Help!

[CouthyMow]

My DS1 has been on the G&T register since Pre-school. He has just finished Y5. I have entered him for the 11+ in the advice of his school.

When he was 8yo, the school did a test of his IQ, can't remember the test name, but it came out that he was in the top 2% of the population, with an IQ of 132.

In our area, the only Grammar school for boys is a superselective that only takes 96 boys a year.

However, now that someone a kind benefactor is paying for tutoring, despite his IQ, despite his NC levels (5b in English, working at level 6/7 on teacher assessments in Maths, at the end of Y5), it has thrown up the fact that he is getting horrendously bad marks in the practice tests he is doing in English comprehension.

He is currently working on the Bond comprehension Fourth papers for age 10-11, and his marks on each paper vary wildly from 28% to 66%.

I had not done very much with him at home because a) I couldn't personally afford a tutor, and b) his school was giving him after school tutoring for the whole of Y4 & Y5, and that tutor was saying that he was getting at least 88% in the English practice papers he was doing, and 99%-100% in the VR and Maths, so I thought he would be fine.

What do I do? He WANTS to be at the Grammar, he deserves to be at the Grammar, but I feel that the fact that I personally haven't been able to pay for a tutor for him for this year has held him back, especially as the 11+ has been moved from November to September for our area THIS YEAR, giving me two months less prep time.

He is doing at least one comprehension paper a day, through choice, and is reading a wide(r) variety of books to get used to different writing styles.

What else can I do? I want him at the Grammar because of the ethos, and he would 'fit in' so much better there than he would at the local Secondary, which I know as my older DD is there in Y9.

Why has his issues with comprehension not been flagged up to me by his school? Or is it just the form that the 11+ tests take?

It frustrates me that my area doesn't do NVR, as this and Maths are his strongest areas.

DS1 REALLY wants to go to the Grammar, but I feel that my lack of money for tutoring over a longer period of time has hampered him, in SN area where wealthy parents will tutor their DC's heavily from the start of Y4 to get them into this school, so as not to pay private fees, but my DS1 is only getting properly tutored from the last week of Y5 until the test, and only then because of a kind benefactor.

Is there anything else I can do to help DS1?

You have a year, which should be long enough. VR is 50% of the marks. If he scores near 100% in Mathis ans VR he can get away with a low English score. He is only in competition with boys, who usually score lower in English.

Good luck

I would get the Bond book 3 papers, increase his confidence with those and then go back to book 4.
Do you discuss what he reads with him? It's a good way to get him to articulate what he is thinking and perhaps extend his insight.
Good luck!

I don't have a year. I have approximately 8 WEEKS.

His IQ was tested when he WAS 8yo. He has just finished Y5, his 11+ is on the 22nd September.

He's hardly going to have a lower IQ at 10 than he did at 8, so why is he doing so badly at the comprehension papers? According to the tutor, he needs a mark of 70%+ in the English paper to get in, even with his marks in Maths & VR. And he's not doing as well in the VR as the school were telling me either. Maths, yes, 99% not going to be an issue. VR, roughly 66-68%, but the English is abysmal.

And the school assess him as being a NC lvl 5b at the end of Y5...

The test was Weschler I think, the one they did on him when he was 8yo.

I realise you only have 8 weeks, but stop panicking... It will rub off on your son.
It sounds like he is really well motivated so be systematic about it. Start with an easy paper and work your way up. You may find that once he grasps what they want he is able to do better than you think.
Go through the papers with him and see where he is losing marks. Try to make it enjoyable.

I would guess the tutor is trying to get a realistic idea of what he can do right now in order to:

a)Get a starting point for working with him.
b)Make sure you realise that it is not a given that he will get in.

Sorry read it wrong.

Is this the CSSE paper-DS is sitting this on 22/9 as well. The English paper is a b£&&er and as a teacher, I don't think it's particularly anything like the comprehension they have covered at school which is why it won't have been flagged up as an issue.

What do you plan to do with him over the next few weeks; have you seen many past comprehension papers?

Yep, it's the CSSE paper. How did you guess?!

Yes, have seen a few. He has done ok on some, and bloody awful at others.

I get that it is different from what they cover in school, but school were getting a tutor for him once a week, totally illegally at state school but hey ho, HT want to get as many into Grammar as poss to look good on his prospectus, DS1's year will be the first Y6 after Academy conversion..., and the past papers he did at school he was getting 90% on the English, but they seem much easier than the Bond Fourth papers for 10-11yo's.

He is SO clever, and I feel my lack of money will be what stops him from getting into the Grammar. If he had had a proper tutor sooner, or I had done more at home with him and not relied so much on what the school tutor was telling me, he might have had more of a chance.

