11+ home tutoring - top tips
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:42 pm
We took the home tutoring route and can highly recommend.
Results can definitely be improved with good exam technique.
Here are some of our tips for home tutoring the Bucks 11+:
1. Commit to setting aside 50 minutes at the same time each week. Call it something more fun than ‘11 plus practice’. Be prepared to sit with your child through the duration and not leave them to get on with a text book or practice paper.
2. Take a timed practice paper yourself. There’s nothing better than speaking from experience.
3. Start with the IPS series book C (or book S for younger children) which introduces your child to each question type. If you are new to verbal reasoning then you can get the accompanying ‘Method and Technique’ book for yourself. Get your child to make notes on each page - how best to tackle the question, tips to remember, how not to get caught out and whether or not the multiple choice answer sheet can help speed them up.
4. Make sure you get the right papers that cover the Buckinghamshire question types – we can recommend Nfer Nelson, AFN and Bright Sparks although we found the latter slightly harder.
5. Give your child an initial paper to get a benchmark result without practice. Take 2 scores - real score (after 50 minutes) and the potential score without a time limitation.
6. Buy a small record book. Write down dates and scores plus any notes and learnings. Even if your child is not getting the required 86-90% correct, they will be motivated by their improvement and will find the notes helpful for revision.
7. Always sit with your child while they complete a practice paper and ask them to think aloud. You will see how they tackle questions and can give them tips along the way. If you leave them to complete the papers alone, they improve familiarity but not technique.
8. Analyse the results of exam papers and keep a tally of the reasons for wrong answers to pinpoint weak areas – silly mistakes, tricked into ticking the wrong answer, didn’t know the word meaning, bad maths, couldn’t see the pattern, didn’t tackle the question systematically etc
9. In the year prior to the exam, give your child a highlighter pen and some classic books. Ask them to highlight words they don’t know the meaning of and look these up in the dictionary together. Write them in your record book in sentence context for later revision. Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams is great for this too.
10. Download word lists from the internet. Don’t skip the simple words – many of these have multiple meanings and it is useful to keep your child open-minded on the differing uses of these words.
11. Teach them the alphabet backwards, common patterns in the alphabet and number patterns.
12. Missing a week of training will make them rusty. Keep to the schedule and during the holidays, set aside a few minutes each day to do some IPS daily practice questions – these help the brain switch between the different question types.
13. Buy a good stop clock.
14. Writing takes time, so get them into a habit of only writing when it really helps answer the question. Neat isn’t important but correct positioning (either above or below the relevant part of the question, or an aligned table for type Z) is key.
15. The multiple choice often provides similar or near answers to catch you out. Make sure your child is aware of this and build your child’s confidence in their knowledge and decision-making.
Good luck!
Results can definitely be improved with good exam technique.
Here are some of our tips for home tutoring the Bucks 11+:
1. Commit to setting aside 50 minutes at the same time each week. Call it something more fun than ‘11 plus practice’. Be prepared to sit with your child through the duration and not leave them to get on with a text book or practice paper.
2. Take a timed practice paper yourself. There’s nothing better than speaking from experience.
3. Start with the IPS series book C (or book S for younger children) which introduces your child to each question type. If you are new to verbal reasoning then you can get the accompanying ‘Method and Technique’ book for yourself. Get your child to make notes on each page - how best to tackle the question, tips to remember, how not to get caught out and whether or not the multiple choice answer sheet can help speed them up.
4. Make sure you get the right papers that cover the Buckinghamshire question types – we can recommend Nfer Nelson, AFN and Bright Sparks although we found the latter slightly harder.
5. Give your child an initial paper to get a benchmark result without practice. Take 2 scores - real score (after 50 minutes) and the potential score without a time limitation.
6. Buy a small record book. Write down dates and scores plus any notes and learnings. Even if your child is not getting the required 86-90% correct, they will be motivated by their improvement and will find the notes helpful for revision.
7. Always sit with your child while they complete a practice paper and ask them to think aloud. You will see how they tackle questions and can give them tips along the way. If you leave them to complete the papers alone, they improve familiarity but not technique.
8. Analyse the results of exam papers and keep a tally of the reasons for wrong answers to pinpoint weak areas – silly mistakes, tricked into ticking the wrong answer, didn’t know the word meaning, bad maths, couldn’t see the pattern, didn’t tackle the question systematically etc
9. In the year prior to the exam, give your child a highlighter pen and some classic books. Ask them to highlight words they don’t know the meaning of and look these up in the dictionary together. Write them in your record book in sentence context for later revision. Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams is great for this too.
10. Download word lists from the internet. Don’t skip the simple words – many of these have multiple meanings and it is useful to keep your child open-minded on the differing uses of these words.
11. Teach them the alphabet backwards, common patterns in the alphabet and number patterns.
12. Missing a week of training will make them rusty. Keep to the schedule and during the holidays, set aside a few minutes each day to do some IPS daily practice questions – these help the brain switch between the different question types.
13. Buy a good stop clock.
14. Writing takes time, so get them into a habit of only writing when it really helps answer the question. Neat isn’t important but correct positioning (either above or below the relevant part of the question, or an aligned table for type Z) is key.
15. The multiple choice often provides similar or near answers to catch you out. Make sure your child is aware of this and build your child’s confidence in their knowledge and decision-making.
Good luck!