Have I left it too late (11+ prep)?

[TinyDsncers]

Dd has just decided she wants to sit the 11+ in September. She is a bright kid but we haven't done any prep so she doesn't know the content. I've been looking online and despite being a teacher myself, I cannot find a definitive list of what she needs to know. Can anyone help me? We are in a GL county. I've bought some books on Amazon and some practice tests. Does something like a revision list exist?

I'm so overwhelmed just thinking about it!

My nephew didn't start prepping until the July and did just fine with three hours with an 11+ tutor over August. I just want to reassure you.

I think it depends on your DD and what area you live in! If there are lots of grammars and it isn’t as super selective as only having one in the county, it might still be possible. Or even if it is super selective but your DD finds the practice tests easy, it’s still worth a punt!

For us, I’m not sure DS would have necessarily got in if we hadn’t started earlier but it’s so individual that I wouldn’t be disheartened. You’ve got nothing to lose by having a go!

@TinyDsncers

I wonder whether it would help to find someone reputable in your local area who tutors for the 11+, OP.

Where do you live?

There is a very similar thread from about 2 weeks ago with lots of advice.

It is hard to say if you have left it too late as it depends on

1. your childs ability and
2. how competative local schools are.

I am an 11+ tutor for the Gloucestershire schools.
If your child is working at 'above expectation' or 'greater depth' on their last school report, then in our area it is certainly not too late.
You will need to do exam prep over the summer, but very do-able.

For GL (in glos, I cannot be 100% sure it is the same elsewhere) there are 4 sections:
Verbal Reasoning; English; Non Verbal Reasoning; Maths.

I recommend these books. They are good because they cover the whole curriculum, they have good answer pages, which explain how to do it, and they are the right level. (some books are very hard/too easy)

CGP - Practice Books age 10-11
www.amazon.co.uk/Maths-Practice-Book-Assessment-Tests/dp/1789081599/ref=sr_1_1?crid=24HRZHMYG337N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5xtk7m5y96N0t4rcD5lfM3kJy3BrZloN023OXLciBo2Ws1nEN-ZsS82V1JXBRDqWaZZv-q_NB5MIRBmi9QoPhKSGUa12H2iXk6T6q884BStE-ajE7jryxYIvEN6TWMpdCkvfCUUVWZJGroh9UboJgOC8z-Cii2FA9i0WUMaJnFwsRqsF_FcWeI1cSKW70dzjfeTHD2oge5qiwZVnJBGzw9Az1Ihe8l1EtK_q-ySsW3E.W7h75HFNGGb7d1PacTdPLdImPBSM-yjbQ1r9u39pH1c&dib_tag=se&keywords=CGP+11%2B+practice+book+maths&qid=1714549776&sprefix=cgp+11%2B+practice+book+maths%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maths-Practice-Book-Assessment-Tests/dp/1789081599/ref=sr_1_1?crid=24HRZHMYG337N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5xtk7m5y96N0t4rcD5lfM3kJy3BrZloN023OXLciBo2Ws1nEN-ZsS82V1JXBRDqWaZZv-q_NB5MIRBmi9QoPhKSGUa12H2iXk6T6q884BStE-ajE7jryxYIvEN6TWMpdCkvfCUUVWZJGroh9UboJgOC8z-Cii2FA9i0WUMaJnFwsRqsF_FcWeI1cSKW70dzjfeTHD2oge5qiwZVnJBGzw9Az1Ihe8l1EtK_q-ySsW3E.W7h75HFNGGb7d1PacTdPLdImPBSM-yjbQ1r9u39pH1c&dib_tag=se&keywords=CGP+11%2B+practice+book+maths&qid=1714549776&sprefix=cgp+11%2B+practice+book+maths%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1

You need 4 books, one for each of the 4 subjects.

Work through the books, any topic that they are struggling with google for help and further practice.

Bond 11+ website (paid) is good for further practice and you can choose to practice just the topic you are struggling with.

Then at the back of each of the books are assessment tests, download the answer sheets, and do the tests as timed practice, using the correct mutiple choice answer sheets to fill in.

Good Luck!

sorry, don't know why the link posted twice and as a long version!

Thanks, we are in the west mids. I have those books in order from Amazon. I've tried to get a tutor but everyone is booked up. I think she would benefit from a crash course in the summer... is that a thing?

there are summer schools. They are rarer than regular tutoring. Mainly because tutors often have their own kids and so tutor in term times.

But they do exist.

I know of one in Tewksbury.
I am running an exam techniques one at the end of August.

The bigger commercial companies (11+ DIY for example) do offer them, but I honestly don't know what they are like, how many kids, how personalised. They may be excellent, I just have no idea.

You are not too late at all, if she has the ability a few months with you is all she needs, and it is better without a tutor, as you can fit in little bits of practice into your daily life.

I would suggest a short test and review of the answers with her a couple of times a day - 10 mins in morning, 10 mins in evening, you will soon pick up on which areas she needs more input in, and can do a little bit longer at weekends.

We used bond books

I used to tutor for the 11 plus in Kent. The CGP books are excellent- just make sure you get the GL and not the CEM books as they do both.

There are ways to get the VR and NVR questions done much quicker. This website gives a brief explanation of how each works and has some free worksheets of examples (the examples are, in my opinion, on the easy side compared to the test but they're a good place to start so that your child can work on the technique):

www.11plusforparents.co.uk/

I'd also invest in the GL practice packs, my students always said they were very similar to the actual test:

11plus.gl-assessment.co.uk/multi-pack-bundles/?gad_source=1

I second that recommendation for the practice packs.

