Revision tips for CE please

[inthename]

We have the books, but ds revision technique is letting him down. poor set of end of term results and I need to get his brain in gear! He's bright, capable but claims that the information 'goes out of his head', hates past papers etc etc! so, coming up against a wall of teenage angst but we need to get some solid revision done over the holidays.

Clavinova is spot on.
2 entrance exams in January and a scholarship assessment (non academic) in March.
Maths has evened out a bit and only wobbles with fractions and percentages normally, which is why the end of term assessment came as a shock (around 30%) but turned out he spent most of it feeling ill. English was high 80's so no issue and Science 50% but hes had problems with the teacher.
We're going to go through the revision packs and 2 past papers for Maths/English/Science that they've sent home.
Thanks all for the advice, feel daft asking teachers all the time!

inthename sorry when you said CE we thought you meant the standard CE June entrance. If his exams are in January (which we had forgotten) then he needs to do proper work over the holidays.
dodo3 you are /we are confusing you with terminology - school specific pretests (for the competitive boarding schools usually don't need 'revision') and CE (June) or scholarship (spring or summer term) which is done in year 8. CE is used by Eton, Westminster and co which are pretty competitive. The CE at that stage is really mainly for setting purposes since very few who have passed the pretest are likely to fail.

Summer, I assumed that the OP was talking about entrance tests due to the worry of revision over christmas.

sorry - to clear up...
The tests in January are 'pre tests' and the March one is non academic scholarship. He'll be doing CE in June and for that needs 60% at level 2. Sorry for mix up, they're not straight entrance tests, more where they will offer a place conditional on CE, apologises for being confusing

Inthename so he needs to practise his maths and science in order that he can also do ok in maths and science when he is anxious or not feeing clear-headed. As well as what Clavinova says, I would suggest some time pressurised testing of his maths and science after the early revision period. Unfortunately, as you will have told him, he has to realise that he really needs to work at this stage to ensure his place at these schools from a 'bad' exam day

Inthename - does he have to sit any VR/NVR tests as well? Don't neglect those. When are the interviews? I think you said he was flummoxed by his 11 plus interviews - make sure he's read the newspapers and go over those common questions; what do you like about this school, why do you want to come here, if you were the prime minister, super hero, cartoon character, millionaire, what would you do etc?
One last thing - has he had any special mention in school newsletters or local papers re his extra curricular scholarship application, preferably with a photo? If yes, download them or take photocopies and put them in his scholarship portfolio - if it was worth a special mention in the prep school newsletter then you should highlight it and make it seem more real (don't go overboard though, 2 or 3 will do.)

Thanks, VR is part of one, but they are doing that at school frequently. Yes, will go over 'those' questions!!! Hes getting better at them! He has a portfolio with all that sort of stuff, competitions etc so thats sorted. Thanks again

I have rarely if ever heard of a child at prep school failing CE - unless the parents have entered them for a school against the advice of the prep Head. So assuming your DS is entered for the right senior school for him, I would relax, let him relax and leave it to the school to manage the revision. Christmas is too early to start for exams in June.