7+ Exams - What helped your DC prepare best

[Naliny]

My DS will be sitting the 7+ exams this autumn. We are trying for some of the most selective schools in the country.

At this point I feel like we‘ve given it our best shot and it is what it is, but I am wondering how to best utilize these last few remaining weeks. Biggest challenge is time management, creative story writing, and comprehension (probably nothing too surprising about that).

Would be keen to hear from any parents whose children previously sat the 7+ exams - what do you feel helped your child the most to prepare? We‘ve pretty much done all the Exam Paper Plus papers, and possibly worth mentioning that we don’t speak English at home so that probably makes the comprehension and story writing more challenging for him.

Just curious to hear of any tips and tricks from other parents.

Thanks

If first assessment is KCS, might be worth having him sit a couple of mocks, or replicate one if EPP can’t offer via waiting list. Most boys like competition, so why not do a paper with him? Cover the most typical creative writing prompts for the age' and have him write a paragraph using a picture prompt. KCS have historically used 2 reading pieces, and boys tend to rush the first which is equally as important as the longer one.
He should listen very carefully during test as the listening test can make all the difference.
If you’ve tried everything, might be worthwhile getting external help- it can make all the difference as children respond better when it’s not their parent telling them something! Been there. Best of luck with the tests.

I am in the same boat. DS's first assessment is on 12-November and I have just started with some papers from the internet. I wonder what levels are they expecting out of a 7 year old. On a good day, he would do wonderfully quick, and on some days, he just stares out of the window and writes only a few lines.
Do they usually read out the questions to the children during these exams, and is there a usage of the computer at all?

Regular creative writing exercises (built around the 3-5 phases), exam endurance work (slowly building up target time with a margin), reading reading reading -- with discussions about the stories after.

At t-minus 4 months I would normally expect more confidence -- if the focus is London preps a few give the chance of a second try at 8+ if you do well enough at 7+ (with a poor showing you won't be able to do the 8+).

Preperation over 16 months is a more confortable timeframe imo and doing a round of real 7+s helps with that.

I'm not sure you know. I think if your child is bright and you've done a couple of practices with them, that should be enough. I'd say the main thing is not to overly sweat it or stress them out too much. We just ran through a past paper or two and talked about exam techniques (like answering in full sentences).

I think there's something to be said about not piling on the pressure and making them feel like this is make it break. Few children do well under that kind of pressure

Thank you all for your helpful tips and insights.

I’m really struggling to get my 6 year old to focus through the 30 minutes. It feels my prompts are almost always required for him to stay focused . Wonder if they would be explaining any of the questions to the children, or are they supposed to silently answer the papers without a timer. Its honestly quite frustrating to not know how these young ones are assessed on the day !

@mommybigfoot , if you are aiming for RGS and other Surrey preps the expectation is different to the London big schools - KCS, St Pauls etc where the examination process is full on.

My son sat WUS 7 plus today. We did a couple of weeks of prep, which was mainly the pretest plus papers. He did Schofield and Sims 7-8 throughout the year every now and then and just read his school books. I would never follow a regimented plan and put him under any sort of pressure at this young age! I really can’t come to terms with the fact that kids that young are tutored for these exams. My thinking is that if he’s a good fit for the school then he will make it. Anyone that needs to pass these exams with increased hours of tutoring and revision after school may well pass the exam but will struggle to maintain that level and would be susceptible to burn out at a very young age. Its not worth putting your child through hell for a silly exam that really doesn’t matter in the long run.

I would 💯 agree with @patiencecompassion in terms of doing too much to get the child in, because you will have to continue that all through his academic life. We did 7 plus this year and got shortlisted so far for all the schools of our choice. DS goes to a prep school that prepares for 7 plus and outside that we did almost nothing extra - just regularly did the homework, solved a few extra papers from what was easily avaliable online and focused on his reading and speaking abilities at home through regular interactions. We didn’t do bond books but I know a fair few parents in our school who did and it helped many kids.
Having said all of that, I know many kids who were mindlessly tutored or made to do work for two years in advance, who have also done well and got admissions into very academic schools. Happy for them for now, but only time will tell if they can keep up with it.

@patiencecompassion : is your DS at state or private primary?
@bstrong0805 : your DS was in the prep. This is not a fare comparison. State schools and many preps do not prepare for 7+. If someone wants to try their DC have to do extra preparation.

I’m not sure I agree. I appreciate depending upon the school applied to they may need to work on some year 3 topics but otherwise I think some bond papers and practice of stories and comprehension and that should be ok?

My two were at a local “independent” school but they weren’t working ahead of the year in terms of curriculum and it wasn’t a prep so no talk of doing exams.

We has a group tutor for my daughter as I had zero idea what she may need to know and then ditched this for my son as you can just do some practice at home (not very much as my children think I’m horrible if I ask them to do even their homework!). They got into LEH and Hampton - one is probably better at the standard maths and English than the other but what I’m meaning is - once you can have an idea they shouldn’t need two years of extra work?!

I too disagree with @patiencecompassion - I think it depends what kind of tutor you use. If you find one who doesn't "hot house", a tutor can actually be a tremendous support to your child in my experience, especially at this age. My son was going to sit the 7+ in November (we were meant to be relocating but it fell through) and so he had a tutor for a couple of months and the increase in his confidence and concentration has been incredible

Sorry I meant I disagreed with Lily7050. I think some tutoring can be helpful to gain confidence and an understanding of what’s in the exams etc but only a few months is needed for that. Two years is just outrageous!

My DS is in an independent prep school that does not prepare for 7 plus. My point is that when schools themselves don’t want kids to be heavily prepped then why take that approach? It seems a bit of a forceful approach for the child and frankly unfair too. My DS told me that a boy cried at the end of the test because of not finishing all the questions. That most definitely is pressure from parents transferred to the child in a toxic competitive environment. By tutoring excessively and hothousing we are only feeding into this very toxic culture. Each to his own, I wouldn’t push my child to this level at this age. If a school wants this then definitely not the right school for us at least.

Totally agree. I’m not saying no preparation and no tutoring but honestly these 18/24 months and multiple times a week etc is far too much for children x

Yes it really is! Some prep is important for your child’s own confidence but definitely not the militant approach that I’m seeing.

Agree with the last comment. We are in a prep but not one of those super hot house aggressive one - they gave us 10 mins of homework Tuesday to Thursday - usually one or two sheets and then a comprehension or some math for the weekend. We have stuck to doing that only without any additional work. We have been doing this since the last two terms in Y2 (we just wrote 7 plus)I think regularly revising key concepts and building their vocabulary is really helpful. Reading a variety of books is also really beneficial especially for their English skills, comprehension and creative writing. We also used to do fun math with him in a practical way like giving him money to go to the supermarket shopping or playing some age appropriate math games with him at home.

This is all that’s needed at this stage imo. We gave our DS money for supermarket too. Plenty of time for free play was helpful. They tend to develop more focus through that. 10-15 min of structured after school revision is sufficient. DS read a variety of books through school, Schofield and Sims helped with the word problems. A slow and steady relaxed approach builds up better coping mechanism which they also assess. Good luck to everyone