Has anybody successfully tutored for the 11+ completely by themselves(need reassurance)

[Blueskiesandbuttercups]

DS year 4 desperately wants to go but we can't afford tutoring.He is bright,driven and I was a teacher so in theory it shouldn't be too hard.

His friend is also going for it but they're well off so tutoring and have already started.Ds is nagging me to get started.

Sooo went on the 11+ forum typed in the school to order books and I'm already in a pickle.They cost £££££ so need to get it right. We like CPG but loads are listed we haven't heard off. Would it be ok to just go with Bond and CPG or should we go with exactly those listed?

Is it possible to do this ourselves or am I deluding myself? If I screw this up I'll feel like shit- forever! Need lots of reassurance.

No it is totally possible. We did it with DS - started in the March before he went into Year 6 and he managed to pass three 11+ exams for super-selectives. We used Bond initially and then widened our spread as we approached the Summer hols before Year 6, not least because some of the other types of books had short, sharp, shock test papers which came as a welcome relief after the 80 question Bond ones .

Good luck!

Yes; I did it successfully for a super selective for DD1 starting very gently at Easter of Yr 5 then more seriously from September for an early December exam. It's definitely not rocket science; these are tests for 10yr olds so they should be within the capabilities of a reasonably intelligent adult!

The first thing is to check exactly what the exam format is and you can do this on the 11plus website which has subforums for each region and school. Don't be put off by some of the more obsessive posters; just use it to find out what are the best resources for your particular school exams. Ours was just VR and NVR which was quite straightforward to deal with and there are lots of free resources online for practice as well as the test books and packs which you generally need to pay for.

We concentrated at first on quick tests in order to get an idea of how the question types worked. Then we moved on to longer timed tests, but I'd recommend you don't do these too early in your preparation because there is limited availability for these (for our format at least) and you can only really use them once. It's better to use them when they are a true test of speed and ability rather than when you're still at the stage of working out what the question is getting at.

I was concerned about how much practice to do because I didn't have any idea of how DD's scores compared with her peers. One website (chuckra) offered mock papers which could be sat either at a centre or at home. They also provided a breakdown of the scores of the candidates who had sat at the centre. That was really useful because we could see that DD's scores were pretty secure so we could be reasonably relaxed from then on rather than worrying about doing every last test paper.

Finally, make it as fun as you can. We competed against each other sometimes with the tests- she beat me more than once! We did the marking together and worked out why things were wrong. We got other members of the family to try the tests as well.

Good luck!

Many thanks. Good tip re the test papers,will make the bill less eye watering if we order them later.Does it matter which make of book you go for?The forum mentioned Aep but not sure if we need those and Bond/CPG.

Should just add ds's current school is in the bottom quintile for everything so he doesn't exactly have it all stacked in his favour.Feel I let the dc down re primary so determined to get him where he wants to go.

He is bright though and looking at a lot of the content it's well within his capabilities already.My dad who was a gardener's boy got into what is now one of the superselectives a year early and has offered to help.The one DS wants to go to isn't a superselectives,seems far more relaxed round here albeit a bit cloak and dagger.

I would start off with Bond as they are quite cheap & easy to get hold of and see how you go. I think there are some mock papers which are generally considered a bit harder than the others, so if you get those ones to do first then there shouldn't be any nasty surprises later on. If he does well with those and you're both confident, then you may not need to do loads of mock tests. I think I spent something around £100 in total with books & test papers but it was spread over 6 months or so.

I'm not sure about your tests but if it's just VR and NVR then this is completely different from anything at school so don't worry about that. DD's school was also pretty low scoring but that's not at all relevant for VR/NVR. If you've got your dad as a willing volunteer then that's a great asset.

It's VR,maths and English. He is an all rounder though,good spelling,excellent mental arithmetic skills ietc.He enjoyed doing G&T courses for English and maths(not that that means anything I know)so I'm hoping he should be ok but I'm kind of worried that he'll be up against kids from some very good schools(some private)who will have had tutoring on top.

I don't know why he's so desperate to go.If it was me making him do it I wouldn't care so much what the outcome was iykwim.It's the fact he really wants this that is worrying me and piling the pressure on to get it right.

His twin who is equally capable is adamant he doesn't want to go.- thankfully!

We used bond online for dd1 and just made sure she worked hard with those.

Maths is a weakness for her so we spent ages going over times tables and trying to make her more confident (she is logical but is a perfectionist and when it wasn't coming as easily for her as literacy does she was giving up).

All her friends had tutors so I was quite nervous that she didn't stand a chance.

So did she do it arianne? She sounds like my yr 3 dd who has mentioned wanting to do it(friends again). Kind of hoping she goes off the idea as I won't be able to cope with the pressure.

It is a very pressured time, be warned. I think that we just about coped with 8 months of prep up to the last 11+ exam. I am not entirely sure that we would have coped with any more prep.