The problem he is having is evidencing his reasons for his answers, and he is losing marks on the more 'subjective' questions, the ones where you can't lift the answer directly from the text and put it in your own words, but have to infer the meaning from what is written.

I don't know if I am explaining that very well.

If the text says that "One child thought that the chair must have been born at the same time as Grandfather", he needs to answer that the chair is old. So it's not lifted directly from the text, but is inferred by what is written IYSWIM. That's the bit he is losing most marks on.

It just seems so unfair that a child who has been tutored properly for two years will get in, even if they have a lower IQ than my DS1, even if the school would be the best school for him.

My local Secondary is becoming an Academy, and they are saying they may not even offer triple science any more, even to top set. Which will stop him from doing what has been his ambition since he was 4yo. He wants to go into medicine. Without triple science, that will be almost impossible.

I freely admit to knowing bugger-all about the 11+ but the issues of inference and comprehension are familiar ones.

My guess is that your ds1's general comprehension skills are good, which is why they haven't been flagged up before. It's the inference part which he's finding difficult, and that's what's bringing his scores down.

www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-RR031.pdf gives a very basic outline of what could be happening, although it's aimed at teachers rather than parents. The bit that rang bells for me was that it's the difficulties with inference that can lead to poor comprehension rather than the other way around.

If you google "teaching inference" it comes up with more specific strategies you could try. Some will be more relevant to your ds than others, depending on his interests, level etc.

I honestly have no idea whether 8 weeks will be enough but wish you and your ds1 all the luck in the world.

By "alarm bells" I meant for my own DSes, not your ds1. :)

Hi Mouthycow-I know exactly what you mean. The school papers aren't a patch on Bond, GL or the CSSE! That paper about Longitude and Latitude had me reaching for the gin and I've got a 2.1 in English! Just keep reading with him and stop and ask questions regularly-what are you doing with him?

Are you going for CRGS?

Rememer as well that the VR has double weighting so that's the biggie really. Plenty of people will get into CRGS/KEGS with much lower English scores because their VR marks will bring them up.

How is he doing on the VR?

Yes, CRGS is the only one accessible and affordable transport wise, can't do the train to KEGS.

He is doing, erm, sort of OK on the VR, speed is his main issue. He gets about 70-ish percent overall, but what he HAS answered is 98% correct IYSWIM. Working on speed through the GL papers that used to be NFER Nelson.

He is currently reading Treasure Island, but has read LOTR, and lots of other types of texts, just filling in some gaps, telling him it is for the library reading challenge, but it also covers different writing styles.

I didn't realise the 11+ was so different to when I sat it, no NVR for starters, and he always aces NVR with 100%. Sigh.

Just hoping that he is still doing his comprehension exercises at his dad's. It really doesn't help that he is only here for half of the holidays, and I have to rely on DS1 having the impetus to do one a day when I am not there.

His dad doesn't mind him sitting the test, but cba to put any effort in to help him, so it is a bit of a concern. Hopefully he is doing one a day, and I can drop off the Fifth papers 10-11 on Tuesday. He is back with me on Friday, and then he will be working on the VR.

Are there any other resources that I can use to help with the VR, there are only two packs of the GL papers, don't want to use them all at once. Need something very similar, preferably multiple choice.

Yes-I passed my 11+ in 1987 and it seems staggeringly differerent to then-there was certainly no English paper!

It sounds like he's doing ok in the VR as well-has he done any mocks?

Yes-there are lots of VR papers that use the same format. I don't really like the second lot of GL papers-they are quite different to the first lot (Letts/GL). What else have you used?

Only the ones he had from the school tutors. Money is an issue, can only spare £20 max a week over the hols for resources, am on benefits. Can only do this in school hols as no bus fares.

Was going to get something else for him to work on on Tuesday, when CTC comes in, don't know what though.

Bond Fifth Comprehension 10-11 and what else?

He has a Mock on 24th August with the tutor. And I was going to get the CSSE pack on the 14th Aug when Child Benefit comes in, and use that as a Mock exam the weekend before the test, on 15/16th Sept.

That will be it though, for Mocks.

Was going to use the last week of the hols to brush up his maths, but only a couple of areas are an issue. Imperial measurements, % Profit or Loss, and Compound Interest. Two of which I have no idea about!!

I think it is very good of the school to tutor him out of school hourd for 2 years so you can hardly complain he has had no tutoring!! To my mind, inference from a test IS a key thing that you would need to possess at a grammar school so if he really can't do this, is it the right place for him?

And, yes, IQ can go down from aged 8 to 10 because it's adjusted for age - so if you get the same number of questions right in the same time but you're older, you have a lower IQ...
Sounds like the inference thing is the key, and would be doing as much practise on that without test papers - just from extracts of texts, etc. It is something that can be harder for boys especially at this age:-(

Good luck