11+ how many hours of prep work each week?

[smogsville]

Hi Everyone

We're trying to work out how much prep work is necessary in Y5 to give a fighting chance at state school 11+ entrance exams.

We're doing some but are fairly confident it isn't enough so are trying to weigh up if it's realistic/ desirable to try to shoehorn more in. We have a capable, bright child but she's not a genius.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone whose child is in Y6 and who has therefore now finished with all the state schools exams.

Many thanks in advance.

My daughter had a tutor from Oct year 5. She did 1 hour per week with her. From around April this year we started doing the odd paper too. July and August she did a little bit of work

With hindsight I wish we had started doing papers a little earlier- it was quite stressful over the summer.

Thanks @Flyingbymypants so that sounds like 4-5 hrs at home per week at this sort of stage which is what a friend locally has said her son did. It feels on the cusp of manageable but any more than that and we'd have to ask her to give up an activity or two and she loves them all so that wouldn't work! Appreciate your feedback, thank you.

It's definitely different for everyone.

We didn't even acknowledge the 11+, as it wasn't something we were thinking about. However, around June time, DS decided he did want to try the exam, so all in all (including a nice summer holiday) we did a little bit of past paper work and that was it. I do believe familiarisation is important, and as I had zero idea what verbal and non verbal was, it was important we looked at those. He passed (even though after looking at other schools we have put the grammar as second choice now).

Just ensure you don't stress and over work your child, they'll need to adjust to a school that works at a different pace/level and if you've had to excessively tutor your child they will need help when at the school too.

It's going to depend on the area. If you're somewhere where there are only a couple of grammar schools and high population density, like London, it will be much more competitive than grammar areas.

DD is in year 6 and did really well in her exams (Sutton grammars) last month. She did around 1 hour a week with me in terms 1 and 2 in Year 5, which tuned into 2-3 hours a week (plus 3 mocks which were useful) in the last term and summer holidays.

OP, that really depends on the area/nature of the grammar schools.

1. Is the school considered a super-selective?

If so, maybe 3-4 hours a week in Y5 and then ramping it up through the summer holidays

1. Is it a catchment-based system?

If so, you probably don't need to worry too much with a smart DC. One hour a week in Y5 and then exam familiarisation in the summer holidays should be enough

1. Is it a sought after grammar area, but not a super-selective?

1-2 hours a week in Y5 and extra hours over the holidays should be enough

1. Are you in a prep school or school with lots of homework?

I don't know anyone in my DC's school who has time to do 4-5 hours of work a week, because they have so many afterschool activities, sports matches and homework! For them, 1 hour of grammar school prep a week is a stretch.

We're in Gloucestershire. Did a virtual 6-week short course (one evening per week for 2 hours) in Feb/March of Year 5. A few bits and bobs in the Easter hols. Then about one hour a week of DIY prep until the test. BY FAR the most useful thing for our DD was doing a couple of mock tests. We did one in March to scare her into doing a bit of prep, and then one in July to show her that she was progressing and boost morale etc. HTH.

Thanks everyone this is all helpful.

Not a grammar area so a high number of pupils going for the small number of selective state (as well as wide assortment of private) schools. I think it would be considered 'super selective' ie v competitive, so the prep would need to be at the upper end of the spectrum that you've all outlined here if she was to be in with a chance. DD is in a state primary so no prep for this done within school time, having said that children from her school do get places every year.

There would zero point trying to persuade her to give up even one of her extra activities in favour of prep and my main concern atm is whether she has the emotional maturity to buckle down. If she doesn't and it's just going to be a painful and futile battle where more time is spent talking about doing it while not doing it, we won't go ahead. The default school that she would definitely get a place at is good.

It's the usual boring dilemma that I'm sure a lot of us face really; capable child but the bar here is set very high. Feels a bit lame not to try though!

Noted re mocks - absolutely, great point.

@smogsville I'd definitely give it a try. We aren't in a grammar area, and only a few (but out of our catchment), so you really need to perform well. In all honesty, after I had read posts on Facebook groups re:number of hours and type of prep I thought we weren't going to achieve much 😂 but DS was happy to try anyway. We were too late to book any mocks, so only time I got an idea was when we tried a few papers at home (GL exam so bought the packs). He did it, which was great. A lot of grammars do note how they don't expect any extra work as they're after the 'naturally agile' ones. However, it's hard to not actually do anything with your child knowing people have been prepping their kids since year 4

Best of luck, we are now in the process of sitting an independent school exam in January, but taking the same approach (I can't imagine making him do any more work so no point fighting )

My DS did 2 hours a week for a year before the test. Also did three separate mock exams in the 6 months before the test that were held at a local school to get the kids used to the exam process. His school also did some 11 plus prep within the school week for the kids in the fast stream.

