11 Plus Exams Forum

Dear All
I am preparing my son who is currently in Year 5, for Brentwood and 11+ Chelmsford/Southend/ Westcliff schools. I am looking for advice on the best materials used and practice papers recommended. Apart from the commercial resources I would also welcome some free web resources. I appreciate some sites cannot be advertised on the forum but if you will be kind enough to pm me I would appreciate it very much.
Thanks

Bond books are good for the maths and English. Save the CSSE papers for nearer the time. Lots of private schools have papers on their websites that are free to download.

The Brentwood exam is usually slightly easier to pass than the 11+. Children who just miss Southend schools still make Brentwood.

ISEB papers are good for Brentwood. You can order them direct from their site.

Edit: I am copying this topic to Essex as you may get some extra help their.

Thanks! Any recommended tutors in Ilford/Redbridge areas on a Saturday

As usual replies for tutor requests by pm please. It may be worth starting a thread in the Redbridge area too.

The Brentwood test comprises of English, Maths and verbal reasoning.

The English is quite different to the 11+ as it has a comprehension element (a little easier than the 11+) and then quite a bit of writing. One of the writing tasks usually asks the child to continue a passage and the second is an essay/ story type piece.

The maths is similar to the 11+ and in fact there are some elements which are really quite hard. My DD found the 11+ maths test easier than last years Brentwood test.

The VR is exactly the same as the 11+ but they have longer to complete it in- so Bond books and past 11+ VR papers wouild be the way to go.

The school will send you examples of the tests but I think that is only if you formally register them and put their name down to do the test.

The tutor that took my DD for her 11+/ Brentwood tuition said that as a rule of thumb, children performing comfortably at level 4a and 5c would usually get offered a place at Brentwood and they do take into account the primary school report so if the child does badly on the day they will consider that.

HTH!

Thanks Gracienick! So the test is exactly the same as 11+ and does not include NVR!! Obviously as you have mentioned the English element is a little different and the Maths level is a bit higher.....I would appreciate any recommendation for tutors as well.

HiSamraj My son sat the Brentwood exam 2 yrs ago. He said it compared to the 11+ in difficulty esp as he disliked writing but was lucky he got a Topic he was interested in. The maths paper includes the harder problems and such things that are not covered by the 11+ eg. long multiplication and devision. He was asked back for an interview where they kind of went through the paper with him to see if he could spot and understand his mistakes. It may all have changed by now I don't know. He did very well and was offered a 50% Academic Scholarship. We declined as he passed his 11+ and is really happy at CRGS

Thanks, Pomme. Did you coach him at home?

Hi Samraj not a lot as his school was very good at it and the bit we did for the eleven-plus helped. We worried more about the English as he was a bit lazy hence not enjoying the writing bit but can't really practice for that much - he did read loads and liked fiction which we felt helped.