11+ workbooks, practice questions, etc????

[IAmMotherOfDragons]

we have a grammar school close by and the teachers have said they think my dc will thrive there. He is very clever, top of the class even though he is summer born.

We don't want to push him and go OTT with tutoring and talking about nothing but the test... but I don't want him to go in totally unprepared.

So is there any workbooks, practice tests/questions or other resources which could get him a bit more prepared.

Head over to www.elevenplusexams. The forum there is very helpful for every 11+ exam going!

thanks....

forgot to say the school website says its CL tests

CL? Or GL Assessment?

Bond Books are good....

If you look on elevenplusexams they'll know which tests they use in your area, they have a regions forum as well as general advice.

Haha yes gl dur sorry typo.

Our area does both types of tests but the actual school says Gl

I find the 11 plus ➕ forum really hard to navigate. I read stuff then realise it's a post from the 2008 or something

I found some of good information today on gl itself site...

Hardest thing is non verbal reasoning, no child is going to fly on that without familiarity with it. Like a cross word the dc who have been prepped with fly it!

Also dd noticed algebra on a mock test of sat her for ages ago.. To see if she had aptitude. She has not covered algebra. And she will not cover it this term .

NVR was the bugbear for my DS. He just couldn’t do it. Luckily he passed as his maths and English were strong. We used the Bonds book for our prep. Good luck.

Ds1 will be sitting the 11+ of a supergrammar this Sept. I am keen to let him practise the tests and similar questions but i am not paying for a tutor and I don't want to sit there and hothouse him myself. If he's not able enough to get the marks then he would struggle to keep up with the pace of the learning there. Speed is important so just talking about how to go about the test is half of the skill. So anything you can do to help is good, eg talk about what to do if a question is tricky and is taking ages to answer (ie just make an educated guess and move on to the rest of the questions). I need to hope that my bright son still has a good chance despite not being at a private school or tutored.

I need to hope that my bright son still has a good chance despite not being at a private school or tutored

I guess it depends on how much you want him in the school, are there suitable alternatives your happy with?
I agree Exam Technique is crucial, all the aptitude in the world will not show if a child has sat pondering one hard question for the whole time

Some dc will have been in preps in which case they are usually learning with an eye on 11+ or other entrance exams anyway, in which case they are well taken care of. Some dc have been tutored since very young for the super selective.

Some of the NVR is impossible. My DD is bright but 'Im not sure she could do the nvr if she hasnt seen it before or have basic understanding of what to look for. And if algebra is on the test but she has not studied that - its game over. Good luck

My advice is:
Times tables - make sure he is fast and accurate.
Reading, lots of varied reading.
Practice tests - make sure your DC know to move on if they are finding a question difficult. Don’t waste time. Don’t assume the questions get harder through the paper - they don’t.
Speed and accuracy are being tested.
Make sure your DC has the fastest techniques. Sometimes these aren’t taught until Year 6.

And finally, don’t discuss it. It turns parents into nightmares, they want to know what everyone else is doing (I suspect because it makes them feel insecure) and how well the other childRen are doing. Your child is the competition. It’s a divisive system and it brings out the worst in people.

Every year there is one of the brightest, smartest, most certain children won’t pass. It’s horrible.

On results day, keep your head down. I’ve seen children and parents in tears. It can be incredibly stressful if you let it be. Parents whip themselves up into a frenzy (It starts in about Year 1 where I live).

I’ve done it 4 times now. I am so glad I never have to do it again.

If he's not able enough to get the marks then he would struggle to keep up with the pace of the learning there.

it does depend on the area you live in, and the demand, but if you do not prep him for the test, he will probably fail and I'm afraid this sentence is just not true.
The places go to kids who are well prepared. Every year clever kids who would excel at the school lose places to kids who have been over tutored for the test.
That does NOT mean they need to be hot housed or intensively tutored, and some kids will never pass how ever many hours tutoring they have, but if you don't prep them in some way, they are unlikely to pass.

Now, slight proviso to that, in areas where 30% of kids go to grammar, then they may get in.

basic prep would be:
get hold of some books, Bond and CGP are good, and check that your kids have covered all the topics in there. Percentages? ratio? mean? fractions? Algebra? Some of this stuff is not taught until year 6.
Also make sure they are confident with it all. Confidently can do long multiplication, and work out the missing angle in a triangle (and they have to KNOW that they add up to 180)

Do the same with English (nouns, verbs, adverbs, alliteration, punctuation etc)

Then do some practice questions, there are some in the back of the books, you can find them on-line. They need to have a sense of speed, and keep going in the exam, it is probably longer than they have had to concentrate before.

