Recent Results - What were your child's study methods?

[Jazz-UK]

There is indeed a lot of excellent material and tips on this forum. A lot of which helped my DD secure a positive result. For that I'd like to thank everyone who contributes, from people who post odd comments, to those that post word and book lists - Thanks

[anxiously hopeful]

We decided against DS being tutored as did not want for him to squeeze in and then struggle at GS. So bought CEM CGP materials and ploughed through them. Reading wise, read anything he finds interesting and funny, namely Ronald Dahl, David Walliams, Diary of a Wimpy Kid et al. For non fiction, made him read Sunday paper restaurant reviews (he is a fan of eating out) and questioned on how he understood them. He enjoyed reading the worst reviews as they are the funniest! Found the CGP tests very hard, quite demoralising, almost gave up a few times because his results were so bad and also because nagging him no end did not come naturally an he is a bit slovenly. Will know in March whether all the hassle was worth it!

[sbarnes]

Just to reiterate; lots of reading for the sake of it is not a prerequisite for passing 11+. Lots of reading is for those that enjoy it.

[anxiously hopeful]

It is Roald Dahl, of course

[Yamin151]

We decided against DS being tutored as did not want for him to squeeze in and then struggle at GS. So bought CEM CGP materials and ploughed through them. Reading wise, read anything he finds interesting and funny, namely Ronald Dahl, David Walliams, Diary of a Wimpy Kid et al. For non fiction, made him read Sunday paper restaurant reviews (he is a fan of eating out) and questioned on how he understood them. He enjoyed reading the worst reviews as they are the funniest! Found the CGP tests very hard, quite demoralising, almost gave up a few times because his results were so bad and also because nagging him no end did not come naturally an he is a bit slovenly. Will know in March whether all the hassle was worth it!

Your method sounds great. Would just like to say though that those of us who tutored made the choice because it suited our lifestyle and not to get them through an exam only to struggle on grammar. One can tutor using a professional or tutor DIY, which is wat you did. Neither is better, but both IS tutoring. It's horses for courses. Love the restaurant review idea!

Ours had a tutor for half hour each week (twins), 20 mins work 5 days per week and that was it. I don't know any children who were professionally tutored, qualified, then failed to thrive, it's very hard to tutor a child to qualify who is not meant for the school as they will struggle.

Both ours qualified.

[Yamin151]

And I agree, reading reading reading.

[sbarnes]

It suits some, doesn't suit others...it's an alternative view.

[anxiously hopeful]

Sbarnes,
You are probably right, it was pretty much diy tutoring for a few months, I just did not feel very confident doing it without any experience, especially after seeing some parents hiring tutors 2-3 years before the test!

[sbarnes]

It's important to keep away from the herd mentality and do what is best for your child and to an extent you and your family. Tutoring yourself is 100% rewarding and if you have the ability to teach the basics then you can do it. non teacher titors out there with no CRB are charging upwards of £40 ph in Brum land. It's not that difficult and there are oodles and noodles of resources on here and 11+ forum. Good luck and don't let the other *** get you down.

[Happy dad]

Totally agree sbarnes. Both my boys would see it as a punishment if they had to read books followed by more books. We did introduce the sports pages from the quality sundays but reading isn't something they enjoy - nor me to that matter.

For our family we decided to pay a private tutor and for them to attend in a classroom environment. This avoided arguments about tests and homework etc and we effectively paid a tutor to take this stress for us. Now looking for a tutor to get them to do grammar school homework