Wilson's 11+ (SET) — tutored or not? What resources helped?

[Chesseagle]

Title: Wilson's Grammar School 11+ (SET) — Were Your Sons Tutored? Resource Recommendations?

Good evening,

I would be very grateful for some honest insight from parents whose sons are sitting the Wilson's SET this September, or who have already been through the process.

My son is currently at a prep school and his Quest diagnostic scores have come back in the 139 to 142 range, which I was pleased with. I must also note he’s born in August. However, he recently sat the Wilson’s mock exam and did not perform as well as I had expected, which has left me feeling quite anxious about whether he is truly on track.

The difficulty I am finding is that his prep school focuses its curriculum more towards independent school entrance rather than grammar school admissions, so I am not confident he is receiving the specific preparation he needs for the SET format and style of questioning.

I am now seriously considering engaging a tutor, but I am unsure whether this is genuinely necessary given his Quest scores. For those whose sons were successful, were they tutored? If not, what resources did you find most helpful? I have seen Atom Learning mentioned frequently, is it worthwhile for Wilson's specifically (we were using for around a year and a half but I find it quite repetitive).

Any advice, recommendations or reassurance would be enormously appreciated. Thank you.

You need to tailor his learning to the tests he will be facing - they’re quite specific for the super selective grammar schools. For the SET he needs to be fast and accurate - did he finish the paper? If not, this is a problem with time management. Did he get the first few wrong in the paper? If so, he’s rushing and making silly mistakes. Did he find the comprehension questions tricky - they have changed recently and candidates now face comparative comprehensions and multi step inference questions.

A tutor won’t help with learning - you’ll probably find he already has the knowledge. They can help him become familiar with the style of the test and the speed at which he will need to complete it while retaining accuracy.

Have you looked at getting papers for him to practice? The one called ‘Mastering Inference’ is good as it covers the English multi step inference questions which are a feature in the last part of the SET paper. Maths papers are easier to get hold of.

i think a tutor would be a good shout but make absolutely sure they know the demands of the entrance exam and that they are there to help specifically with that high level exam prep.

It sounds like your son is in a good position but the Quest exams are a different format to the Sutton SET. What you will need to focus on for the last few months is exam technique specific to the SET.

You can buy practice papers, but a tutor is probably the quickest and easiest way to master skills such as the multi-answer and comparison questions.

The mock exams at the schools are not usually representative of the challenge level of the actual test (I’m a tutor and have seen students sit these exams over the years, with parents becoming anxious that their bright children haven’t done well). The tests are planned by the PTA, not the teachers who actually create the tests.

I usually advise parents and students to take these exams as a good opportunity to see the school and how the exam will be conducted, but not to take the results to heart.

I hope that helps!

Hello! Thank you, this is super helpful.

He scored 142 in quest and has so every single year since year 2 so I was shocked he only got 70% in the mock exam. He missed out four questions as there was a timing issue, the mock exam also identified in the three topics he knew he got 100%, whereas in advanced geometry he got 0% so he hasn’t yet been taught it, which is strange given he’s at a prep school and he’s finished the year 6 curriculum (it’s quite frustrating).

I am working on timing with him and geometry.

Do you have any papers you’d recommend to get used to the SET exams and stage 2? We’ve ordered examberry.

I really am so disheartened by the mock exam results, I thought maths was a safe topic for us that barely needed any work.

Also do you have a link to the mastering inference papers, that’s super helpful to know!! I have looked for anything similar and can’t seem to find them.

Try EPP (Exam PAper Plus) Sutton SET practice papers for both English & Maths under timed conditions.

my son took this 11+ last year - and he is off to Wallington County, having just missed the pass mark for Wilsons. Can tell you more about that via PM if you wish. We did not have a tutor - we just worked with him at home. You need to practice for the SET but then the actual 11+. We used exam berry and exam paper plus and those were closest to the actual exam. Both companies do practice SET papers to get the speed right. My son also did 2 mocks at Wallington (same as the Wilsons mocks). He came top 30% then top 19% which were good markers for how he might do ont he day but ultimately theyre best for exam practice. Happy to answer more questions if you have them. Just note - Wilsons have individual pass marks for maths and English - my son passed maths by 65 marks but missed English by 2, so no overall pass. The other Sutton grammars dont have this.

exam paper plus practice were good for inference. Examberry were good practice but my son said the actual exam was harder than these. Don;t bother with atom - not the right level for Sutton tests

I agree that exampapersplus.co.uk is the best place for English, particularly the comparing texts papers. They are really difficult.

DS just finished Year 7. Passed all 3 Sutton including Wilson’s and music too (he was grade 7/8 on two instruments already).
We didn’t tutor. Did the CGP books only including 10-11 stretch and some GL past papers. That is all we did. He didn’t struggle with SET. He passed stage 2 because he is really good at writing and it was something like a letter to an MP and that was exactly his kind of thing. For the English, I really think reading complex texts over many years makes the most difference and my DS loves to read adult newspapers. Reasoning a high IQ child can get quite quickly and maths you just have to make sure they work accurately and fast enough and have covered any year 6 concepts not yet covered at school.
I did have a friend who offered to lend some exam paper plus to us to have a quick look but we did not have time to do it. To be honest, DS went to Sutton SET with no relevant mock test either and was fine.
Let’s face it, a little bit of luck is also involved. The stage 2 English 40 minute question was right up DS’ stream. If it hadn’t been, could have been a different outcome.

@Araminta1003 i think you are right - if a boy has a particular flair for something then they won't struggle on that exam and can get by with little to not tutoring. my son aced the second stage maths test (got over 90%) because he loves maths and tricky concepts. because he struggles more with English, he just didnt do so well on that and it was harder to work on (we know his marks because he just missed the Wilsons English pass mark by 2 marks so overall fail even being 65 marks over the maths pass mark). Conversely we know a girl who was tutored for 3 years and didn't pass the SET, so it can go either way on the day I guess