11 weeks to prep for 11plus

[meowcatmeow]

On advice of DS's teachers, we have just entered him for the 11plus.
How would you prepare your child for the 11plus with just 11 weeks until the exam?
Which books would you buy? Are there past papers to download?
It's not something we ever considered hence it looks like we've left it quite late with any form of preparation!

CGP do workbooks for the 11+ that also have tests inside
www.examninja.co.uk/GL-Assessment-11-Plus-Workbook-Pack-Age-10-11/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-I_7ofKm6gIVCu3tCh0dtAOqEAQYBiABEgJuhfD_BwE

Our local grammar school consortium has past papers to download, you can also buy the ones that are not free and have them posted csse.org.uk/practice-material/
It is a good idea to find some specific past papers from the exam your DS will take, to get him used to the format - our English paper for example has a creative writing bit at the end which might come as a surprise if you had practiced on comprehension papers.
Otherwise we used the Bond books www.bond11plus.co.uk/english
It is a good idea to time the papers because it can come as a surprise as to how quickly they have to complete them, and give them some ideas about how quickly to move on if they can't do a particular=r question

You could look at elevenplusexams.co.uk, lots of information there, with a forum for different areas of the country

And spend some time on exam technique (ie guessing on questions he doesn't know, narrowing down and guessing if short on time, etc.) What you don't want is him getting stumped on one question and spending 5 minutes trying to get it, if that means he runs out of time and does get to the last 15 questions. I think the bond books are quite good for embedding that sort of rhythm

First thing is to confirm the exact format of the particular exam you DC will take.....they vary so you haven't time to waste of prepping the wrong stuff.
Find out who is the provider of the exam and if there is VR and NVR and English and Maths. Then you can look for the books you want based on those. CGP, Bond will do stuff. Def look at the Eleven Plus forum - useful info for all areas.

Don't let anyone tell you it's too late, you can do a lot in 11 weeks with a bright child. But you will need a plan of what you want to achieve each week.

It's not too late. I did it in a month, two papers a day, one before school and one after. Brutal but quick.

First of all find out exactly what tests he will be doing. Usually GL or CEM. Will he do non-verbal reasoning or not?

Then buy the right syllabus CGP books and commit to an hour a day, every day.

Make sure you identify any gap, especially in maths as he won’t have covered the whole syllabus in school.

You’ll have to learn verbal reasoning from scratch but try to figure out short cuts as they have less than a minute to work out each question.

With English, get him to be careful. The questions are multiple choice but there’s always at least one option that could be right but isn’t. Get him to think carefully about which answer is the one they’re looking for.

Don’t do timed tests until nearer the time as it does take longer at first.

Which area are you in, OP?

Which schools are you applying for? Each school has a different format - some are CEM and others follow the GL? Depending on the sxhool parents are able to give more advice.

Exam technique is important- practise under time condition at home and always be positive. The child needs to be confident I themselves by the time they sit the exam

not too late, we did it in less time than this. It is worth speaking to the admissions office before applying and checking the deadline for application etc. There may be virtual open days happening, you might be able to speak to a tutor etc. There are likely to be changes in the process this year, unprecedented times and all.

We are in a similar situation and have been doing the Bond books.
Do we need to move to GL ? if so at what point?
the schools we are looking at are not CEM
thank you !

We did it in less...focus on non verbal reasoning and vocabulary flash cards for 11plus as the English test are quite brutal. Load and loads of practice and great speed is needed

Where are you, OP? Presume test is going ahead as scheduled? I know Bucks is trying to move its test to November.

11+ in not one exam for all , it differs hugely from area to area , school from school.

You need to find out from your target school/schools what their exams are based on. Typically some form and combination of maths, english, verbal reasoning, non verbal reasoning.

Without knowing which school/s you child is applying for, its hard for anyone to advise. There is also the issue of what areas would have the best impact for your child ?

Look on the local grammars websites. 3 of the 4 grammars near my house had preparation work free to download off their websites last year. Remember that some areas have their own 11 plus (ie Kent test, Medway test) and it's better to prepare using past papers of the one they'd be taking, the questions are pretty much the same but it's getting them used to the format.

Get your DS used to exam conditions, i work at one of the testing centres each year, the thing most likely to unsettle the children is the atmosphere, so as much as possible he needs to sit at a table under exam conditions for practice papers.