If your DC have 11+ exams in Jan, how much practice are you planning to do in the next 4 weeks?

[Normasnorks]

Just a bit of background:

DS will be doing two entrance exams for (quite academic) independent schools in Jan.
He's at a 'feeder' prep and they are confident he will get in, and say that he could, if he has a 'good exam' be a candidate for an academic scholarship.

The school have been doing some practice papers in english and maths, and he is getting 90%+ in maths and 85% ish in english.

We did a few practice verbal/non-verbal reasoning, and his verbal is good 90%+ but NV needs more practice (75% ish in two papers so far, but getting better as he gets used to the questions...)

I'm not quite sure what's reasonable to plan for the next month? Obviously I want him to 'peak' at the right time for the exam, but not be so bored & blase, that he makes silly mistakes!

Anyone else in the same 'place'? What are you doing?

(Bump for evening crowd...)

Two years ago now...thank goodness.

Our focus at this stage was to keep DD calm and simply to ensure that she entered the exam and produced what she knew, got the timing right and weren't fazed if there were some tricky questions.

It was more or less a (timed) paper a non-school day in a pretty matter of fact way, eg there is an hour before you go out so just do an exam paper!

I marked about five maths papers together and realised that mistakes were mainly being made on the same type of question (geometry) so we focussed a bit on those.

We used the Galore Park books for English and when there was less time had DD plan several essays rather than write them out, or we discussed the comprehension and possible answers.

Taking the exams themselves seemed to be reasonably fun (well as much as it could be) as DD was relaxed and we had pizza afterwards. Better than school, which has been the aim.

Remember to pack the pencil case well in advance and even have a spare. Different schools sometimes require different bits of kit.

I dont think GCSE will be as manageable, unfortunately.

Good luck. Getting the scholarship will depend as much on what other candidates turn up, as how well your child does. It sounds like he will do well anyway, and so he just needs to go in, not worry and do his best.

DH has booked tutor to come in three times a week over Christmas holidays, it will be a real boot-camp for DD and DS, but it is worth it to make sure they get their place at the Cathedral School.

Bootcamp! aaaargh!!!

They are not squaddies.

Face it Lizzie, DS still won't pass.

PinkElephants: LoathsomeLiz's posts make some more sense if you follow the Archers.

Ah, got it!

Sad thing is, I know people who actually do this and feel for their DCs.

Tee Hee - yes, I guess I DID sound a bit like Lizzie in my OP....

Honestly, I'm really trying hard NOT to be a pushy parent - it's just what it's like around here

FWIW I also know parents who are manicly tutoring and I also feel for the kids.

DH has found an 11+ 'app' for his iPad (I guess there had to be one, didn't there?) and DS is going to 'play' on that for 15 mins a day.....

we have done nothing - dd at prep , and they do not prepare for yr 7 extrance exams as they want the kids to stay on there. my dd doing 1 exam to local indy which is not overly academci ( why w elike ti as dd isn't a high flier) but realised that actually she completely goes to peices in ordinary school tests and has never see a NVR paper so now think may have to pull out all stops , also she has to prepare for dram and music auditions - oh god i am so behind now

ds has 13+ in January. We're starting on Bonds vr and he has several practice papers for English and Maths from school to do by start of next term, then about a week/10 days before the tests.

What is the nature of the entrance tests for the senior school? They are all a bit different.

At 11+, you expect VR/NVR reasoning as a minimum. On top of that, there may be a short English paper (comprehension and creative writing) and Maths. None of these you can really revise for.

If the school does the 11+ CE papers, then a review of their exercise and textbooks will be in order.

He has 2 exams, and each comprises 3 papers: English comprehension & composition; Maths; Verbal/Non-verbal reasoning.

He has been given papers from school for over the hols, and he has a file with his previous tests/papers done over the last year, so I'm going to review his scores, see if there are any obvious areas of weakness and then get him to do about 20/30mins a day - probably Eng comprehension, maths and non-verbal reasoning.

His composition seems strong - he got 92% in his 'mock' test at school (which I was really about!)

My DS is doing a 10+ deferred entry - not making a big deal of it because if he doesn't get in he'll have to do the same rigmorole for some other schools this time next year! He's doing a 30 min paper on the days when it's convenient - as far as he's concerned, this exam is "just a little practice"!

When are most people's exams - early, mid or late in the month? I have some old practice papers that I ought to eBay, or am I too late for this year?

SF18I - good luck - mine both did 10+ instead of 11+ - much less pressured as like your they saw it as just a little practice, as did we.

My DD has exams for two indies in Jan, one of which is CE, the other their own exams. We're going to do a couple of test CE papers and that's it. She won't do too well on the science paper (State primary), but they take that into account apparently.