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Eleven plus resources pls!

Hi,
I tried to do a search here, but to no avail :(
Can anyone please give me some guidance on what sites/resources they used to prepare their little ones for the 11+?
Thanks in advance :)
No one said it was gonna be easy!
«1

Comments

  • We didnt use any websites etc. The primary school your child attends would advise you a little but most don't agree with tutoring children for the 11+.

    Try googling.

    PP
    To repeat what others have said, requires education, to challenge it,
    requires brains!
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  • Februarycat
    Februarycat Posts: 1,390 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    When my son took his 11+ a few years ago I got him some revision books from WH Smith which helped him a lot and he passed it. They usually do practice papers at school as well.
  • faithcecilia
    faithcecilia Posts: 1,095 Forumite
    I would say don't do too much prep for it - if your child has the right intellegence then they will pass, if not then it wouldn't be the right school for them. I had no prep and sailed through school, but by the end of yr8 many who had had a lot of tutoring were struggling and it only got harder as the years went on.
  • Madmel
    Madmel Posts: 798 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Mortgage-free Glee!
    We were advised by a teacher *off the record* to use the Bond series of books as the primary school categorically refused to do any preparation. The secondary school we applied to set tests in Verbal Reasoning, Maths and English but some set Non-Verbal Reasoning too. The papers themselves were similar to the GL assessment ones. Bond & GL are both in WH Smith.

    However, I agree with the comments above. We looked at a few of the tests at home in the months before the 11+ but some children in DD1's class were tutored from year 3. I don't have a problem with looking at how questions are structured and understanding the information a question is asking for, but I do with wholesale tutoring for so long. As it happened, the tutored child did not pass the tests but DD1 did.

    DD2 wants to try for the same school next year and we will take the same approach. Bond do a whole series of books aimed at different age groups, so you could start off by looking at year 4 or 5 before going to the year 6 book. We have decided not to bother - if she can't pass the exam with a bit of preparation, she simply won't cope at the school and will ultimately be very unhappy. HTH
  • moomoomama27
    moomoomama27 Posts: 3,823 Forumite
    I would say don't do too much prep for it - if your child has the right intellegence then they will pass, if not then it wouldn't be the right school for them. I had no prep and sailed through school, but by the end of yr8 many who had had a lot of tutoring were struggling and it only got harder as the years went on.

    Totally agree! I think a child should be in the right school through their own capability! If they need to cram in and 'prepare' for a certain school, then perhaps they shouldn't be there, as it'll only cause unecassary stress.

    I have never prepared my children, I've let them go further by their own merit and intelligence.
  • callow
    callow Posts: 209 Forumite
    Two that I used regularly are:


    http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/ has a good forum, a few worksheets and lots of info


    http://www.11plus.co.uk/ has a lot of free test papers as well as videos that tell you how to do each type of verbal reasoning. A very good website.

    Good luck
  • shays_mum
    shays_mum Posts: 1,694 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thanks for your thoughts!, i do agree about ability & not putting a child under stress etc. However, where as i think she might have got in say 5 years ago, the competition due to the recession is immense :(.
    She is already doing Bond/scholistic papers at school, i just wanted to see how other people prepared their little ones in these hard times :).
    No one said it was gonna be easy!
  • Are there any tutors in your area? Are your school doing Bond and Scholastic? Our state school didn't, but the prep school is known as the 'grammar feeder' because they do tutor them to pass the entrance exam.

    In essence you shouldn't need to tutor and I agree, but the problem is other parents do tutor and if you don't, even though your child may well be cleverer than them, they will get in and yours won't. I am stunned at how some children got into the grammar!
  • shays_mum
    shays_mum Posts: 1,694 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Patchwork cat, they are doing the Bond & Scholastic already. Its funny, but when you ask people for the names of their tutors they either deny having one (blatent lies!!) or make out they will give you names & numbers but never do!!, its so bizarre - if your kids got through, what's the big deal helping someone else out?!.
    I was also stunned by some of the kids i know who got in, but its a whole kettle of fish to see if they can keep up & not burn out :(
    No one said it was gonna be easy!
  • tsstss7
    tsstss7 Posts: 1,255 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    we didn't pay for tutors for ds1 but his father (and I but mostly his father) got him to do about 2 practice papers a week and also to work on his vocabulary knowledge and techniques for about 2 months before the test.

    The elevenplus website gives lots of good hints about how to complete questions in the set time and tbh if ds1 hadn't had a few goes first I doubt he would have got in as it is easy to misunderstand what the questions are asking if unfamiliar with the format.

    He had friends who were tutored and didn't get in but sometimes children don't want to (if for example they would prefer to go to big school with their peers) so they don't always try hard...they do have to want it as much as you I guess. DS1 was motivated to do well by cold hard cash (he had his eye on a superdry jacket :eek:) and also by the fact that our local school isn't the one all his friends would have been going to anyway so he had no incentive to fail like some of his friends.
    MSE PARENT CLUB MEMBER.
    ds1 nov 1997
    ds2 nov 2007
    :j
    First DD
    First DD born in june:beer:.
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