11+ How to get DD to speed up and accept some errors

[united4ever]

DD is year 5 so 9 months from 11 plus.

She has been doing great in cgp homework set by tutor (90% ish or higher).

She had her first mock exam last week, organised by tutor, and got 53%. She did not answer many questions due to running out of time.

I realised I should have done the homework timed so we tried timed assessment paper in the cgp book tonight.

She had a meltdown really when she struggled with answering the first few questions. Now I can see the whole thing becoming a major stress which was not the case before.

She is doing CGP 10 to 11 so was wondering if we should go back to the 9 to 10 for the timed assessments to get her confidence back.

I tell her, if you really don't know then guess and try to eliminate the least likely but she doesn't like doing this since it is probably wrong. I tell her it will definitely be marked wrong if you don't answer but it doesn't seem to help.

Any tips to increase speed? And tips to let her just answer when she is not sure. And tips to take the stress out of the situation. She is used to doing everything really well so this is something new to her which is upsetting.

Thanks in advance

I don’t know about these particular exams, but generally I’d suggest if she doesn’t know the answer to skip to the next. Complete all the ones she confidently knows, then go back to the start and use the remaining time on the ones she isn’t sure of. That way she will get he maximum marks for what she does know, and can calmly think on the harder ones without feeling the time pressure.

If she gets to a question she doesn't understand then she should mark it and go ahead. Do all the ones she knows well first then circle back and repeat the same. Thereby if she runs out of time she would've only left the hardest ones.

Poor kid what awful pressure to put on them at such a young age.

What is the point of the 11+? I'm in Scotland so have no experience of it. Surely primary age children shouldn't have to experience exam conditions!

She will get quicker! Our tutor didnt get DD to do full tests until around Easter, she didnt finish the first couple in time.

Definitely leave the ones she can't answer and go back to them, she has ages to learn this stuff and she will naturally get speedier. I was concerned DD would never get quick enough and she absolutely smashed it in the end.

If it is getting stressful, can she do her homework in short bursts for now? not the timed tests obviously.

Practise using a mini whiteboard. Lower stakes as can be erased.

Honestly sounds like a bad tutor. Tutors where I am teach this a fundamental tactic.

Also I hope she isn’t just relying on CGP!

I would get her to sit two short mini tests of like 10 mins or so. Tell her it's an experiment to show how different ways of working produce different results.

With the first let her work at her own pace entirely. No pressure at all.

With the second, ask her to mark any questions she can't do within a good timeframe - if it's tricky then just mark it as one to return to and carry on. At the end she can go back to them if she has time.

The idea being that she should get a higher mark on the one where she answered more questions and will see that it genuinely doesn't matter if she gets one wrong if she then goes on to answer more.

Make sure she also fully understands that these tests are not marked by a person who will be judging them on anything other than raw marks. The single best thing she can do is answer as many questions as she can correctly. That may/will mean skipping over some.

@torenoornottoreno

Also I hope she isn’t just relying on CGP!

For homework it is really. Except for an online app that the tutor company has which is similar sort of questions. Is that bad?

She reads a lot for pleasure which helps.

Some good advice here. I will call her tutor to discuss more since at the end of class there are a few mum's and dads waiting and he has his next lesson starting soon it is not ideal to discuss more than a few words.

Some great advice above. Your idea of stepping back to earlier work to do a timed test - good idea. Also try doing a test. Marking it. Then after a while do the same test again and see if she gets quicker and better marks.

Exam technique takes practice. And 9 months is plenty of time to get it sorted out. So try not to get too tense or this will pass on to DD.

My son is a bit older. Academically very bright (though it's a pity he can't tie his shoe laces 😂) but often loses marks by not finishing the assessed tests. But he has a year before GCSE to sort this out. Hope this helps.

Ours doesnt do mocks til Easter. We haven't covered all the 10-11 content so I wouldnt expect my child to score highly yet, andnit might be demoralising.

At the moment we're using cgp to work through content. If i wanted to do a fill test Id use 9-10 but im not worried about speed yet. There isnt a lot of point in repeated testing this early I don't think.