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.

Hi Chesseagle, honestly what you're describing (strong diagnostic but a rough mock) is so common at this stage, especially with an August birthday, mocks aren't always representative. Rather than jumping straight to a tutor, it might be worth running a quick diagnostic to see exactly where the gaps are (geometry sounds like it). Ace11Plus's is free and good for that: https://www.ace11plus.org/diagnostics. CGP and Bond do great topic-focused workbooks too if you just want to drill geometry and timing rather than full papers. Sounds like he's actually in a strong position, just needs a bit of technique polish. Good luck to him!