11 Plus Exams Forum

Can anyone recommend some challenging comprehensions please for multiple choice (Bexley, Kent) and standard for Independents. Preferably with answer sheets/booklets. I'm looking for something that is a little harder/longer than Bond (have tried the Schofield and Sims ones). Thanks.

There are no answers for standard format English as there are too many options.

Which schools are you sitting? DG

http://www.csse.org.uk/index.php?option ... &order=ASC

Mainly multiple choice English, but you do get guidance in the marking scheme wrt the non-mcq parts of the paper.

Thanks - we are sitting Bexley, Kent and St Olaves.

grgygirl wrote:Thanks - we are sitting Bexley, Kent and St Olaves.

I didn't assume that you were sitting for the Essex / Southend grammars (although there are plenty of posters who seem to combine Colchester with Orpington, with QE thrown in for good measure ), was just suggesting the English papers as some which have a decent (and unabridged) chunk of book to 'comprehend', with the added bonus of a marking scheme

Thank you Toadmum ( I was replying to DAO earlier). I've checked those comps out and will definitely be using them.

Hi there,
I've just started preparing my young one who is year 5 for St Olaves,Bexley and Kent.
He has always been in the top group in his class for the past 2 years.
Didn't think that he would need much preparation for the 11+.
Only started preparing him 2 weeks ago.
After doing the mocks ,I'm really alarmed that he might not get in.
He hasn't done well in the comprehensions and struggles with nonverbal reasoning.
I'm really panicking.
Could you please assist me as to how to make my son prepared for his exams.
I'm using the CGP books at the moment.
Please guide me regarding the books to buy.
Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
G

CGP and First past the post are the best books to use for CEM, All available next day delivery from the forum shop.

Which mocks did you do? You still have time to make big improvements. DG

I guess the first thing is to decide how important this is for him - how much time will he be able to give to this over the next 3 months? Is he free over the summer with a stay at home parent, or is he committed to other things?

Next, you need to identify gaps in knowledge - he'll be expected to know the full KS2 curriculum for maths and English. Bond have a series of how to do 11+ books which includes some tests to help you identify weak topics so that you can concentrate on these.

Then it is time to practice techniques including timing. The 3 tests are different, though will assume the same prior knowledge. I'm assuming that you have an order of preference, in which case it is worth ensuring that you focus on the relevant tests.

NVR is usually a matter to practise and technique - there are a few "how to" books which will give some standard pointers as to what type of patterns to look for.

Comprehension is more complex, and here you need to look at what type of questions he is struggling on. Some questions look at vocabulary or grammar or literary tools, others check the actual comprehension of the passage. The first are just gaps to be plugged. For the latter it can be helpful to get him to read the passage aloud to you - is it clear from his expression that he understands what is going on. Is he a reader?