Those whose children have passed 11+ exam.

[Mrspepperpot9]

Hi, just a couple of questions for those who's children have been through the 11+ exam and passed. Or any teaches etc.
Is it much different from the work they do in year 6?

My daughter has always worked above her age range. However, for many reasons we have not long started studying for the 11+ exam (just papers at home).
Do you know of anyone who has passed without months or years or revision beforehand?
As I say she is very capable and the practice tests we have done so far she has gotten 99% on each one.

Anyway, my main question is it much harder that year 6/SATS?
I'm starting to worry now (I have obvs hidden this from DD).

Thank you in advance.

No real prep for my DC’s. They used the youtube 11+ question clips to support themselves, plus applying this to practice papers.

I encouraged number and word puzzles.

A reminder about exam techniques.

They passed.

My friend was an 11+ tutor. She always assessed pupils before working with them and only continued if they had potential. She didn't want to build up hopes and charge when there was little chance.

Sounds like your DD will be fine.

Depends on the schools you applying for your DC.

NVR and VR type questions won’t have been covered at school (unless your DC is at private, they will often prepare in grammar area) so you do need to prep for these papers. It’s a bit like brain training! English and maths definitely includes yr6 curriculum. Timings are key, make sure your DC is aware of how much time she has for each paper. It’s a pacey test. Also technique… not sure it’s the same for every 11+ test but the one my DCs did you had to mark your answers on a separate answer sheet.. a small mark in your chosen answer so if you put the wrong answer in the wrong place, your whole paper is messed up. So speed and accuracy are inportant. Best of luck to your DC!

Both mine passed and had no tuition ( first one was when I was a single parent on income support, so definitely couldn't afford it).

The test changed a lot from when DC1 took it hough (18 yes difference between them).

I'm in Bucks and majority are tutored, so I can't say why they managed without it, especially as I'm pretty stupi, and couldn't help them.

With my eldest son, we discovered on the Friday that we were going to be moving to an 11+ area , phoned the school on Monday, travelled 6 hours and he sat the 11+ on Tuesday- so absolutely no practice at all! If she is getting 99% on practice papers, I'm not sure what you are worrying about!

I think it’s so much about technique that most children need to practise as they would never have seen these types of papers in school. I don’t think you need to have a tutor though.

Depending on the grammar school, 50 % will be completely different from SATS: verbal and non verbal reasoning are not part of the curriculum.

and again depending on the grammar school, English and maths would need to be ahead of the yr 6 curriculum ; or rather they’re assessing year 6 in term one so your child would need to be working ahead of their cohort.

but the mark required to get an offer can vary wildly from one grammar to another.

it will be significantly more competitive from now on as some parents eschew private schools for grammars at yr 7; and these will be people who can afford tutoring easily as it’s a drop in the bucket compared to £25k pa fees. (London figures and experience : won’t be so extreme elsewhere!)

Careful about what you are reading here, it’s like the MN chicken. All the children passed all the exams without practicing 🤣
It all depends on how hard it is to get into that particular school.

What area are you @Mrspepperpot9? That makes a huge difference. That being said if your DC is getting 99% on past papers I'm not really sure why you're worrying, sounds more like you're trying to worry other people! In our area most do receive some sort of tutoring (and working on past papers at home is a form of tutoring/prep also) as the maths in particular has a tendency to be more of yr standard than sats standard.

Firstly it depends on your area and secondly this year is going to be MUCH more competitive so previous stats will be less relevant.

The 11+ covers the y6 work but is taken at the start of the year so you will need to check that she has covered everything (this is a key reason for tutoring). What year is your dc?

The test is a very different style to anything they do in school, speed and strategy as well as familiarity with how the test works is key, for this reason many tutors arrange ‘mocks’ which are, IME, very, very useful.

At my dcs’ grammar the vast majority had some sort of tuition, but people keep very quiet about it!

Blimey, what area was this? Round here you have to register to sit the test 4 months previously!

Quiet, Eleven, in my area you register in the spring, through the county not the school, and there is a very strict deadline for registration. It’s organised by the LA.

Whether you tutor or not, don't forget that others will and some schools require a very high pass mark. Both mine just missed out on the local super selective but got decent enough passes for a good grammar (with tutoring).

Have you checked out which tests your area uses and got the correct tests? You may be able to download a practice paper so your dd can see how the whole test will be laid out. The 11+ forum is very useful.

@ElvenDreamer
Lincolnshire. It's not a highly selective area and We were incredibly lucky, it was an in year admission, they had space and he passed. Personally, I think they were misled by the name of his previous school ( it was an ex-grammar in a different county but kept the " grammar " as part of the name, I think they thought he had already passed the 11+!)
His younger brother had to do it the normal way when it was his turn!

The content is different from what they study at school (verbal/non-verbal reasoning for a start). I’m sure there are children who pass with minimal prep, but the test is next week (here anyway) and my son has been practising every day for the last 6 months, give or take. We did that so we didn’t have to stress at the last minute.

NVR was definitely not covered in any of the teaching in Y5 and Y6 at school - but there are quite a few DC that just seem to pick up NVR like a duck to water, others don't.

Exam technique is also important.

It really depends on the board she is taking and whether she is applying for any super selective grammars.

All the DC I knew who had gone through the 11+ process, whether they had passed or not, found SATs relatively easy/ straightforward.

SATs are much easier - but completely different so hard to compare! They also don’t come with the pressure of needing to pass and the need for speed is less critical. They are also done in a familiar environment and schools generally try to make them as low stress as possible - pretty much the opposite of the 11+!!!

I'm up in Lancs and here you register directly with the school and sit the 11+ at the school. It's different to my DCousins' DC who live in Bucks and Kent where I think all the children sit it in their own schools en masse?

OP you've had some great tips from other posters eg re the logistics of answering the paper etc but if your DC is getting 99% they'll be fine.

It depends on the schools to some extent. I live in a super selective area and tutor 11+ students. Some do join very late and are naturally above but things like exam technique/timings etc do need some practice. There is quite a bit not on the year 6 curriculum I think despite what the schools say - algebra for example. The texts are often 19th century so wider exposure to these is also useful. On the other hand some students have been tutored for years and are so bored of it by the time of the exam it can be detrimental.

Why are people on here making crap up? Seriously?! 🙄

It's impossible to pass VR/NVR without practicing and it's not covered at (state) schools. So unless the tests just involved English and Maths (almost all include VR and/or NVR) all the above claims of miracles are rubbish.

If you're in London and there's a competition of up to 20 kids per place (all tutored) it's simply impossible to pass without some form of practice beforehand.

It depends on the school you apply to and the child. Some schools do not require NVR or VR. And if they do, it definitely helps to prepare. Sometimes it can slow you down if you have never seen the question before and not quite sure what they are asking you to do.

OP - you really need to name your county if you are going to get relevant advice.

What ‘past papers’ are you using? GL don’t release these (they administer the Bucks and Kent tests).

It entirely depends which ‘past papers’ she’s getting 90% on. If you mean yr 6 SATS papers these don’t have the VR or Non VR questions which will be totally new and can be very hard unless you know how to approach them.

There is a forum for the eleven plus which has advice & discussion for each area, maybe have a look at that?

The important thing is how your child does compared to the others who sit it, not their actual percentage. In an area where everyone sits it the mark required to pass will be much lower than a super selective school with no catchment.