11 Plus Exams Forum

The school we were looking at would be Wilmington grammar school for girls.
Where to start with the 11+ revision? Which materials to buy? Year 5 is clearly the most important year for preparation for the 11+.
Would we need an Electronic Dictionaries?
Has anyone used the Vocabulary builder CD's?
There is so much you can buy, but what do we really need? A list of books would be really helpful, and where would be best to start?

I would do the Peter Robson practise and pass books 1 and 2 in maths, VR, nvr and English and the 8 GL practice papers in each of those 4 subjects. Then add in some spatial reasoning questions from a variety of other books. You'll be ready for a superselective by then.

We have never used electronic dictionaries or dedicated vocabulary builders, so I can's comments on those, but what I would say is that reading a lot of books, in a wide variety of genres, is highly beneficial; both classic and more recent literature. If a book is a bit difficult, you can read it together. Talking to your DD about what she's been reading, perhaps with one or two probing questions thrown in, also helps.

Don't buy too many books all at once; I'd go with mystery's suggestion, work through those and only buy more if you feel your DD needs it.

If you haven't yet, it would be worth spending some time Googling independent schools. A lot of them make their past or sample test papers available online - if you get hold of comprehension papers, see where their text extracts were taken from - this might help you with compiling a reading list. If you know anyone currently in Wilmington GS, ask what books they read in Y7 English lessons. Finally, go to the open day and ask one of the English teachers what types of books they would recommend. Hopefully, they would be happy to suggest a few titles.

I second the encouragement to read lots and generally any opportunity to build vocab. The Kent test really isn't that hard if you just need a pass which is all Wilmington needs so don't stres too much about it. Timing can be quite key especially in the maths so once confident in answering questions correctly move onto speed. We found the Letts ten minute tests helpful for that. Mock tests can be helpful too. As it has had such a good Ofsted recently some of its traditional catchment may be reduced as it will be more popular so do bear that in mind too. Good luck.

I agree, lots of reading and lots of quick fire mental maths (I found the FPTP mental maths book good for this, they have 6 and 10 min tests so they were very easy to add in to my DS's daily routine). My DS found the GL books really useful, they were great for his confidence. Where do you live? I suspect that following the recent Ofsted Outstanding report, demand for Wilmington Girls is going to be very high next year, and they only have 120 places. If you're in one of the parishes though, you'll be fine, outside of borough, I would expect the catchment to shrink.

Good luck!

GL books? What are they?

mystery wrote:GL books? What are they?

Those published by GLAssessment (formerly NFER). They are the current suppliers of the Kent Test, I think? Have a look in your local High St book and stationery suppliers.

You mean the 8 practice papers in each subject published by GL assessment that I mentioned about? Or the "How to do Verbal Reasoning", "How to do non-verbal reasoning" published by GL. There isn't anything else published by GL for the public relevant to their assessment tests is there?

Thank you for the info Is this the pack I should get? http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/shop/9 ... ack-8.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lucylidd wrote:Thank you for the info Is this the pack I should get? http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/shop/9 ... ack-8.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It depends on whether you need all four subjects, i.e. English, maths, VR and NVR. If, say, you don't need NVR, you will be better off buying the same papers in subjects packs, i.e. a pack of four maths tests, four English tests etc.