and to know that I was taking my dd through the right stuff during year 5. A tutor can also be useful for the writing elements of the exams as that is not something atom can mark for you. And the exams are not just looking for creative ideas or generally well written pieces, but for use of specific things. Again, I wouldn’t have known to focus on those. We only used atom from the start of year 6, using it to do mock papers in the run up to the exams. They were useful at identifying areas of weakness in the tests to work on (atom pulls that out for you). They have the past papers of many schools on there, so you know you are working on something v similar to what your child will face. You can also tell atom what schools your child is aiming for and it will show you what performance to aim for. Although I found this misleading.

For those who would like to try Atom, here is a referral link worth £30.

resources.atomlearning.co.uk/e3t/Ctc/2N%20113/d2-qZt04/VWzm0f3J7sCqW1XRP1w2vFyZNW7nzmJr5FyQv7N7vvr0F3lYM-W7lCdLW6lZ3lPVcmNZd3DMrHMV_Z3X7699mH9W7dchqK5-WRy_W10QQgV8VT2P3W1Y3zb08ybrnyW7D_W1y5ccM_4W4tdNvm7mk_0GW3qyVQ31sBjlnN4FGnjTWK5z9W3nwjF52VgR0KN7JBPDcd-B5WW7ScdVb52DTn5W6vvNff5_GMvXW240HzF5FTStYW7zRT_d5Q7rgVW1lJKFJ7xKLj2W7sfHWX77BzB1W2DLcYN52YwHKW6F33sH1rn2JJN6PFwgVht5QJN6JPX-hGz523VC2lMw4vwHG_W45bPJF6bDFqYW7X02mw6wMHxkf62FfRn04