11 Plus Exams Forum

My daughter is in Yr 5 and like most children in state primary, has never really had to do anything under time pressure.

Although she got level 4B in her Yr4 SATS , and a standardised score of 126 in another school test (not sure what test it was) she said she could easily do the questions at school in the time allowed and didn't feel rushed.

To see how much work we need to do I tried her with a Schofield and Sims Bk 4 timed progress test yesterday for the first time (and emphasised the outcome didn't matter) and she only managed to attempt 5 questions out of 20 in the allotted 10 minutes.

She did at least get them right. However, it was a COMPLETE disaster as she now thinks she is no good at Maths. (I know, I made a BIG error of judgment).

I would like to be able to come up with a 12 month plan to help her progress, particularly with her speed of work but have no clue where to start. She is so different to my other child!


My son passed his 11+ a couple of years ago with me just giving him some NFER VR papers and working through the Schofield and Sims bks to get Maths practice (the exams are NFER VR, NFER Maths and English), however, in retrospect the primary school he attended was very keen on Maths (did the Primary maths challenge etc.) and I think expected higher standards than my daughter's. I haven't heard of anyone using a tutor in my area (as far as I know).

Does anyone know which years or SAT levels the Schofield and Sims books equate to? Or can you suggest other schemes to help?

I feel at a complete loss: how to build her confidence again but still achieve the level that will be needed next year. I would really appreciate any advice.

It is just the Maths which seems to be the problem.

Try starting with Schofield and Sims Book 3 the next time you are doing work with her. Get her to do it at her own pace. One test only. As it is a lower level she will finish it within a good time. Then carry one doing a test a time whenever you have time. It will increase her confidence slowly and is not a waste of time as she is basically revising what she knows already. You will find by the end of the book, she will be on the up again.

You are fortunate it is only Maths that you are worrying about and that you have such a good length of time to prepare her. You will notice she will get faster (on her own) as she progresses from test 1 Section One to test 12 Section Three.

After that carry on with Book 4 then 5 then 6.
We found the books very good prep as the skills needed are 'graduated' in degrees, slowly getting harder and harder without you realising it.

Best of luck.

I would think that since you have a year to go, you can use any downloaded maths material from the internet, internet maths games, or high street maths workbooks aimed for her age. All of this will surely increase her speed and confidence in general maths skills before you have to start testing.

Just my advice...