2023 Eleven Plus support thread

[elevenduck]

I thought it might be useful for parents of 2023 children taking the 11+ test next school year to have a space to talk everything 11+ - tips on managing stress, approaches to the different papers, ways of relaxing etc.

Let's try and keep it positive and supportive!

I'm getting rather stressed about it too. For a long time it has felt like ages away but all of a sudden it feels very close!
We're focusing on comprehension especially inference and deduction and NVR as they are the weak spots.
How much are you all doing over the holidays? We were doing 10 to 15 mins every day but we've been doing a bit more this week as the weather has been rubbish so we've got plenty of time to do more.

How many comprehension and NVR questions can one do for 10-15 mins? Including the time to review the answers?

We're doing at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours most days. Maybe a 50 min paper I'm the morning and then time in the afternoon going over the answers he got wrong. Or a few 10 min tests in the morning and afternoon going over answers. Depends.on the day. Plus he's doing some mock tests so he goes in for 2 hours tomorrow and then goes back the next day for a 2 hour small group lesson going over the common errors from the previous day's test.

DD isn’t in the least bit stressed. As mentioned in my previous post she doesn’t want to attend the Grammar as none of her friends plan to go there. Ironically she has performed well in recent mock tests. NVR is her weak spot and she is improving. I have no Plan B. Our closest secondary schools are dire and the decent ones are out of our catchment.

Can i join please! It feels like it's getting rather close now. DS1 has just finished year 7 at our local grammar school and DS2 is hoping to follow. He's got a good grasp of all of the 11+ content but struggling with getting the speed up. It's a real pain that tutoring stops for the summer and then he will have two sessions in September before the exam. Trying to keep things ticking over without overdoing it. We have a strong Plan B but I'm nervous for him, especially as DS1 has been bigging up the grammar!

@GarlandaChynoweth Hi. Lovely to see a new face. Whereabouts are you based?
I was saying the same to a friend the other day about timing. I hate that it's in September and I almost would like it to be in July before everything stops for summer or later in the year when we're back in the swing of things. Obviously I know that's not practical but like you say it's a pain!
Speed is an issue for NVR here too. They have to do 20 questions in 10 mins here which is hard especially when it comes to codes etc!

@curiousmamma we are Salisbury so we have the only grammars in the county (one boys and one girls) here. NVR seems to be a particular sticking point. DS2 can explain to me exactly how to do most of them, but with a timer on he starts rushing and guessing, but then ends up with plenty of time left.

I do wish the exams were before summer holidays. I guess it’s how it was always done before. Seems such a busy tiring time for them. Also hard to get them in the right mindset. Easier when they are at school I feel 🙈😬. Oh well it is what it is.

Tutor said about making revision fun 🤔 any ideas for that?

At least the exams usually come before the xmas holidays! Did the tutor offer any ideas on how to make the revision fun?

Someone once mentioned using incentives such as a small treat (ice cream or muffin or activity like going to the museum or whatever they like). We did not do anything for my dd (I did not think about it at the time and she just did the work. But also, I always keep work light). But for my ds who is now entering year 5 he mainly is motivated to do whatever I ask, but it is not much. I get him to do Atom learning 15 minutes here and there or a page from a 10 minutes work book. On a couple occasions when he did not feel like doing a mock I offered some game time after. I make sure he is reading his book as well. I wish my dc would go back to being more interested in reading. Unfortunately, they prefer watching youtube these days. 😢So I have to remind them to read and set a timer. I really want to try and get them back to being book worms. I might have to cut screens during the week when they start back at school (I don't think my dd will have any time anyway when she starts year 7 because of the homework increase and all her extracurricular activities).

Curious, if anyone else finds their dc prefer screens to reading and if it worked to just cut the screens?

I think screens are a big issue at this age. I know a lot of my friends have the same issue so we just try and get out and about. Annoyingly it keeps being horrible weather though 🙈

Both my Dd and Ds are good readers so at bedtime will still read for a good hour at least. I have bought some subscriptions to magazines as well like “the week junior,” and similar. My Dd prior to secondary would spend all day devouring a book.

I will just continue with small incentives and keep going. It’s difficult as seems to be a busy time of year socially. I think the routine of school lends itself better to revision.

@Torvi1211 I WISH my kids would read an hour before bed. I think I am just way too lenient on screens and I need to get them back to reading. My ds used to start reading first thing when he woke up. I miss those days. But I guess people can go through phases, as I stopped reading for a while and now on holiday I am reading loads :)

Yes, I think the small incentives are the way to go and for my kids it also works to remind them this is for them and their education. It is ultimately up to them. I told my dd I was fine for her to go to the outstanding state school for secondary and if she wanted to go private she needs to prep for it. I say the same to my ds. He understands also that the private school dc are ahead in the curriculum and we need to make sure he covers it all before the 11+

You can give choice with DCs about screens. Give them a number of hours and they can choose to use at times they want, within reason. Then you are not saying no, you are helping them choose. We did this with DD, albeit when screens were less invasive 7 years ago. DD’s mental health is much better than her friends Ho had unfettered access to social media. It is iso important to get it right now when you can give guidelines rather than later when they are less likely to listen.

