11+ final summer preparation

[KermitTheF]

I would love some advice please because we are absolutely at a loss and don’t know what to do. My child has been consistently preparing for the 11+ since year 4. We started early, as advised, and it has gone really well. He was averaging over 80% in past papers before Christmas last year.

We’re going for the super competitive North London grammars. Yesterday he did a mock for a new English group and we were shocked at the standard - it was so much harder than anything else he has done. It looks like all the mocks he has done and all the work for his (highly regarded) English tutor is just not hard enough. We are now panicking and don’t know what to do. We started early exactly so we wouldn’t be in this position, but it looks like he hasn’t been prepared adequately to stand a chance at QE Boys. We are devastated. If we had known the standard was so much harder than in the mocks he has done (incl SDE), we would have made different decisions.

Have others found this? To give context, he has gone from a raw score of c85%-90%+ to barely achieving 30%. The tutor who set the work he did badly on yesterday said that that was the required standard for QE boys. It was clear she thought he had no chance. I consider myself to be very well informed and I feel like we have wasted the past 2 years and have profoundly let my extremely bright child down.

Don't panic! He's done one of their tests? I would sit down and look carefully at what it was about the question wording etc. That might have thrown him. It could be some simple tweaks go a long way.

Thank you - I appreciate the reply. Yes, he did an English mock for this new person yesterday - it was years ahead of what he has done and he was nowhere near it. Far beyond tweaks. It was at a level I have never seen for 11+ before. The person who set it said that if kids want a chance at QE Boys this is the level and that we have essentially been misinformed. Devastating.

We never imagined we’d be the last minute panickers when we are so well prepared. It feels like he simply hasn’t been taught at the right level and we have spent an unbelievable amount on tuition. We have tried to remain positive but hard for a child not to be demoralised when he goes from top scoring to a score that is no better than if he were guessing. We just don’t understand how the perception of appropriate levels can vary so much between tutors. Our tutor is v costly and has an excellent local reputation and supposedly has significant experience with the highly competitive N London grammars. We are definitely not uninformed and yet feel our poor decisions has cost our child a chance at this.

If your tutor is highly recommended then I would go back to them and discuss. You're right, there shouldn't be that much of a disparity so I would try to find other examples of mocks/past exams.

The thing is, if your child is being prepared by a well regarded tutor, it shouldn’t matter how difficult the English exam appears - he should have the necessary skills to apply it to different scenarios.

My DS entered for QE, Essex (KEGS), Bancrofts and Latymer. He passed the bar for all but chose QE. We had an Essex based tutor who was well regarded and we paid a lot for his services (£65 an hour) but it worked and whilst there were wobbles and a mock in August came back low, his tutor corrected the issues and prepped him for September.

Just ensure your tutor is now going to cover the gaps - do you know what the gaps are? Inference, vocabulary, writing?

Thanks. We have been back to them and they say that our child is in a great position and super well prepared. It makes no sense - they don’t seem able to explain whether the work they have been setting is at the right standard. It’s extremely worrying. How on earth are parents supposed to make informed decisions if we can’t trust professionals charging this sum of money. I never imagined we wouldn’t feel ready 6/7 weeks before the exams start.

Thanks - yes, I agree absolutely that he should have the tools. The work set by the person yesterday has totally thrown him and all of us - it felt years harder than anything he has done and he was completely unable to do it, even with the tools he has. It’s so very sad. We have been very focussed on QE and I felt he was very ready before yesterday. It’s super concerning that if this person is right, the SDE mocks are at completely the wrong level - how can this be?

His English tutor doesn’t seem able to suggest what the issue might be and hasn’t yet engaged with our concerns. She thinks he is ready and very capable.

It might be that the standard has shot up due to the VAT on private school fees. Don’t beat yourself up about it - if he’s worked hard the last 2 years with a well reputed tutor then you’ve done all you can. If he misses out on the real tests then surely that’s a lucky escape from a life of misery struggling to keep up in a super competitive school and feeling a failure for those 7 formative years. Much better to be a high flyer in a more normal school where his abilities are recognised against an average cohort. Being happy in school is so important and spending hours and hours working to still be bottom of a mega brainy slice of kids would not be good for him.
plus there’s a chance the test he did is randomly hard and he’ll do just fine!! Don’t worry - whatever happens is best on this.

Thanks - it’s just so confusing for us and we can’t understand it. Super hard not to beat ourselves up - I don’t think I have ever felt more stressed. He is so focussed on QE and suddenly to feel that this is now impossible is very upsetting. I can’t help but feel like we just made a bad decision and chose the wrong tutor. It’s terrifying that we might have wasted the last 2 years - we have worked so hard to be able to afford the tutoring and it’s really very upsetting to think that it might now come to nothing. To have this realisation so close to the exams is awful. What on earth are people supposed to do? We make the best decisions we can as parents and it looks like my research on tutors just wasn’t enough.

Sorry you’re going through this - it shouldn’t be like this.

I personally didn’t find SDE mocks very good. However, they have a strong reputation. Comparatively what did he score? What was the cohort average?

Post a picture of the results table if you can so we can see how he did. Or feel free to DM me.