Thanks @SweetsAndChocolates and @AngelsWithSilverWings DH and I are going to have a long hard think about how this could work..

I am very anti pressuring a child and tutoring so much that they pass an exam; you then have no idea whether your child can pass an exam or whether they have the academic ability to be at a grammar school without causing them huge stress struggling to keep up all the time.

DD (currently year 6) did an hour a week with DH on maths and in the week before she did a couple of extra 30 minute sessions with him. We did one past paper on English. No official (paid) tutors, no prep at ALL over the summer holidays. Same with DS. They both passed. DS chose not to go to grammar (so quite relieved we didn't pay out £100s in tutors!)

My DD is in Y6 and has therefore finished her 11 plus exams. It sounds like our circumstances are very similar to yours when you say:

"Not a grammar area so a high number of pupils going for the small number of selective state (as well as wide assortment of private) schools"

We're in the West Midlands. DD goes to an average, small state primary, and has always been a ‘top group’ sort of child, with a particular strength in reading/English, but neither of us grew up in a grammar area so it was all new to us. After doing some research, we decided not to pay for any external tutoring, but instead to do some work with her at home using workbooks and a couple of mock tests (which I agree with a PP were extremely valuable). Our local comprehensive school is a good one, so a grammar place was not the be-all and end-all.

I would recommend that you make sure you know as much as you can about the style and format of the test(s) your DD will be taking. Over here they are CEM tests, and the focus is on speed, and they are apparently trying to test a wide vocabulary, rather than specific techniques that you can prepare for. The tests are designed to discourage tutoring as there are no past papers and they don’t give a lot of clues as to what will be covered. However, you can make sure your DD is solid with all aspects of the curriculum, and then work on problem solving, and gradually speed up.

4-5 hours per week of work specific to the 11 plus sounds like overkill to me. In Y5 DD spent about 15-20 minutes most school mornings prior to school, so certainly no more than 2h per week, until about June onwards, where we added some sort of timed test at home every couple of weeks. To be honest, we tailed off a bit over the summer holidays (when friends were pushing and panicking) because we felt she seemed to have got far enough with the preparation.

We started with CGP practice books in Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, and then moved on to 10-minute tests or other workbooks from other providers (Bond, Collins, First Past the Post, Letts, Schofield & Sims spring to mind) - to get a range of different questions from different providers.

For the CEM tests, I would say that what was more important than any of this preparation was READING. My DD has always been an avid reader, and I have encouraged her to read a range of books, including some classics and 'stretch' books. She reads out loud to us for a few minutes, a few times per week, and we talk about what is going on, looking up any new vocabulary. We also try to use wider vocabulary in conversations as a family (eg asking whether there is a more suitable word), and we enjoy the idiosyncrasies of the English language. Some of our friends had bright children that weren’t keen readers, and they had word lists stuck up around the house, but it’s not a very effective way to build up an excellent understanding of the written word.

My DC spent an hour a week with a tutor throughout year 5. The tutor generally set between 30 minutes and an hour of homework per week. That's all they did, and passed.

I agree with the comments about not heaping the pressure on, these suggestions about ten min tests are useful, thank you and she is also a big reader so has a great working vocabulary to draw on. She's got a pretty personality so if she doesn't want to do, it doesn't happen anyway so it would be ridiculous to push her but some friends of hers are trying and she's saying she wants to have a go. I'm trying to get her to understand the difference between wanting something in a notional sort of way and wanting it enough to try to make it happen! The schools we're thinking about are actually mixed ability as they admit based on location, siblings, children of teachers etc as well as the exam allocation so it wouldn't be a case of her not being able to cope if she got a place and then wasn't brilliant across the board.

Much food for thought, thank you again.

Pretty forceful personality that should say

Yup my DD is insanely stubborn and won't be hassled into prep. Occasional 10-minute tests in holiday time kept us ticking along. She found it hard to study for this sort of vague concept of grammar schools, so I drove her to the prettiest one to actually SEE it before the first mock, which helped. I also made a cute graph to show her progress. I only heard about Atom learning too late - might be worth a look? Good luck with it!

My friend's DD is similar to yours, EyeBallisticSquid - she wanted to take the test on her terms (no tutors, would practise if/when she felt like it).

The location of her test was her closest grammar, and she was blown away by how amazing it was, and was very cross at her parents for not persuading her to do more preparation!