11 Plus Exams Forum

Would you say a child who that gets a 5c in written english optional SATs, baring in mind that this wasn't even their best piece of work, would have the required vocab to pass the 11+. (p.s this is not a typical result in his school)

He has never voluntarily read, can't remember when he last brought a book home from school but his reading age has gone up 2 years since September, a couple of books at home have grabbed his interest during this period. I have tried getting him to work on the word lists on this site but he is just not interested. I am kind of hoping it is not necessary. He is happy to do practice tests and we do play scrabble which he is good at. Plus he enjoys me reading to him, currently Swallows and Amazons series.

I too have a son who is a very reluctant reader. He has just got a level 4 sats in English (Y6) and has always been much stronger at Maths and Science. Despite his English sats only being at the national average level, he has always had a good reading age, at least a couple of years ahead of his real age.

In spite of not reading, he has always had a good vocabulary which helped him achieve a good mark in the Bucks 11+. I guess some kids just pick up vocabulary from adults and other sources such as games and TV. I still panic that he will struggle at Grammar school when he has to write longer essays but I am hoping many boys will be like him!

Hi Tolstoy

I think his vocabulary and reading age have probably been improved because of the Verbal Reasoning papers he has been practicing.

Regards

Mike

I agree with Mike, this has happened with my dd. She used the word 'piebald' in a recent piece of writing and was extremely proud of herself!

He has only done two level Tutors three ten minute practice papers so far and that was about a week ago. He isn't ready to tackle any full lengths yet because the timing isn't right with him and I have only just finished going over the techniques. We will do a couple before the end of term then start in earnest in September, the test isn't until Nov for us, thankfully.

One book he did love was 'The curious incident of the .....', does anyone know of any other books of that ilk that I could suggest for him. I am going to assume he is picking up vocab in the same way as bucks m1's son. Hopefully like your daughter, Tracy, just doing the practice papers will cover it.

Thanks,
Tolstoy