Atom for 11 +?

[Elthammummy]

Hi!
Has anyone used Atom learning for 11 + prep? Pros/ cons? Will be doing books as well but wondering if it’s worth paying for an Atom subscription to practice speed, different type of questions etc. We’ve got around six months until the exam . Many thanks!

I think it's dependent on what schools you're applying for

The exam board will be Quest.

We used it for non super selective state grammar. DD found it a good tool to use, she did 1-2 hours a week max for 10 months, none in school holidays, and she passed just using that.

Which I believe is owned/run by Atom no?

If so, then yes I would say Atom would be your main resource as the actual tests will be pretty much identical to what Atom gives you. This is what we found for the London Consortium test and we fortunate enough to be offered for all 4 schools we applied on that.

We started similar to you, 6 months before the exams with Atom doing the daily learnings and then in the month leading up to the actual exam we did a lot of mocks tests on Atom. We started off quite low, especially verbal reasoning and non verbal reasoning as my daughter hadn't come across these from state school. However by exam time we were hitting pretty consistent scores with perseverance.

Obviously every child is different.

If you're applying for grammar schools, private schools that run their own tests like St Paul's or NCLS for instance then I would consider still a good base but not your main resource as Atom doesn't always mimic what you're going to get on those tests very well.

We used it for a year before this year's 11+; as mentioned above, it helped as practice and is a good foundation. My DS, for context, got 6/6 offers and a few scholarships (Kings, LU, Emanuel, Hampton, DC and Alleyns). I think the way it is structured makes it easy to just get them to sit and do small chunks and practice tests, and it doesn't feel too heavy. The learning track (no idea how accurate) scores against your aspirational school as one point of reference.

We used it for a couple of 11+ applications, one GL Assessment and one FSCE. (The FSCE was a surprise change from GL in May).

DD used it for just over a year and that along with some mock tests in the summer was what we did with her. What I would say is to make sure there is plenty of reading going on in addition to Atom. We discovered with about 4 months to go that her English needed more work, yet Atom was marking her prep work higher than she was achieving in her mocks. We had time to address it, but had we kept passively following Atom, we might have had a tougher experience at the end.

Overall though, good system and integral to our daughter doing well in her exams.

My son did it for a month before (plus the free 5 day trial 😂). He didn’t really need any of the maths and English so it was mostly to expose him to the VR and NVR questions.

I thought it did a great job of explaining how to answer with some hints and mnemonics too. And easy to do in little chunks

Thanks everyone, that’s very helpful!

Agree with PP that if your target school uses Quest then Atom is the best tool to use. Also, it’s a bit more fun than paper tests and DD actually enjoyed using it which made prep a more pleasant experience for all! We used it for about six weeks before the assessment, with some written prep too for the creative writing element. But TBH I wish we’d found it sooner and will prob start using it with DD2 earlier because it’s quite engaging, feels less homeworky and more manageable.

If your target school uses Quest then yes Atom makes sense as the format is very similar, so it's worth using for that alone. That said, if you end up needing to cover other schools or want to supplement the VR and NVR especially, have a look at YoungLearning too. Much cheaper than Atom and covers all four subjects really thoroughly with loads of practice questions and mock exams. We used it alongside Atom and honestly got just as much out of it for a lot less money. Good luck, six months is plenty of time!

I wouldn’t say it’s enough for the London grammars so depends on the school/location

can I ask how you found out what your target school uses, please?

They should have the information somewhere on the admissions pages of their website. If they don’t have the info on the website, maybe email the admissions team?

They normally say explicitly on the admissions page of the website. If they don't, see if they link to sample papers/tests or similar, and then look for clues on the paper or in the web address (eg GL or Quest).

Thank you. I’ve tried to ask directly as well as on website, they keep cards close to chest! I will try more sleuthing.

Ha, good luck! Which school is it, if you don't mind me asking? I'm surprised they're so secretive about it!