11plus should we forget it?

[Beachmum23]

Hi my daughter has always been at greater depth level for all subjects throughout school. So we decided to try her for the 11plus. She has been tutoring since September and now done three mocks and has done worse each time. Her accuracy on the questions she answers is 75% to 85% for every exam but her speed is not there so she isn't answering all the questions. Her first mock was 60%, second 50% and third 45%.

Tutor is saying she will speed up but surely everyone will speed up including ones that are already doing well.

Debating whether to forget whole thing but local secondary options are not great and to late to move now. Has anyone been in a similar situation please? What did you decide?

There's no harm in letting her sit it, and seeing how she gets on. How is she in general school work, speed wise?

Younger DD did 11+ last Sept, at this stage she was the same as your DD. Even going in on the day I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing putting her through it. She got a good pass. She asked after all the mocks ‘what did I get?’ And I could see that she was behind the curve, behind the other kids, as they gave us her personalised scores and the cohort scores. I just said we were proud, she was gaining in experience and exam technique, and it was all coming together. As long as she’s still happy in herself to push on, then keep the faith. Sorry if this is a drip feed, but I did take annual leave for three weeks during the summer holiday, with great plans to sit and do 11+ question papers with her. We hardly did any, as she just wouldn’t. She still managed. We did have tutoring each week during the summer holidays though, and mocks.

Good luck whatever your decision.

If she wants to let her, but don't push her because she might not get in and feel a failure, despite whatever you say.

Concentrate on local schools too, have a look round, make it fun.
We decided against a place due to hours of bus etc, plus the amount of pressure. Take the bus to and from, up early, get ready, in the rain and cold- come home late, dinner, 2 hours homework and bed, up again early to catch the bus.

We tried it. We def didn't like it. Some do.

On exam day, some girls were in tears before they got in there! And some had to be helped out in tears. Some parents were not nice to their kids and we found this distressing.

In the mocks, what are they comparing her to?
We only started 11 plus prep at home at the end of year 5 and did the mocks in the summer holidays.
There are some nutty parents doing years of tutoring and countless mocks possibly bumping up the mock threshold?
My DC passed for the most competitive London grammars, so did their two female friends also always greater depth. Cannot say either of them was strikingly obviously going to pass as per the first mocks they sat. But they all pulled it out on the day and found the actual exams easier.

Thanks all. She is keen to continue selling will keep going only a couple of months to test now so will see how she gets on

The last few months are all about tackling the psychological pressure. If she's keen, just keep going and be supportive.

The reason of worse and worse results could be the built up stress and the exam anxiety when getting closer and closer to the real thing. (I've seen some kids in DC class had similar patterns).

It's important to tell her just focus on doing her best and that 11+ is not the end of all. Good work ethics would pay off in the long term regardless if she passes or not.

Speed could be an issue unless she learns to make every answer count. If some is fast but gets over 10 questions wrong, then that's probably worse than your DD who miss out 9 questions but gives the right answers to all the other she manages to work on.

Good luck. She's not giving up. Thumbs up for that alone!

Yes some of the others will speed up but if she can get the questions right with 75% accuracy when not under pressure she is probably better off than someone who can only get 60% right but does this consistently whether under pressure or not.

Having said that it is important to remain positive about all the options. Be clear to her that all schools sit the same GCSEs, she can still do any career from any school. Passing just gives her different options. Sometimes too having a slightly slower pace suits some children who are very able. In my experience the 'top sets' in non grammar schools in grammar school areas can give really high quality teaching to those children because they will be the headliners come results day. In a grammar school unless you are really exceptional you can be lost in the mass of other children who are also fairly clever.