ISEB Prep Tutor Recommendations Please!

[Bugsbunni]

Does anyone have experience of a good tutor in West Sussex / East Hants / Surrey (Godalming end) for ISEB school exam prep that can also support with a child with dyslexia?

Thanks 😊

I can't recommend a tutor as it's a very particular exam that requires some pretty specialist knowledge but I can recommend the online papers at PreTest Plus?

Do you know whether your child's tests will be online or on paper?

Thank you. Things seem to have moved on and all online now. Century and Atom seem to be the main mock tests now.

I think it's because so many applicants aren't in the UK these days.

Atom is helpful because it’s more about question approach than knowledge. I would honestly start there. It explains the answers so they can see where they went wrong.

Atom is not overly user friendly & takes some time to learn how to navigate. It also does not completely mirror ISEB’s and the penny has only dropped as our year is knee deep in it. As a parent, where there are areas a child needs to work on, there are often 20 accomapanying videos eg on partitioning. All very well but they are not often overly clear explanation to a degree educated adult never mind a 10 year old and they certainly aren’t engaging. I work with online systems on a daily basis and particularly with education systems. This is clunky and poor and I’m slightly concerned we have gone down a rabbit hole with it given our mock ISEB results where the format was apparently quite different.

I am also not sure how atom tailors differences between 11+ and ISEB given 11+ will be their main market.

Sorry- I misinterpreted your question- I thought you primarily wanted exam approach tutoring vs curriculum content. I agree with you that Atom isn’t great for teaching actual content/addressing knowledge gaps. Where mine did find it useful was question approach/ timing/ balancing moving quickly but not rushing/ narrowing the options down if they’re not sure etc. We were overseas and their school didn’t prep at all so it was on me. My understanding is that Atom tests are adaptive ( same as ISEB but not 11+).

Atom offers tutors who specialise in ISEB - we used one last year and had a great experience. She used PowerPoint to teach the concepts then set homework using the Atom platform to check progress and focussed on the weak areas in the tutoring session.

Does anyone have any experience using this company? www.stratumtutoring.com

I was suggested this by a friend, but not sure about this versus a traditional tutor?

In my personal experience, Atom are total scumbags not the nicest of people and I'd urge anyone thinking of using them to think again and remember that nothing is better than starting early, regular practice and finding a recommended personal tutor.