11+ Question

[BaconAndAvocado]

DS2 will be sitting his 11+ in September. He currently has tutoring for one hour a week.

Has anyone had experience of this? Should we be doing any extra at home?

Where are you looking (ie which County)? The 11+ forum is a really good source of information. My DD did one term of tutoring for one hour a week at the end of year five. Someone else has already said the maths is more than they are likely to have learned in Y5.

Also technique and speed which is why I believe tutoring helps. These tests are nothing like anything that is completed in the state schools here. Understanding how to tackle a paper is important and vocabulary - you can get a vocab list for the 11+ and it is fairly extensive.

The tests in Warks are designed to 'not be finished' so things like when they only have three minutes left in a multi-choice paper just going through and put 'C' for everyone answer hoping to get some extra marks.

My DD also sat a mock which she did ok in but again gave her the opportunity to go into an exam situation.

The downside - it is a commitment and it does have a cost.
The upside - she got a good mark, and a place in the school so wants (but tutoring is no guarantee of that) and now feels totally prepared for SATS.

I think if your your child needs tutoring then maybe don't have one. if they need to be tutored to get in then they'll need to be tutored to survive in a grammar setting.

I am not sure I entirely agree - my DD was tutored to understand the techniques required and that simply isn't in my children's skill set at this age. She was ranked inside the top 14% of girls who took the 11+. I think if they need tutoring for more than a few months I would agree, but practice papers, familiarisation (particularly with NVR) and working in a time limit for an hour a week for say a term are all reasonable steps.

We are in Kent. I think it's GL Assessment.

Definitely think the time element is a worry!

MistyMeena is spot on. Work on the harder maths topics, CGP for practise and also we found the Athey papers useful (similar to the GL format). We did the 8 GL packs twice (and timed them). First time around March, then worked on the obvious weak areas using other materials. Then did them again in the summer and ds had sped up considerably and was scoring in the 85% + range. Ds also sat some mock tests from May - August (but we were aiming for a super-selective school). In the real test he scored in the top 2%. The timing on the reasoning paper was particularly tough - under 30 seconds per question. You could use the CEM materials in this area to increase speed.