Advice/reassurance

11 Plus Maths – Preparation and Information

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JLT
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:50 pm

Advice/reassurance

Post by JLT »

Hi - we live in Kent and DS doing Kent test this September. He did really well in CATS maths - 141, is 4a in SATS and according to his teacher, maths comes naturally to him. Always thought would have to concentrate more on VR and NVR with him. Now quite concerned as have started doing maths practice papers and a lot of the questions are throwing him completely. Have bought the age 10-11 No nonsense maths and 10-1, 10 minutes maths and most of these seem so much easier than the practice papers. Are the practice papers a true reflection of what to expect? DS getting about 50% right which I know could still be enough to get him through, but most of this was getting most of the first half of the paper right, followed by looking at most of the second half as if it was written in a foreign language!! :?
Chocolatey Mum
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:49 pm

Re: Advice/reassurance

Post by Chocolatey Mum »

Funny you should say that about the Maths practice papers because we have found exactly the same thing. I am assuming you are using the Official 11+ ? Are you using pack 1 or 2?

We were doing very nicely on pack 1 but started pack 2 and they do seem so much harder. The nth term totally flumuxed us. Hope it doesn't come up in the real thing.

Since the test has been bought forward to September it appears that some of the harder stuff has not come up, by this I mean algebra ect, but more problem solving questions which require 2 or 3 steps to complete them.

I wonder if the practice papers are just an example of what may come up rather than what will come up. Meaning that they reserve the right to make them more difficult in the future.

Gosh I really hope this is not the year that they do that.

Please don't lose hope it might just be small gaps in his knowledge which can easily be filled in the time we have left.

Must admit to leaving the algebra to the last couple of weeks before the test in order that it stays fresh in my DDs mind. Even then I only plan on glossing over it.

I wonder if the timing could be an issue as 50 minutes is quite a long time to concentrate. It takes a while to build up to that length of time. Maybe that is why he is doing well on the first half and not so well on the second half. Perhaps try splitting it over two days or sessions and see if that helps.

We all have these little wobbles from time to time. I think they come along to keep us on our toes and stop us being too complacent.
bulu
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:24 pm

Re: Advice/reassurance

Post by bulu »

Hi JLT & CM,

I'm in exactly the same position and it's been puzzling me for a couple of weeks, since we started on the full test papers for maths.

DS gets almost 100% on the first 25 questions, then a few scraps on the last 25! At school, he is apparently top set, level 5C, teacher says he is consistently good at maths and never struggles. Yet, he really struggles with the second half of the 'familiarisation' papers.

I confided in a friend who was glad to 'donate' her child's 11+ work to me - decluttering! It included Maths Pack 1 by GL-assessment. I felt a little better when I looked at her results, and hope you will too, for her child is off to grammar in September. She scored:

Paper 1: 1st 25 questions 23/25, 2nd 25 questions 14/25.
Paper 2: 1st 25 questions 21/25, 2nd 25 questions 12/25.
Paper 3: 1st 25 questions 20/25, 2nd 25 questions 15/25.
Paper 4: 1st 25 questions 19/25, 2nd 25 questions 6/25.

Keep on - you are not alone!
JLT
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:50 pm

Re: Advice/reassurance

Post by JLT »

Thanks CM and bulu,

we haven't actually started doing papers in one go yet, - doing half and half to prevent the concentration issue. On pack one of official papers. Have also just ordered how to do 11+ maths, so hoping we'll work out where the obvious gaps are and do some work over the holidays. Thankfully DS really wants to go to GS to hoping he won't mind the extra work during the holidays!! :)

Bulu - certainly feel a bit better now you've said about your friend's DC - :)
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