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

Hi, we're also sitting DAO (more for practise as I know it's a tough one to get through). Yes, DAO English is interesting... all of ours (Latymer, St Michael's and HBS round 2) write their own English papers so it's harder to practise I find - especially the creative writing part. I also find DAO maths the trickiest out of all of them as it's not multiple choice. We're also just cracking on for the last few weeks. DD's tutor gave daily packs to complete for 2-3 weeks (mon-fri). They take about an hour. Some of it is simple speed tests for basic maths (addition, times tables etc), some more tricky... but it's keeping the brain ticking over for now. DAO is our first test on 1st September.

It’s our only sitting; now I’m really into it I can appreciate how hard it is. DD has been working hard but is nowhere near coming in top cohort. Not massively hopeful but from the beginning we have tried to view as one of the privileges of living here rather than a need to attend.

only a couple more months 😫feels like we have been waiting for this for years

Have checked and yes there was a clock in the room and also the children were given updates on time remaining during the exam. Obviously for Trafford you can sit the test at several schools but I imagine it will be the same at all of them.

Does anyone having opinion on whether a digital or analogue watch would be better?

Thank you @peacypops, hopefully it will be the case at all Trafford sittings

My son sat Trafford last yr and got time warnings towards the end for all sections except NVR, as they were only 3 mins each.

Do you know how many NVR questions they got for those 3 minutes?

I still don't feel I quite understand the timed segments thing - do they come and collect papers every few minutes? Sounds stressful

In the Trafford exam they aren’t collected in after each section. There is one paper divided up into timed sections. When the time is up on one section they are told the time is now up for this section. When told you must turn the page and start the next section. They are told they must not turn back at any point.
Basically if they do they are disqualified.

@teachermumpretty sure it was 9 questions in 3 minutes.

@teachermum26I think 8 in 3 mins? Stupidly quick, but we practiced CGP 10 min tests that I think were up to 20 per test.

Thank you @yoshiblue@troppibambini6
wow that seems so hard 🙈 we’ve been using the 10 minute tests but I think you get max 15 questions for 10 minutes which is so much more doable.

@teachermum26 I think so too. Ds said he didn’t like that bit at all. We hadn’t practiced 3 minute sections at all so came as a bit of a shock to him!

Thank you. This sounds like what my daughter was told in her mock for Henrietta Barnett but I couldn't quite picture it

From memory DS wasn’t always reaching the end of the 10 min NVR tests, but in the exam he answered them all, except 2 on 1 section. I therefore wonder if the real exam NVR is a bit easier than the CGP books?

Bloody hell it was all going so well…… Ds consistently getting good marks feeling really positive. This mornings paper…. 66% 😩
Im so over this crap now.

@troppibambini6hes probably as fed up as you! 💐 Maybe time for a few days off in the nice weather?

Does anyone have any hints /tips of how DC should tackle comprehensions that are 'olde' English?

My DC normally does OK on English comprehension - we've just done a 10 minute test which was an old poem - he got 3/12 😔

I've told to look at the general theme of what they are driving at rather than worry about specific old words. Anything else?

Long time lurker, first time poster in a state of gently rising panic having realised probably two years too late that "my kid is pretty smart, strong on maths and does well at school in all subjects" may well not be enough to rely on. Doing the Buckinghamshire test one month from today with high hopes of an AGS place but his (state) primary has done absolutely nothing to prepare his class for the strange world of non-verbal reasoning etc and now I'm trying to swiftly impart everything about exam technique that I dimly remember from when I did my A-levels in 1997. I'm constantly impressed at the universe's ability to come up with new ways to make you feel like you've failed as a parent.

The one saving grace is that the Bucks test is a straight pass/fail - it doesn't matter how much you pass by, as long as you hit the magic 121 points you're eligible for a grammar school place.

Best of luck @DolphinOnASkateboard!

You're probably aware but in case not I don’t think a 121 score guarantees you a grammar place. It means you’re eligible to be considered, but then the schools set their own admissions (oversubscription) criteria, the key ones of which are usually sibling rule and then catchment and distance from school.

It may be that you easily tick the catchment/distance criteria meaning the 121 score is all you have to get to be sure of a place, but that won’t be the case for everyone.

Snap! We didn't appreciate how weird the various admissions criteria were at our local excellent schools so in a last minute panic. Especially as discovered he probably needs to be taught some more algebra for a chance, and that the only grammar schools are super selective London. Part of me is 'hot house to hell' but I'm trying really hard not to fall into the panic and hysteria. There's a website who's name escapes me (something like 11plusexams) which has a forum split by location/grammar area which I found helpful for some guidance of the exam. But I think overall we're just going to look at past exams and work on technique. He's strong on maths and (considering he doesn't read for pleasure) strong in comprehension... Luckily we are avoiding VR/NVR.

BEST OF LUCK!

@DolphinOnASkateboard - don’t panic and just work through the CGP books would be my suggestion and do one booked mock test to get an experience of exam conditions. We also only started in the summer holidays and DS passed and not just straight pass grammars, also superselective scores. For non verbal, the trick is not to overthink it and simply exclude those which it is clearly not.

Thank you... I'm trying to find a balance between pushing him to give him the best chance and not wanting to heap so much pressure on that he feels like a failure for life if he comes up short on the day...

Does anyone else have very tired children? School set us at least one hour of work per day over the holidays and DC is exhausted and I actually think doing worse! What do I do??!

Our school provides ZERO 11 plus support. Even the concepts he should have learnt at school we've had to either teach from scratch or vigorously revise.