11+ 2025 support thread

[AquaPeer]

Hi all,
I really enjoyed reading previous 11 plus support threads and I think we’re probably ready for a new cohort of year 5s start their prep?

so I thought I’d set up one for next year. All welcome!

we are trying for dame Alice Owen. DD currently has group tutoring once a week but we are looking to increase to twice a week before Xmas.

i am trying to get her to do a cgt GL 15 min tests a day very unsuccessfully! This half term is going to be all about embedding routine 😀

look forward to meeting other parents preparing

For DD and DS it was HB pencils that were specified. No particular rubber was mentioned but I remember spending ages testing out all the ones we had!

@troppibambini6yes he is thanks. He’s been in for a few transition events and enjoyed it. Although I loved Ambrose, I think Urmston is personally a better fit for DS being so close to home.

Re: your ‘current’ son, I do think you need to step away from the noise of what others are doing, and do wants right for you. It sounds like your son is at the level that’s needed, so just keep up a bit of practice to maintain that now.

@pipsquiggleI think you’re deep in 11+ insanity if you’re getting worried about pencils, but I think I had a moment doing the same last year.

From general pencil use, we alway use staedler norris (black/yellow) with rubber on the end, also seperate staedler mars rubber. Good quality and no issues with rubbing out. Just avoid cheap pencils where the rubbers can be crap!

Final post from me to you all. Yes, I was the lady that booked a spa day to get over the 11+! It takes its toll on mums and you deserve it!

I’ve now decided to make it an annual tradition to go once per year so I’m rebooked for October….this is your instruction to do the same!!!

How funny - I planned the same just yesterday (waiting for her to come out of a mock exam 🤦🏾‍♀️). I want to stay overnight in a nearby hotel too. My dilemma is whether I invite someone to join. I don’t think I want to talk to anyone for 36 hours 😅😅

@sweetmelodyon your own! Us mums just want to be alone! 😂

This!!

This is such a great idea, already looking at spas

Hi everyone. Hope your summer prep is going well. So we are currently doing practice papers few times a week, 10 min tests in between and some vocab. DS is scoring 90-95% in maths and VR practice papers and around 85% in NVR. He’s only done 2 mocks so far I might book one for August. Not sure what we should be doing at this point, I feel like he’s learnt all that he needs to learn. All seems a bit repetitive now. I’ve seen all the summer intensive courses being advertised but we’ve decided to opt out! I think DS is doing okay and it’s not needed.

In the actual exam each section is timed like the mocks right? Should we be practicing this technique at home? I’ve just been giving him full papers to do and he always finishes much earlier than the allocated time, which is a relief cause a few months back I was writing in this thread that he’s going over the time limit!!
im in Trafford to btw 🙋🏻‍♀️

@teachermumthey are great scores. Yes for the consortium each section is timed. Last year it was 15 mins of maths, 15 mins of English, 10 mins of VR 3X3 minutes of NVR. Then a 10 minute break and the same again.

@teachermum26the English had two comprehensions. One was about a Chinese kite festival and one about a street food vendor.

@teachermum26 we did Trafford last year (and also previously with my older kids). If he is getting high scores and finishing practice papers in good time then that's really encouraging as it's a really time pressured exam. I would say maybe try and focus on practising those types of question that perhaps he finds most difficult. As I have said previously we never did anything extra over the summer other than a couple of mocks between June and Aug (I think we did one around the third week of August as a last practice run) it sounds like you have prepared well so fingers crossed for September

We're in London and the competition for a place is ludicrous. In some schools 90% would not be enough for a place. It's very stressful. Tutors charge a premium, I've seen one for £175 an hour, ridiculous.

Hello all, can I join please? My DD is studying for HBS and Latymer tests. She doesn't have a tutor, but has been doing atom learning and practice tests. At home she's been doing really well on mock tests - 95% or thereabouts in maths, vr and the multiple choice English. Perhaps a little lower in NVR and wider English, but she did a mock year at a centre in Harrow and scored a chunk lower - 95 and 85 in VR which was good but 80% in maths, 75% in English and 60% in NVR. She still did pretty well but it's knocked her confidence and she was upset. Just wondering if we've been studying the wrong things or at the wrong level. Has anyone else tried the irl mocks in Harrow?

