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

Thank you for the replies! Seems like we're all pretty much on the same page. My son does group tuition on the weekend (4hrs) and then throughout the week he does the homework they've set him. We started on the 10 minute tests this week and he's finding them very easy. He's really had a good attitude towards the prep I have to say and he just gets on with it which I'm thankful for!! However, my daughter in year 3 has already told me she's not doing the 11+ 🤣

I think nearer the time I'll start on practice papers. I'm sure we can find them online?

Mine does group tuition once a week (1.5 hours), and then the homework throughout the week. I want to add in some extra maths as that is her weakest area, but she is really busy with other activities and piano practice so it is very hard to find the time. We think we might have to drop something but she is resistant. She also has (pointless at this stage) school homework to do. She does happily do the homework, for which I am very grateful!

Helllo all! How was January preparation?

we’re between freaking out and progress, I think! We have added an extra tuition session per week and DDs attitude to homework has improved somewhat. She’s still not doing a great job of applying what she’s learnt (and demonstrated to her tutor she understood in the lesson) so I think we just need to work on application and practise

only 9 full months left for us October 25 exam takers!

Think we're somewhere similar to you @AquaPeer! DS is doing well with the actual learning, it's the speed and technique he's not so good with yet. I don't want to take away his confidence on the learning side by telling him he needs to work faster so I'm hoping it will come naturally over the next few months.

Also struggling a bit with comprehension, although again it's hard to tell if it's a speed issue or a 'struggling' issue. Reading and comprehension have always been above expected level at school so I'm hoping it's that he's tired/uninspired by the CGP texts at home and it's that which is not helping him to think 'enthusiastically'!

Provisional test date of September 15th in Trafford so only 7.5 months to go for us!

I'm just sitting with ds while he works his way through a vocab booklet. He has to think of lots of antonyms and synonyms and it's so hard!
Some of the vocab he's expected to know is bonkers. I'm secretly googling synonyms so I can help him!

@IsThatYouPam we are Trafford too. Is your DS doing Ambrose or just the consortium?

We're just doing the consortium (we're not Catholic and not in Altrincham so I don't think it's worth the stress of two exams as he'd be so unlikely to get a place even if he passed!). Are you doing both, or just one?

Agree, some of the vocab is crazy! My oldest learned so many of these words when he did it two years ago and I reckon he's forgotten 90% of them (and of course none of them even came up in the exam either)!

@troppibambini6 @IsThatYouPam I'm a lurker from last year, my son passed with a high score on the Trafford Consortium test and will be going this September.

We did no specific focus on learning vocab, we just encouraged him to read every day, a good range of fiction over the year (no classics either). In the exam there were a couple of word meanings maximum, it's not a massive part of the exam.

There are a couple of interesting videos on You Tube that I watched about comprehension and said you aren't expected to know all the vocab in the world, but read the sentences around the word in question to help work out the meaning. I think thats an interesting way to look at it and a good way to build comprehension skills in advance of the test.

We are not doing great. DD left her group tuition before Xmas, she was refusing to go as she hated the competitive element and was losing confidence (struggles with Maths).
This year I’ve joined Atom, but honestly getting her to do it is like pulling teeth.
We are very close to quitting completely tbh. (Quitting isn’t the end of the work as we have good v good/outstanding state schools near us.)

I might try a 1-2-1 tutor after Half Term as a last ditch attempt. Sigh.

She says she does want to try for the schools (she has a particular Indie school in mind), but she just can’t seem to sit down and do the work.

Any advice most welcome…!

Hey @yoshiblue I was there too <waves>
Ds is weak on vocab and doesn't enjoy reading. Whilst I'm not planning on making him learn sheets and sheets of vocab he does need to improve it as it does help with comprehension and VR.

Hope your ds is looking forward to starting in September.

@IsThatYouPam yes we are doing Ambrose it's ds first choice and his brother starts there in September. I feel for him a bit as his three siblings have all sat and passed.

@EdgarAllenRaven it's so brutal. Maybe as you say try a one to one as you say?
It's sounds like maybe it's knocked
her confidence?

