Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

[MrsB]

It's ok to have a weaker subject and far more important to stay relaxed about the whole thing. Ds did ok in last years English paper, but still scored less than 70 percent.

I agree with this. Our DC seemed to achieve similar levels all round in the end, none of them stellar, but all good enough. Other children we know of did less well in English but very well in maths and VR which compensated. That said, given the significance of VR, a weak score in VR will be more tricky than a weaker score in English or maths.

[Manana]

We started with bond for English, maths and VR, then used the Essex materials from the Visuteach website mixed in with past CSSE papers, starting with the easiest and working up to the horrendous We aimed to do 2 English papers (bond, CSSE or visuteach) and 1 maths and 1 VR per weekend for about 3 months but didn't always achieve that for one reason or another. We also did some home invented maths questions focussed on things that he found more difficult. English was the most challenging which was why we aimed for 2 English a week.

The percentages you mention sound good at this stage - on bond 10-11 our DC was typically in the 80s for English and the late 80s or 90s for maths and the 90s for VR.

Thanks for the encouragement! I don't think DS is in the 90% area for anything at the moment, but in generally in the 80s. I've just lifted the spelling passage from the 2012 (I think-the one with benefits and physique in!) though and he did pretty abysmally-help!! I've been trying to give him 10 spellings each week to improve on his general spelling and vocab, but it obviously isn't helping!!

Can I ask if you bought things from the Visuteach website or just used the free papers; I haven't used that website before?

[MrsB]

Yes we tried the free materials and then bought the extras. They aren't cheap but they did seem quite close to the Essex style and we thought worth it at least for English where the Essex style is quite specific

[seriousmum]

Yes we tried the free materials and then bought the extras. They aren't cheap but they did seem quite close to the Essex style and we thought worth it at least for English where the Essex style is quite specific

The post 2010 English papers are very comparable to the new Essex style. True, expensive, but I felt it was value for money. I am planning to buy the whole lot. They focus on literary devices which are very relevant for Essex these days.

[MrsB]

Precisely - pretty pricey but practically perfect

[Manana]

Yes we tried the free materials and then bought the extras. They aren't cheap but they did seem quite close to the Essex style and we thought worth it at least for English where the Essex style is quite specific

The post 2010 English papers are very comparable to the new Essex style. True, expensive, but I felt it was value for money. I am planning to buy the whole lot. They focus on literary devices which are very relevant for Essex these days.

Ok-that's reassuring! I'm looking now-what shall I buy!? There are 4 maths Essex-style papers and papers 4, 5,6,7 and 8 of the English post-2010 style papers. Did you get the VR ones as well?

[MrsB]

Yes, we bought all 3.
We also found that every few weeks they put out new English ones so it is worth checking in regularly.