when to start preparation for 7+ exams?

[Navigatingparenthood]

Hi, my DC will start reception in September 2026 and I would ideally like for them to do the 7+ exams for entrance to the highly competitive schools like westminster and latymer. I was told that they need to start preparation with a tutor from start of reception. Not sure if this is too much or not or its accurate. Can I please have some thoughts from people that already went through this process?

@Navigatingparenthood I am a teacher and a tutor and I would definitely say wait until year 1. Let her find her feet in school and you'll get to see what she enjoys and what she may struggle with. Then, during year 1, you can decide to introduce a tutor - if needed. She may be stronger in one subject than the other. The other thing that a tutor, or parent, can provide is the exam style question practice. This isn't a big focus in KS1 now that the SATs are option (if she is in a state primary school). This can be built up over time, it can be drip fed so she can get used to the wording used in the quesitons and completing tasks to time. This is a better approach than cramming in the last month or two.

I agree with PP, wait until year 1 for a tutor if needed. You could use practice papers to indenting areas of weakness and get a tutor accordingly.

We did this as DC was weak in some areas of maths and had to find a tutor who was great in helping bridge the gaps.

@MyTwoDads thank you so much. I also thought its a bit early for tuition at the start of reception. And we definitely do a lot of work at home as well. Appreciate your thoughts

Hope it’s okay to jump in this post. Can someone share what level kids need to be working at to be successful at 7+? Many preps are telling parents not to tutor for entrance exams but the reality is, people are and will keep on doing so. For a child attending a state school, do we need to build them up to year 3 level across the board for the time they sit the exam? The standard of writing is pretty low in my DC school. No extended writing at the end of year 1.

Can anyone recommend resources to help prep for VR/ NVR and the English and Maths? Are the reasoning tests just like the Bonds ones because Bonds and Schofield and Sims are different? Sorry for all the questions. New to all of this and feeling overwhelmed!

Completely agree with starting in Year 1. You can always do some vocab and maths games now but the start of Year 1 is more suited to bring in the tutors.

I responded to someone asking for 7+ tutors in another thread and copying it here as it might help.

Start early. That's the one most important thing that most miss. Keeping discipline and pace at this stage helps ease the pressure towards the end..

Our oldest is already in St. Pauls Juniors and younger one starting this year and despite the popular belief, tutoring at this stage really really helps secure the concepts. The schools do discourage tutoring but really look at the paper that they expect the 6 Year old to solve in time !!!

That's our one tried and tested secret sauce to success. We tried to self teach the oldest one initially and his love for learning started going down 🤦‍♀️ as it all became v hectic for him and us !!!

We tried many platforms and companies and tutors and have shortlisted some that we used for our younger one.

Exam Paper Plus practice papers are really v good. A notch or two trickier than the exam requirement but better to know more than less.

PrepPlus classes and courses really helped us. We joined their f2f Sunday sessions and took 1:1 online classes. Really liked the depth of their worksheets and overall found the team v helpful there.

Bond books for reasoning prep.. Ours went to 8-9 years towards the end .. the joys of starting early 😅

Mock exams are a must must... we tried EPP, Yellow Bird and PrepPlus mock exams. All v good.. think one of them offers exam specific mocks also, worth checking..

Think that's abt it.. please just message if any further help is needed.. time for us to give back 🤗 the pressure and stress will mount as the months progress... I am here and a message away, if I can help in any way.. would be a pleasure !!!!!! X

Your DC hasn’t started school yet so you don’t know yet that they will be academic enough or suited to a highly competitive school environment.