Please do not worry. Your dc has been preparing with the same highly regarded tutor for a couple of years now and I am sure that this tutor knows what they are doing. I would get the paper from the new English set and ask the tutor to go over it with your son.
Students will have dips in their performance and it’s about learning from the errors made. Also, too much tutoring per week can have a detrimental effect - our minds need to rest and focus on other things.
Have you applied for Latymer and Dame Alice Owens? What about your son’s maths? If that’s a real strength he can make up the marks on that.
QE Boys is extremely competitive with over 2000 (I think) boys sitting the exam, you have to be prepared for the fact your son may not get in - not because he’s not bright but because of the competition he faces, there could just be couple of marks between who gets in and who doesn’t. What is your plan if he doesn’t get in?

Thanks - appreciate the support. The last SDE QE paper he did he scored 82% raw score. Percentile wasn’t super high, but I had been advised that it’s a v competitive field who do these (likely to be all the top achieving kids) so still put him in a decent position and in the right place for standing a chance for QE. 🤷‍♀️

Thanks - his maths is very strong. We have no concerns there and it’s English where this issue has come up. He will also apply for Latymer and the 1729 Maths School. We’re not in catchment for DAO. You’re right and we know we need to be prepared for him not to get in. The frustration is that we feel we have been badly advised and it’s very concerning only to find this out now at this late stage.

You are being very hard on yourself. You have done nothing wrong apart from do what you think is best for your child. I’m sure the tutor knows what they are doing - they go by their reputation and are employed by many families, they don’t want to risk damaging their income stream by becoming known as the tutor who doesn’t know how to prep students for exams.
For now I would give your son a short break from exam prep and do some fun non-education based activities, give his mind a chance to reset and then come back to his studies.
Please, please do not make such a big deal in front of him over these exams and getting into these schools. Every year 100s of children don’t get in and it really isn’t all that bad. Everything works out for the best in the end.

What’s the plan if doesn’t get into any of the selectives?

He’ll go to a decent non selective state school - still a very good option, we know. We can’t afford independent schools and wouldn’t qualify for a bursary, so these aren’t an option for us.

Thanks - we have tried so hard not to show our stress but it’s difficult. We are currently away on a short break and sadly the stress and worry is making it very difficult. I just feel we have lost too much time with our preparation due to the potential of being misinformed. We cannot fathom how tutors can have such different opinions about what is required.

My DC didn’t do great in mocks but did well in the real thing. Not sure why, whether it was the last-minute prep or the knowledge it was the actual test. Or just plain luck.
I didn’t use a tutor but what I did do was focus on the areas they needed most help with and keep the other bits just ticking over. I also made it very clear to them that a lot comes down to luck and if it doesn’t happen for them, the other options are just as good. It wouldn’t have killed either of them to go to the local comprehensive and they knew it. Although you’re (understandably) stressed try not to let DS know it.

Is there any politics involved in the person who set the mock? It wouldn't be unheard of in our area for parents and tutors to try to intimidate the competition! Feels far fetched but if they're not independent or have some kind of summer tutoring program then you might want to take with a pinch of salt.

Thanks. The standard is brutally high here in N London, but we are perfectly aware of that and not going into this uninformed. It’s just baffling to be told he is nowhere near the required standard when all marks for the past year show otherwise, unless we aren’t seeing something. He knows we are stressed and I hope I haven’t ruined his chances because of this.

Interesting thought. It’s certainly baffling that the standard is so different - I’d say the work which was set was year 9+ level and my child was nowhere need it. The implication was that majority of tutors simply don’t understand what is required for super competitive grammars and that we have made a poor decision with the one we chose.

Please try to relax and enjoy your short break. Some tutors do like to put other tutors down and act as tho they are the oracle on the eleven plus for a certain school.
Focus on showing enthusiasm for the local comp and make sure your ds knows regardless of where he ranks he is amazing and will do brilliantly whichever school he goes to.
Have you checked:
www.elevenplusexams.co.uk?
There is a forum dedicated to the north London selectives with a wealth of info on QEBNorth London forum

I’m really sorry you’re going through this—it’s such a stressful time.
Just to be completely honest, scoring in the low 80s in the Susan Daughtery mocks usually isn’t quite at the level needed for QE, unfortunately. I know some tutors may say that’s a strong score, but from what I’ve heard, that’s not always accurate—especially for ultra-competitive schools like QE or HBS. A good tutor should be identifying gaps from these mock results and then working systematically to help close them.

It’s also worth noting that the SDE mocks are generally considered much easier than the actual QE standard. You might want to try mocks or papers from ExamPapersPlus or the one held in Harrow (I can’t recall the name off the top of my head), as they tend to be more in line with QE-level difficulty.

QE in particular has a very challenging maths paper—definitely a step up from most GL-format exams. What resource is he using right now for revision? It might be worth trying some practice papers specifically aimed at QE level to see where he stands.

Try not to worry too much about one score on a teacher-set paper—that can vary a lot. But I do think it’s worth taking the SDE mock results seriously and focusing on the right kind of practice from now on.

Wishing you both the very best—he can still make great progress with targeted support!

This happened to us, we just got the wrong tutor who I think was preparing for more general grammar ie Kent grammars,rather than the north London super selectives which are just on another level. We wasted so much money. However being top of the local outstanding state school has done wonders for my DC, so it did work out ok. But I share that feeling of being completely blindsided.

I hope your son did well. Please don’t worry too much… my husband was bellow average until his GCSEs, then he decided he wanted to go to university, studied very hard, and ended up going to Cambridge. Life is a marathon. Good luck xx

Did your son chose Latymer or 1729?