I am not super wedded to these schools - dd1 goes to our local comp, but dd2 has her heart set and has been working hard and I want to support her as best I can while trying to keep it light. We are about to go on holiday. Is it worth trying to find a tutor for the last couple of weeks or is it too late to be learning new things anyway?

Good luck everyone! It's so hard trying to get the balance right isn't it?

We've not done the Harrow mocks, but I've heard they are good. TBh, her scores sound very reasonable. Do you get exams papers back so you can review them and see if it's gaps in knowledge or silly mistakes (which I'm sure will happen in the real thing too)? Don't forget that for latymer and HBS, she will also need to do creative writing.

Thanks. You sort of get the papers back -its digital and they show you the ones you got wrong and what the correct answer was. I wish I could see the actual test to check she's marking it clearly. It was a mixture of things really. Silly mistakes in English - she must have been getting tired by then as did both mocks back to back - maths she ran out of time a bit, and NVR I don't know what happened, but Latymer doesn't do NVR so if that's not her forte i am less worried as long as she can nail the others. Yes re creative writing and it's harder to know how she's doing with that though she's done the two practice ones on the Latymer website. HBS she would only do that in round 2 I think (which she would need to do as we are just out of the 3 mile catchment)

Yes it's a shame you don't get actual papers back. When I check my daughter's work, I can see where rhe silly mistakes are... sometimes it's misreading a question or following steps until the end. Sometimes she can't read her own working out and has worked out the correct answer, but then copied it over incorrectly! Luckily, these are decreasing though. I hate NVR - I find some answers are subjective depending on what you see. I wonder if you could find a tutor to just mark her creative writing? And yes, HBS don't do it until round 2. We're just within the 3 miles. Our goal school is St Michael's in Finchley, which we definitely need NVR for unfortunately.

Thanks and good luck to you too!

Thank you @troppibambini6for the insight, it helps knowing what to expect for the actual exam. Having timed sections like this makes it much harder for them doesn’t it!

Thank you @peacypopsthat was really encouraging to read and I will take your tips on board. I might also start giving him short sections and timing them just so he can practice this technique. We are booked for a final mock 3rd week of August. Good luck to all the kids who have worked so hard this past year

@yoshiblue yes we are in Sale and I came across the same level of obsessive tutoring with my oldest son's cohort too. I definitely think it evens out once they start - my oldest passed with a 'low' score (and was among the lower scores throughout mocks when compared with friends who were doing a lot more tuition) but now he has scored well above his year group average in all of his end of year exams (even top 10% for a couple)!

Sorry, have tried to scroll back but didn't spot the relevant post. Please could someone explain the 10 minute segments to me? My daughter said this is how the mock she sat worked and you couldn't go back to sections once completed. How does that work in practice? Do they come by and collect answer sheets every 10 mins?

Hi, is anyone lurking familiar with St George’s Weybridge, or Reeds Cobham, or RGS Guildford?

my DS10 will be sitting for these in autumn 2025 and I am looking for relevant test papers.

would Atom learning be ok? Or Bond?

we haven’t done much preparation. He is a bright kid so I’m hoping he’ll be ok for one of those.

Hi, Trafford 11+ mum here! 👋

Does anyone who has experience of this exam over the last couple of years know whether there is a clock in the exam room? As in, is this a specific requirement that they must or must not have one?

Also does the invigilator tell them when they are half way through (time-wise) the section or when they have 1 minute left of the section? They do the latter during the mocks we’ve attended, but I don’t know if that’s indicative of the actual exam.

TIA

@BdayQ we have done Trafford exams and my youngest did it last year. I think it's a yes to both there being a clock and reminder about times but I will double check later and confirm!

Hi guys we’re still here for Dame Alice. Really not feeling confident, we are doing a practise test a day this week (English maths VR) we’ve been focusing on VR as it’s 1st stage but now I’m realising we just have to smash everything. It’s hard to prep for English asDAO write their own papers so I’m just doing them with her and encouraging what I think is best.

we’ve just decided to throw everything at the final months- will continue with tutoring and she has a few more workshops and mock tests. Really getting to crunch time now