They are excellent and seem to be the right level for the test (according to students who have done it. One of the issues is that you can't access past papers so it is a bit hard to tell)

Interesting that that parent website says the English paper varies so much.

In Glos it is a straightforward comprehension, spelling and punctuation style paper, with no written element
(all the papers in Glos have computer style answer sheets, no written answers, they really need to practise filling these in)

@TinyDsncers I am in the West Midlands. I would follow the advice from @steppemum as we have friends in Gloucester and got the impression that the type of test and chance of success is similar in the two areas.

We did home prep with DD a couple of years ago and it was straightforward. We started earlier but didn't do it very intensively, and she passed easily. It's certainly possible.

I would suggest booking 1-2 in-person mock exams in the summer as well, mainly to get used to the feeling of the exam room, the tight timings and the format of the papers (you mark on a separate sheet.)

Best of luck.

My DD began in the summer holidays and tbh did very little in the way of preparation, which for her was the right approach; some of her friends also sat the 11+ and literally had a year of tutoring weekly just for 11+ prep and the anxiety they felt over it was significant. What really helped my DD was sitting a mock test which we then got sent the results of so we could go through it and see where she had gaps her learning (some of the content hadn't been covered at school yet according to DD) and then used a trial of Atom (and online 11+ platform) to watch how-to videos and do practice questions on them. The mock 11+ really helped DD to see what the timings would be like for the test (helpful if your child also hasn't sat a test before as knowing what to expect goes a long way to feeling relaxed I think) and helped us to see what she would be tested on (DD sat 2 different 11+ for different schools and it turns out they test different things, e.g. one school had a creative writing section and the other didn't). So I'd really recommend that! DD sat the mock test a couple of weeks before the real 11+ but I heard that they can do them months ahead which is probably better.

If you haven't already I would check the registration dates and process for the test for your area. Where we are they open about now and are only open for about 6 weeks...
Just a thought.

We found using Atom online really helpful for our DS....

We prepped both ours (in the WMids) but a few years ago as they’re late teens now, over the summer. It’s plenty of time. I remember ds making progress for the first couple of months and then reaching a natural plateau. I honestly didn’t see how more and more practice would have made a difference. We just worked through the books although ds did do a mock with a big tutoring company in Shirley which was useful - I can’t remember the name now.

Mostly state 11+ schools use one exam per county, so all the Glos schools use the same 11+ exam which is taken on the same day, and all the Kent schools use same exam taken on same day etc

You usually only get different exam days and different content if you are taking exams for 2 different counties, or if you are taking 11+ exams for private schools, which are completely different.

exam content (for state grammars) is supposed to be the KS 2 curriculum and not beyond. So everything which is taught in year 5 and 6. That does mean that some things may not have been well covered in school, but are on the test, or not yet covered given that the test is taken at the beginning of year 6.

This is most noticeable in maths. Key things to look for
percentages
ratio
mean

You will find in many practice papers that they include median, mode and probability, but these were removed from the primary curriculum about 7/8 years ago and should not appear on 11+ papers, despite them still appearing on the practice papers.

Commercial mocks are a great idea, the experience of going to a strange place for an exam with strangers is scary, and doing a practice run (or two) is really helpful.
online mocks may be useful for looking at their standard, but not helpful with the whole exam experience that they need.

This is interesting, I didn't know it was usually one per country (we are Devon, one of the ones she sat was GL and the other was something beginning with C). DD said they were quite different in style too. Not that this comment is for me but it's interesting to learn as I have another child who might take the 11+ in a couple of years 😅

MeanLeanRunnerbean
I may have it wrong, I don't know the Devon system, (but have some understanding of many of the other 11+ counties) so I may be completely wrong.

Were they private schools?
The other counties do have one 11+ day, when the (single) exam is sat by everyone registered and it is the same exam, which is then used for entry to all the schools, but in some places it is marked centrally (county wide) and in some places marked by individual schools, and so they get an admission list for just their schools (Glos is like that) The school can choose to weight different sections. Eg one grammar school marks in a way that means you have to get a high mark on every section, whereas other schools average the 4 sections, so you can be very strong in English and weaker in maths and still get a passing score as an average.

The second exam your daughter sat may have been CEM? That company has since discontinued doing exams, it was a popular exam, and it is a shame they stopped. Those schools/counties who used to do the CEM exam had to make a quick decision (2? years ago?) and they mostly switched to GL exam.
GL is different especially the Verbal Reasoning paper which is horrible.
Very few county wide tests have a written component due to the difficulties in marking - the other papers can all be parked by computer as they are all done on answer sheets.

In the West Midlands, when my son sat a few years ago there was one exam for Birmingham and Warwickshire and a separate one for the Walsall/Wolverhampton/Shropshire schools, but I’ve looked online and they’re merging from this year, so just one test.

Exam practice is key, I think. Getting the marks in the boxes clearly, checking regularly that question number and answer paper match etc (DS1 got 6% on one practice because of an early misalignment!), having an idea of number of questions per minute etc so that those things are second nature on the day.

That makes sense; speaking to one of the mums at school who's older child is at the school DD is going to said when her child took the 11+ it was just 1 test, they could sit it at any of the schools in the area and be assessed for all of them. Yes that's it, CEM!