Then talk about exam technique - if you can't do one, make a sensible guess and move on. Don't get stuck on a question, make sure you put and answer down for each one. Don't worry about the other kids, let the adults take care of them, that is what the adults are there for (ds had a child crying in his exam room, and I have heard of kids throwing up etc)
Practice using example answer sheets as they look complicated to fill in but aren't.

Finally, tell your child that they are lucky to have a choice of schools, XX school if they pass and YY school which is also lovely if they don't. Take the pressure OFF the child. (even if you are desperate for them to go to XX school)

and agree with PP, don't talk to people, it is a circus.

whoops that was longer than I intended!

NVR is a bit marmite, some kids see it, and others don't but you can teach them simple helps.
eg - when in doubt, count - how many sides, how many points? Is the one with the even number of sides the odd one out etc.
look for shading, colour, line type (dots or dashes) direction of arrows etc.

Even with that much, they can double the number they get right

@steppemum

"Percentages? ratio? mean? fractions? Algebra? Some of this stuff is not taught until year 6"

I saw on the GL website that they keep stuff lower because many children wont have got these concepts before year 6.

my DD howwever did mock test and was sure there was alebra on it?

Surely they cant put that on the test or ANYTHING if there even the remotest chance they have not covered it?

it is hard to comment @SunwheretheFareyou as each area is different. I think Bucks say they keep to year 5 curriculum. But the practice papers you can get all have these subjects on them.

The trouble is, that algebra may have been taught in a simple way, depending on the school. Some schools do tend to allow the brighter kids to try other stuff, even if off curriculum. Also, some of these questions sort of test their ability to understand, so if the question said:

If z = 10, what would 2z+6 be? They are assuming an ability to do logic as much as an ability to do algebra.

More importantly I think is the stuff they have learnt, but have not been expected to memorise, but they will have to know it in the exam.

So, they have learnt that the angles in a triangle add up to 180, so if you have a triangle a right angle triangle and are told one of the angles is 49, find the other. It expects you to

1. know that the angles add up to 180 (most have done that, but wouldn't necessarily know it off the top of their heads)
2. know that right angle is 90 (they should know that)
3. do the actual maths, 90+49 then take it from 180.

same with things like fractions. Making sure they can properly do what they know and do it quickly, so not sitting going "What was that thing about common denominators again"

Great advice Steppemum, thank you

She knows fractions really well - its algebra she had not done, I have emailed the test provider asking for clarity on this.

Funnily enough we had a look through a paper with the angle issue on it - my DD at 10 has far superseded my own Maths knowledge but I am sure she was able to work it out as you said above.

I helped a student last year. Amazing kid, could write like a published author, into history and science as well etc. BUT her maths was really poor.

I told mum that there is only a small chance she would pass because of maths.
I tried to teach her some of the newer stuff (new to her) and it was just going to take too many hours to get her confident enough (things like algebra, ratio) So we concentrated on the stuff she knew, making sure she was really solid, no silly addition mistakes, and really confident with it. Also using the multiple choice answers to help.

She passed (for a super selective, but not in London where there are loads of kids per place)

thanks for all the help and advice.

We are lucky that ds goes to a school which is mixed classes. He is currently in a class of mixed yr 5 and 6 children so has been given a lot of the yr6 work to do as well as he's ahead of most yr5 children. I guess thats one plus for him.

he knows algebra, mean/mode/etc, will have to check with ratio, triangle angles.

We've even spoken a little about in exams if you dont know a question to go onto the next one and come back, or to even make a guess as thats better than leaving nothing.

Also spoken about if he doesn't pass then nevermind, there's no pressure and the local state school will be good too.

I'mgoing to see about looking at some past papers.... so he knows the outlay so it isnt so daunting.

his teacher did mention VR (i am pretty sure our GS does VR, english and maths not NVR....but I will have to check) is the part he should look at most as they dont do that at school.

The school says "The scores for each test will be age-weighted" how does this work?

Age weighting just means that they standardise the scores depending on the DC's age. In effect it cancels out the slight advantage September born DC have over August born DC for having been alive and learning for 11 months longer.

Many thousands DC will have taken this test. The average for all of them is standardised to 100 points. I.e. If the test is out of 100 and the average score for all children is 60, then that 60 is multiplied up by 100/60 to make it 100. If your DC got 66 their standardised score would be (66x100) /60 = 110. They look at the average standardised score for all September children. If it is 102, all September DC will have 2 points taken off their standardised score. If all April DC get 99 as their average they'll have one point added etc. If your DC was born in September and got 66 in the test, their standardised score would be 110, less 2 for age weighting, 108.

This is roughly how it's done, but my figures are just for an easy example, and the age weighting may be much less in reality.

I found doing a couple of mock exams really helpful. For the whole queueing up, sitting in a room full of strangers, doing the test in a stressful situation etc.

Are you sure about CL tests? Think you may mean GL or CEM