@troppibambini6 Yes I think I will
line someone up for after Half Term, I just want to give her a chance. She is strong in English and loves reading, let’s see if we can turn this around..!

We are struggling here.
DC2 is not a self starter which is proving hard. Frequent meltdowns.
He is capable which is even more frustrating to us.
He loves the lessons and the tutor says he's doing well. He just hates homework. AAGGGGHHHHHH!

Another thing that's annoying is that DC2 doesn't think he has to put the work in as he is 'always' near the top of the class which he is in maths but not so much the other areas.
DC1 was a different kettle of fish, he has always been determined.

It's very exasperating.

Any tips would be appreciated

Waves back @troppibambini6

Have a look at the Mrs Wordsmith word a day books. It's spiral bound and good to stand on the table over breakfast. Prompts a conversation about the word and covers synonyms too (can't remember if it does antonyms). There are two of them.

amzn.eu/d/4Gh4Pj2

6 months to go.
Maybe try to learn 5 new words a day Mon-Fri) Vocab is important

@troppibambini6 Oh no, that's a lot of pressure for your fourth! Is he handling it ok? My oldest passed two years ago (consortium) but I don't think he's thought about it in terms of already having a sibling in yet!

Thanks for the vocab tips @yoshiblue . I agree, there are other way to think about vocab rather than just learning words. In fact this week we looked at some odd word out questions and he realised that if he knows at least two word meanings he's in with a chance of picking out the odd one as it won't be like those two. He's quite good at reading between the lines and thinking 'sideways' so hopefully that will help him with these sorts of questions.

@Pipsquiggle , are you doing any mocks? My oldest was the same - always the top of his class in school so thought he didn't need to put in much effort. The first mock brought him down to earth a bit and started to get him to realise he needed to work harder in some areas. As the pressure increased nearer the time his attitude defintiely started to change!

Selfishly relieved it’s not just us suffering! DD has just done a set of half term mocks- we will see how she does and how that motivates. Her tutor has just switched to atom which she loves- so she’s doing the homework better for now 🙈

@IsThatYouPam we have mocks next week so I think that will be enlightening for all of us

Thanks @yoshiblue I will have a look.

@IsThatYouPam he's the most chilled out of all of them. I've just kept it super light saying of not there are other options, what will be will be and just do your best! While keeping every finger and toe crossed I have

We have just had a report from his tutor with the results from a VR and a comprehension paper he sat. The feedback was positive.
He got 72% on his VR but got 2 full sections wrong and which I'm taking as a positive. It's showed he's not fully grasped that type yet and they need more work. He got all the others right so that's good.

Comprehension is his weakest and he got 70%.

He has a mock in April which I think will give us a bigger picture.

So we've just had the mid year tests back. The tutor's pass mark for her students of having a 'reasonable' chance of passing the 11+ at this stage is 60%. My DC got 61%.

He did pretty well on all areas apart from Non Verbal so we need to work on that.

Does anyone have any non verbal suggestions that are helpful for the Bucks test - could be an app / website / books (we have CGP already).
Any recommendations would be appreciated.

My daughter got her mid year test results back:
VR 92%
NVR 97.5%
English 95%
Maths 62.5%

...so I think we can see what we need to work on. The tutors said maths was fine for this stage but she definitely struggles with it. They just haven't covered much of it at school. We are hoping the good scores elsewhere help as I think in Bucks it is only the overall score that counts.

@Pipsquiggle we are also Bucks; the tutors are using 'understanding reasoning' by schofield and sims for NVR

Remember English is 50%, Maths is 25%

Have you looking at Atom Learning online? My son is in Y5, he uses it for his school homework but we will be purchasing it monthly for 11+.
I also purchased CGP online monthly course for £6 which gives unlimited tests to try out. My son had a go today and really enjoyed it.
One other thing we are doing is going on YouTube and finding tutors completing test papers online.

Depending on which exam you are doing there is plenty of resource available.
@Pipsquiggle where in the country are you?