DIY eleven plus prep - not sure how to tackle this

[howtodrainyourflagon]

DS1 (9) will take 11+ in a year's time, and DS2 (7) in two years.

So I sat both kids down with a GL eleven plus maths paper and both kids sat for 50 minutes doing the questions. DS1 did 28 questions getting 25 right and DS2 did 22, getting 20 right. There are 50 questions in a paper though! Neither kid has ever done anything like this, so their exam technique is rubbish (in particular DS2 spent 15 minutes on a question he clearly didn't understand given he's only just finished y3 and this was for 11 yo) - neither of them skipped the hard questions or used the rough paper I'd given them.

There are a few voices on mn that echo the "kids don't need any preparation, the ones that get tutored struggle through secondary, it's morally wrong to tutor etc etc." I wasn't planning to send them to a paid tutor, but to try to help them prepare myself. Now I've realised there's a pretty steep wall to climb, particularly for DS1 as he only has a year. It could be down to exam technique, but getting from a 50% success rate to a 90% they'll need does seem a bit insurmountable. Yet they're not struggling at school at all, and I'd have thought they'd have a good shot at grammar school entrance.

So can I have some tips on how to get the kids to speed up, and what I can do to help them on exam technique? Is it possible to make the progress DS1 will need in a year, and is it worth getting a tutor rather than my amateur approach?

You're not making sense,do tell what level is year 6 NC content?

Level 4 is the goal for the maj in year 6 sats. Many schools will do level 5 and 6 after the 11+(my DC certainly did)

And as for going by the say so of a 10 year old on the return of a test you haven't even seen, I think you'd quite rightly be laughed at by any appeals panel.

Oh and don't forget children are in competition for places.

The kids competent in level 5 and 6 maths will get higher percentages and thus the places.

CEM maths is hard,most schools are switching over to it. You need to be competent and fast. Eg you need to be able to do long multiplication/ division of decimals fast in order to answer 20 short or long questions in 7 minutes. None of my DC had covered that by the Sep of year 6.

Some will be able to work out gaps and teach them.Some won't so they'll outsource.

Ha,ha to me being a tutor,I'd rather stick pins in my eyes.

Got to admit up here on the Wirral, almost everyone I know who wants to get into Grammar school got tutored.. It's the norm here. They start with a tutor in yr 4, most around Christmas time. Some start a little later in the year but they all start by Yr 5.

Obviously not all the ones who get tutored pass, but I personally don't know anyone who passed that didn't have a tutor. In fact several without tutors failed but went onto sit and achieve level 6 Maths and English (not reading).

Some that did have a tutor and passed didn't sit level 6 but were high 5s. So I do think it depends on the area you are in and the competitiveness of the Grammar school entrance.

Zombie thread from 3 years ago!