Panic!! (but trying not to)

Eleven Plus (11+) in Buckinghamshire (Bucks)

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Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:36 pm

Panic!! (but trying not to)

Post by Newbie »

I'm sure you have heard this a million times but my DD has completed 2 of the practice tests and she was ill when they were doing the third. She didn't do too well, marks in the 60's and her confidence has taken a real hit. Am worried that this will affect her when it comes to the real thing as she is starting to convince herself that she won't pass. I know she is capable as she gets really good scores in the practice papers we do at home when she puts her mind to it. Any advice would be gratefully received javascript:emoticon(':D')
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi Newbie

You have my sympathy - and this is a common problem around now. It is too late for any child to do "last minute cramming" - the task now is to rebuild her confidence.

Do you have any practice papers left at home? If not, download a few of the Tutors 50 minute VR papers from here:

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/epaper ... =f&c=1&p=6

Get her do one every other day from now until the first test - more often if she is willing. Now for the clever bit ...

These papers are slightly easier than the real test, but don't tell your daughter that.

When she does them, don't use a timer - just make a note to yourself of the start time. If she gets to 50 minutes and seems to almost be at the end, allow up to 5 extra minutes - without telling her.

When you mark the papers, mark any that are wrong with just a "slash", not an "X". If she hasn't achieved at least 68/80 (or a score similar to the ones she was previously achieving), go back and turn a few of those "slashes" into ticks - just enough to get to a score she will be happy with.

Turn the remaining slashes into "Xs", and go through them with her if she is willing to do that. I suggest that the "Xs" should particularly be any vocab errors, because even at this stage a couple of new words in her lexicon could make a difference on the day.

All of this comes under the broad heading of being "economical with the truth". With a couple of good results under her belt, I think she will feel a lot more positive by next week. :wink:

Good luck! Let us know how she gets on.

Sally-Anne
Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:36 pm

Post by Newbie »

Thanks ever so much, am already printing off the test papers javascript:emoticon(':D')

Trouble is she is such a worrier (cant think where she gets that from)!! I know she is capable of doing it but she is very hard on herself when she doesn't do well in practice papers. Anyway, will put all your advice into action.
Thanks again!!!!
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Sally-Anne wrote:
All of this comes under the broad heading of being "economical with the truth". With a couple of good results under her belt, I think she will feel a lot more positive by next week. :wink:

Sally-Anne
We call it kidology...:wink:

Patricia
Milla
Posts: 2556
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

this is a very touching strand and what lovely ideas from SA!

My son came out of his tutor's a couple of weeks ago and burst into tears (he is so not that sort of child). He had "only" got 80% and the week before he had got 94% , but these were Walsh tests which are hard. Bringing him round and building him back up again was so hard (although it meant a delicious cuddle and him sitting on my knee, yum!) but I was thinking, what HAVE I done to this poor child!

Creating the right balance of letting them know that it is important, without jeopardising the readiness to cope with a disappointing outcome is so difficult. As Chelmsfordmum said on another thread, that shiny hope in their faces and our (partially concealed) expectations for them and their ability is a lot to bear. yes, OK, no-one's going to die if they don't get in, but it is such a stressful time I cannot wait for it to be over.

Am definitely going to bear in mind those slashes, particularly for the stupid codes! Your child is probably at some sort of burnout meltdown thing - VR has a natural shelf life and we're certainly rapidly approaching our sell by date on it all! Just need to sustain it another 6 and a half weeks. Good luck to your daughter! I'm sure she'll be fine when it's for real.
Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:36 pm

Post by Newbie »

Thank you for all your lovely replies, my DD did one of the easier tests today and scored 70 out of 80 so she was very happy with that and it seems to have given her a real confidence boost. She's told me she is going to do positive thinking before every test (':D')
Hopefully her confidence will kepp growing now until the real thing.

Thank you again for your replies........ they helped me to stop going into meltdown!!! (':shock:')
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Wonderful news! :D

I am so pleased about that - and that was without "being economical with the truth" or "kidology"?

Do keep it up, without stressing her out. The next test might be 71/80? The one after that could be 72/80 ... you obviously get the general idea!

On the day of the real tests the whole thing should come together.

Good luck!

Sally-Anne
emmgemuk
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:17 pm

Post by emmgemuk »

We had this problem in the last week before DD took her NVR. We had been focusing on the VR for the 2 weeks prior, as that was the test she had first. When it came to the monday before the NVR test DD scored 60% as opposed to the usual 75+% she had been getting. She was so deflated, and got upset. Rather than focusing on the ones she had correct she was beating herself up about the incorrect ones.
What we did was spend the next 2 nights going through various questions, but her talking them through to get to the answer eg......well it cant be that one as it has too many shapes ect......then we could lean her towards the correct method. This way she didn't have to get them wrong first, and be so deflated that she couldn't listen properly to why they were the answers they were.
She actually enjoyed it, DH made it fun by spretending he didn't know saying things like " I thought it was D as blah blah blah" she could then feel smug about telling DH why it was the answer it really was.
Thursday before the test she did another test and got 52/60 so felt boosted by this.
We have yet to see if she passed, but it won't be through lack of trying on the whole families part!
Tolstoy
Posts: 2755
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:25 pm

Post by Tolstoy »

The shorter Tutors papers only have a 4 sometimes 5 Qtypes on each paper.

For example tonight my DS got 100% in his. A first and a real confidence booster. The reason being this particular paper had two of his favourite types, number lines and hidden four letter word plus two of the types that it is possible to get 100% in if you know the technique.

The point is you can select papers you know your child will do well in.

He has 10 minutes to do them so improving timing and it gives him plenty of time to go out and play after.
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