11+ exam for 2022 entry

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Hi there, is there anyone out there whose child is going to sit the 11+ exam this autumn do 2022 entry?!

Is still going ahead, right? Have you found any difficulties at the last 6 to 8 month with getting them ready for the exam bear in mind that school was on an off?

My DS will be taking the 11+ in autumn. It looks like the exams will go ahead but they say subject to govt guidance, so it will depend on what the circumstances are at the time.

It's become increasingly difficult to prepare DS for the exam because he's effectively missed a year of school and I'm having to fill in on Yr 5 work as well as Yr 6.

We're just doing a little bit every day but it's becoming increasingly difficult to motivate him to even do that. Homeschooling is tiring because they're not getting the structure and breaks in their day the way it is at school. His schools does 2 zoom sessions a day ( lasting 30 mins each) and that's it, then they're expected to work on their own.

Best of luck! Was just saying on another thread- my daughter was going through the 11+ this year and the exams went ahead (albeit some were online).

It's been a really unpleasant process for my daughter at least, as she's not particularly motivated at the best of times, but lockdown has proved a real pain. She's at a prep school and they were doing a lot of 11+ prep before lockdown and then were just having ordinary lessons online via Microsoft Teams. To be fair, the school's lockdown provision was excellent, but there wasn't any extra 11+ prep like before. In theory lockdown should have given us a lot of time to really focus on the past 11+ papers and Bond books etc. However, that may have worked only for the very diligent kids (my daughter isn't one).

By the end of it, she couldn't be bothered and doing 11+ papers became a real battle. So I just let her be and she was just sitting the 11+ exams with minimal prep. Luckily she doesn't get nervous before exams (part of her not being too bothered) and she was fine sitting them.

Whatever happens happens (my expectations are extremely low).

Yeah, same here...DD is year5, bright but not genius...
I've found it incredibly difficult to motivate her in the past 4 months.Do you found that they just can't engage to the test as before? We used to do a lot of 10mins/30mins/mock tests etc., now it seems impossible 😬

Yes, same here. I think it's become worse due to homeschooling. However, giving DC a complete break for a few days helps to snap them out of it - it's a marathon not a sprint so it's important to pace yourself and not burn them out (easier said than done ofcourse because as parents you know how much needs to be done and it's a mountain of a task so it's difficult to take your foot off the pedal). DS was really enthusiastic to begin with but now that has really tapered off.

We tried to be low key, don't worry just have a go, tried to be pleasant if DC did the work at home, we did not ever make any fuss over any results, told DC to expect it to be difficult and just tried to reward the effort with a few homemade cakes and silly dances.

We aimed for an hour of 11 plus a day during lockdown.

Ofcourse, sometimes it was only half an hour. Some days it was zilch.

But DC went to a state school that did not prep for 11 plus and also had a dreadful year 5 as there were multiple teachers and next to nothing home provision. So we prioritised 11 plus prep of up to an hour a day because DC started so far behind and there was no prep in year 4, and no homeschool to compete with. Then we tried to encourage just some self directed learning like science in his own time at his own pace and left him to it, so it was not just 11 plus. We aimed for the hour a day from april to september, then we kind of stopped apart from doing a mock the week of any exam.

This time in year 6 the provision online is excellent but I think I would have struggled with 11 plus if he had full on learning in year 5, or maybe he would have been better prepared? Who knows but state schools do not prep for 11 plus.

DC ended up doing well. I would say, we gave days off too but just tried to keep 11 plus consistent. We ran out of time with NVR, as had so much to cover with Maths and English.

We kept a note book of new vocab words so I could count and say wow you know 100 word meanings or something.

It looks like the little but often approach paid off and it looks like every exam entered whether state or private was successful in terms of marks, but we played down any results as it was all about getting to a standard and trying. I feel there is too much pressure re 11 plus and it was my role as a parent to minimise it.

We never got around to do enough NVR or Mock tests.

Something we did do was get DC to call say the grandparents and do a mock bond test on zoom while being watched and while they made typical house hold noises. He said this helped for the zoom type exam and he said some children sitting obviously got distracted during online inviligation or were not able to navigate online properly. So if you think your child may sit exams online do something at home to practice this.

I also think some private schools will keep with online as it must be quicker to turn around and mark.

Good luck! I hope the above helps.

I did not mean to post so much. It is tough times out there.

Good luck with 11 plus whatever your situation.

All the best to your children.

Little but often is what I what start with and then see how it goes.

We started to heed lockdown warning signs this time last year. No tutors for us, although online tutoring is now main stream and assessible to many. The DC and teachers are much better prepared for 11+ this year, in whatever form the exams take.. Plan little and often. It is too far out to be trialing mock, your DC will burn out. Think slow build up marathon type training prep not short sprint high intensity.

Yes dc2 will be, dc1 has just sat hers & got a reasonable score all things considered. Enough to be top end of the waiting lists but she'd rather be at the local comp & likely in a higher set than go this route, which is fair enough.

I didn't have any huge issues motivating her up until September but once the exam was moved she lost all oomph, along with trying to get used to being back in the classroom etc.

Dc2 has been working along side dc1 in all her prep, he's the more academic of the 2 & has his heart set on a particular grammar. He's very focused on his revision for it, tried a couple of practice papers over Christmas & did fantastically (he asked to try as we came across them while sorting paperwork, it hadn't crossed my mind to try one with him yet). I'm just hoping this years exam is less of a nightmare than the one just gone!