Did you have Tutor for 11+ Entrance Exam

[MalbecMummy]

Good afternoon. -

My DS is in year 5 and will take his 11+ for the local Grammar school. We are lucky that our school gives them specific tutoring for this.

However, he will also take one or two entrance exams for independent schools. Would you recommend a tutor for this? What are peoples experiences of using a tutor specifically to pass an entrance exam?

The 11+ grammar school tests my ds sat were mostly the GL and CEM formats. These included NVR and VR which were also included in the independent school exams he sat. However, the independent school comprehension and creative writing exams were totally different. The comp was 'long hand' written answers rather than multiple choice as in the GS exams. There are techniques that are useful to learn for this and also for creative writing and of course speed is of the essence. Having said that, ds sat for the most competitive schools in the country so the pass standard might be different elsewhere. I don't think he would have done so well without specific tutoring but the normal GS tutoring was a good foundation.

The elevenplusexams website is a mine of info for the different formats and has an independent school forum.

Thank you Mrs Patmore - that is very helpful.

Malbec interesting to hear that your school gives tutoring for the 11+. They're really not meant to, the point of the 11+ is that it's an aptitude test and children shouldn't be tutored for it at all. I know for a fact in Kent, coaching of students by schools is banned. DD will be taking it, but beyond giving her a few practice papers to try, we won't be tutoring her at all. If she passes (which we're confident she will) it's because she has the capacity to learn new information etc quickly, not because she's effectively been taught how to pass the exams.
Interesting article below.

www.google.co.uk/amp/schoolsweek.co.uk/kent-private-schools-ignore-11-plus-tutoring-ban/amp/

No we didn't.

We introduced VR/NVR in year 3 when we home educated because someone in our home ed group did it and it seemed like a good idea so DD had seen it before - lived nowhere near a GS catchment at that time.

So far 3 of my 4 dcs(home edded and flexi schooled) have passed entrance exams for faith grammar schools with minimal coaching.

I only used Bond Verbal Reasoning 10 minute tests for question familiarity and speed.

Depending on the requirements of the exam, Bond do other resources.

CGP is also worth a look.

Unfortunately I found whilst researching this for my DD that her primary school won't even have covered a lot of the potential maths exam questions until later in yr6 after the 11 plus exams. So really she has needed some tutoring from us at least to even have a hope of passing. Which I kind of think is contrary to the purpose of the test. They can't answer it if they haven't even been taught the method yet! I've found it quite annoying to be honest.

That is a pain Angelique. Luckily my dcs only have to do Verbal Reasoning.

I have seen the CGP 11+ range for maths and it is very good if you're looking for any more resources.