Anyone else have a DC who doesn't seem to be trying very hard on practice papers? Either this applies to DS2 or he has a lot less chance of passing than I thought🙄

The ones we get from our tutoring company seem to vary wildly in difficulty. This weekend DD got 87% on NVR (not normally strong) but two weeks ago got 35% on the same subject. I'm assuming the variance is on difficulty rather than ability!

We are only doing the practice books at home. We have Mocks with the tutor. I did purchase some of the practice tests and print them but I find the 10 minute ones better tbh.

I set a timer now as found my DS would do them quicker and waste the extra time not checking q’s which imposed his score a lot. I try and leave him to it other than that.

I think from what friends are saying keeping the momentum in the holidays is tricky. I can’t blame the kids for not always being in the mood.

I remember one particularly grim August day when I got my daughter to do some maths practice, and she was so sloppy with her answers, right down to claiming she “didn’t know” really basic addition. I mean “3+4” really basic addition. She was just throwing a tantrum.

It was a tough one to navigate because, although I obviously didn’t want to heap tons of pressure onto her, I also wanted her to understand that there was an actual purpose to all this (I think she’d lost sight of that a bit), and that the only person she was sabotaging was herself, and I wasn’t asking her to do some Maths just to be a tyrant.

DS2 is doing a mix of a few practice papers and mainly ten minute tests. I think/hope he's just not in the right frame of mind in the home environment. He's sailed through tutoring this year, then just scraped a pass in his mock. We'll keep plugging away I guess and see what September brings

Same as Jellycats on one day in lead up to the test I had agreed with a friend both kids do a practice test at mine together- they both got about 25% and I didn't know what to say to the other mum- they both passed on the day.

It’s all a bit up and down here as well. DD insisted she had no idea how to work out the perimeter of a shape the other day. This is something she understands perfectly well.

Her scores have fluctuated. NVR was her weakest area for months but suddenly she is doing well in it but struggling with verbal reasoning. She is doing mocks and exam practice 3 days next week in a ‘crash course’ 11+ centre which to be honest I regret booking. We went on the weekend and there were 20+ kids crammed in a room going through a paper and they mostly looked exhausted and tense. Anyway we’re then off on holiday for 2 weeks which is a welcome break from it all. When we get back there will a couple of weeks until the exam. What will be, will be.

I'm happy to hear that we're not alone in the up and down nature of it. DD got her worst score for a while on maths and it's really knocked her for 6. It wasn't a particularly bad score but she was really upset with it. I keep telling her she's too hard on herself but she won't listen. Her problem at the mo is not reading the questions properly. Hoping it's a summer holiday thing. 🤞🏼
Gosh I really feel for the kids. I wouldn't put her through it but the local school is dreadful!

I have found the same. Things that my DS definitely knows suddenly he’s drawing a blank. Think they must be so overwhelmed. I think some downtime is important or they just won’t want to do it so the holiday sounds a good idea :) We are doing the same at the end of the month

Still fluctuating all over the place here too. DS2 got over 80% in the comprehension part of an English practice, 90% in maths. But scoring anywhere between 25% and 60% in VR/NVR. Not even trying to apply any techniques for at least eliminating the wrong answers. I know he finds it hard to concentrate at home when he can hear his siblings banging about. Trying to keep practice fairly minimal and we're on holiday the week after next so planning on a week off. Whatever the outcome I just can't wait for the exam to be over!

It oddly makes me feel better that others are fluctuating wildly! Today was a maths focus at the tutors, the paper dd did at home - 62%. Paper she did with the tutor, 95%. Ahhh!!! If she was consistently great or consistently poor, I’d feel relaxed one way or another, but it will really depend on her mood on the day.

the tutor just said to me at pick up, if she remains calm on the day, she’ll pass easily, if she doesn’t, it’s unlikely. So the tutor is going to spend the last few sessions focussed on “how to not lose your shit and just get on with it” - that’s not how the tutor worded it…

Just found this thread and have been reading the messages. DD taking the exam and we are in exactly the same boat with fluctuating results. It's a relief that we are not on our own! I'm trying to make sure that there is a balance between work and play and giving her intermittent work.

I think they are feeling overwhelmed and this is contributing to the ‘blank’ responses to questions they would otherwise easily answer.

Up until last week DD didn’t seem to care either way about the exam as she wanted to go to the secondary school down the road. Then she attended a summer play scheme based in the Grammar school and at pick up she was saying the school looks amazing inside, the facilities seem incredible and she really wants to go. So now she is a bit stressed! I mean I wanted her to care about passing but I didn’t want her worry. Can’t win really!