It is also to be noted that I think the DCs reach saturation point and I think that starting in Year 5 is early enough. DS had certainly reached the point, by his last exam in the November of Year 6, where he was starting to go backwards - they hit a Eureka moment with most of the disciplines and then if one isn't careful can just start to get muddle-headed thro' over-kill!

Yes she did really well and was lucky enough to get a place with a bursary at an ind school. We did have to make sure she did the bond online everyday though.

She really enjoyed the vr and nvr and said they were "just like puzzles".

Do it!
I used Bond - started with the Parent's Stress Free Guide which helps you find your starting point with the topic books.
It was a great, easy to follow system and like they say they are no-nonsense guides without gimmicks and stickers which TBH a 9/10 year-old will not need.
All you need is an agreement between you and your DC that you will do your best, if DC will do their best as well, and have a space/time that is focussed on learning.
The bond system also gives you gudance on a reward system you can use if your are spending a long time on it (ie more than two or three months). And the online looks great tho we did not use it.
My DS and I worked between June and Sept last year using Bond, and he got offered places in 3 schools. Our school were not much help bar doing some practice papers in an after school club in Sept (when exams were all in Sept!)
Good luck!

PS most books available on ebay for half price second hand just make sure they have not been written in and still have answer sheets!

I must be very thick.
I thought the 11+ was about innate intelligence in the child
not motivation to tutor from the parent.
silly me

To start things off we brought a few Bond books but we soon realised that a lot of schools have past papers available to download for free from their own website. Usually each has about 5 years worth available online. 5 years multiplied by 15 schools = a lot of free mock papers :)

We did hire an English tutor for about 10 sessions though. Maths, VR and non VR had right/wrong answers so tutoring our DCs was relatively straightforward but English is more subjective. Hence the tutor.

With regards to other parents hiring professional tutors for a prolonged period, IMO after 6 to 9 months the child will plateau so the 'secret' is to time it such that he peaks in January. A parent that keeps their DCs at it for years isn't doing that child any favours.

Talkin - the OP is after advice on home tutoring so let's not turn this into a pushy MC mom who buy GS places thread please.

but if the child is bright enough, why tutor?
if the child is not bright enough, why bother ?

I was tutored to move up a year at private school - I'd never inflict it on a child of mine

thank goodness I live in a non selective county : my children are measured in each subject every year rather than on random subjects on one day.

We found the bond online really really good, we could check dd1 progress so knew which areas she needed to work on.
It was good for her to see where she had made mistakes with some questions and as she could do 10 questions on each subject she could dip in and out if had any spare time during the day but not enough to do a practice test.

Virtually straight away she was getting 100% with literacy (has always been her strongest subject) and by the time she did her exams maths (her weakest) was up to 70-80% which for her was very good as she really doesn't find maths easy.
We did also get a couple of the bond books as extra practice for vr and nvr, started off with ones for much younger children as I wanted her to grasp the basics and find it easy to begin with and she was very quickly up to speed with it.

Most of dd friends had tutoring each weekend and one friend had it every day 9-3 throughout the summer hols which made me think dd wouldn't stand a chance.
Luckily the school also did interviews and group activities/assessments so they had lots to base their choice on.

I think a lot of the 'tutoring' is more about exam practice and working within a certain time slot than actually 'teaching', especially with things like vr and nvr which some children may not have done before and it helps if they have had some practice at those types of question before.

Korma-Im sure he will be fine. Make sure he can do a timed test and get him familiar with vr/nvr.

Korma - your DC needs to be familiar with the format of the test. Sitting down on the day with no knowledge as to what to expect is not ideal. Your DC also needs to work at speed and not to be fazed by the ticking clock.

It will take a few weeks to familiarize your DC with the format. Thereafter its just practice, practice and practice. All this before July is a tall order but it is achievable.

I got my DS through the 11+ last year-he actually ended up getting the highest score in his year. It can be done, you just need to be consistent, focused and determined!

Most of DS's close friends had tutors at £20 an hour, once a week. None of them passed. In my opinion, they just assumed their child would be ok because they'd hired a tutor, but they (the parents) switched off and weren't really involved themselves.

Bond papers are fine for maths/English but very little use for VR in most areas. Check what your area covers.

Yes. It was like pulling teeth at times (ds1's choice to do the exam). Lots of past papers/Bond papers/bit of story writing and discussions about what he could write for various titles.

Look for a tutor by all means but no need to put things on hold until you find one. Find out if your school provides pass papers. If they do then get your DS started on those.They tend not to ccome with answers so you'll need to do them yourself first else you won't be able to mark your DC's work.

Bond papers come with answers so although they won't be exactly the same as your school's format it is a good introduction to such exams.

Basically, the sooner you start the better.