Prepare for Entrance Exams to Grammer schools

HappySad

My friend is looking to prepare her child from grammar school and want to know where you can go to get sample practise test papers & are they any good books to help you teach your child to be good at these tests?

She says that private schools cover this a lot in the lessons and give them homework so that they are able to do well in these tests. They have test in maths, english, non verbal and vertal reasoning.

I have found http://www.11plusswot.co.uk via google and they look good but you have to pay for the papers. Do you know where you can get hold of these for free or a low price.

Any books would be good also... & being a MSEer I would suggest she orders it from the library.

Do you have any advice for preparing for this exam? Are they fun ways of preparing that a child can do that is play like and does not always involve sitting infront of a book?

Iona_Penny

Honestly, if she is serious about her child competing with others to pass the 11+ then my advice based on my friends experience to get a tutor.

My friend got a tutor for her daughter and she saw him every Sunday for an hour. He had the practice papers and got her so familiar with the papers. When she made tentative queries to other parents it turned out that all those who passed had had home tutors.

Sorry this is nt what you want to hear, but it is not a level playing field to pass this exam any more.

mountainofdebt

I have a feeling that my friend got her sons practice test papers from WH Smiths although I don't know how much they were.

in_my_wellies

If he doesn't want to learn from books is a grammar school going to be the best plase for him? It may not be about 'fun ways' to learn when he gets there so he may not be happy.

I didn't coach my children as I didn't want them to get in then struggle. They just turned up on the day. I told them the day before the test.

purplepurple

This looks quite good... click here as a support for other stuff... you can download papers and do stuff online... it's fairly cheap too.....

MrsMondragon

I personally got several packs from WHSmith. They cost from about five pounds to six or seven pounds each. You need to cover verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and maths. I did take my son to be tutored for a few weeks and then realised it might be counter-productive, as he would have not got in on his own merits. If the child cant manage to get in without being tutored, then its likely that once they get in, they will really struggle as the tutoring would have ended. I am now awaiting the results, which are due very soon.

Queenie

HappySad wrote:

My friend is looking to prepare her child from grammar school and want to know where you can go to get sample practise test papers & are they any good books to help you teach your child to be good at these tests?
.........

Do you have any advice for preparing for this exam? Are they fun ways of preparing that a child can do that is play like and does not always involve sitting infront of a book?

Thing is, the taking of the exam is not a "fun" activity - a major aspect of using the test papers is to prepare your child for sitting quietly and working their way through a test paper without any distractions within a set amount of time.

If you are going to get the test papers/books then you also need to know which format the 11+ questions take for the area concerned. Some area's use papers of straight forward question and answers; others use the Multiple Choice papers.

You can definately buy the books in WHSmiths and they now do the test papers geared towards different age groups, ie: Maths 8-9yrs old so that the child can get into the mindset of the style of questions which appear in the 11+ exam. The packs/books are not "cheap" but then if your friend is serious perhaps viewing them as an investment rather than an expense would be the way to view it.

I also agree with "in my wellies" comment; if he isn't into study/books then is Grammar School the best place for him?

Another aspect for your friend to consider: which would be better for the child's personality/ability/interests - to be bottom in a Grammar School and struggle (and the potential damage to his self esteem?) or to be top in a another school and the confidence that would bring? I'm not suggesting he would be bottom/top - just giving food for thought really.

It's a very difficult time for parents and as this is the 2nd year on the trot that we await 11+ results, I can empathise.

silvercar

Phone the school, ask them if they issue past or model exam papers and what format the papers are. Then pop into Smiths and buy the 11+ papers in the right style.

This is not a level playing field. Many children at private primary and prep schools will be looking for places at grammer schools. They have been heavily prepared for these exams. Some schools will allow for this in the tests; most will not. Get a tutor for at least an hour a week for 3 months. You are giving your child vital skills in sitting exams and in catching up with the work that private schools have already covered in the key area that will be covered. Ask around to get the right tutor. You must find a tutor experienced in exam entrance, preferably one that has knowledge of getting state school pupils ready for grammer school exams.

Learn from my experience. I started off with the view that if he didn't get in on his own merits it wasn't the right school. When all the above dawned on me it was September with the first paper in December! Luckily it all worked out for the best but there were 2 nail biting months when we were on the waiting list unsure if the place would come up.

sarahluv

wh smiths should have the tests. I'm from northern ireland where all kid take the test. i don't think that tutoring is a good idea. neither is pressurising the child into thinking that if they don't pass they'll be a failure. grammar school isn't for everyone. my brother passsed his 11 plus and my mum still thinks that he'd have been better served by going to a good comp rather than the grammar school that he ended up going to.

HappySad

Thanks you everyone for your comments and informatoin. I will print this page off and show it to my friend.

She said that in the future that schools will no longer have the test and instead base it on observations of the pupils and looking at their school reports.

mdb99jh

Don't sweat it. If the child is good enough, they'll pass. I lived in papua new guinea until the age of 11, then returned to england having missed a year of school, immediately took the 11+ (with no idea what it was), and got into a grammar school. No tutors there! As long as they do their best u can't ask any more eh?