11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi All. This is my first post, I hope that someone can help! My son has just started Year 5 and is considered "bright". How bright is he though? Tiffin bright or just proud mum and dad bright? Is there a way that we can get him assessed or is there anything we can do to see whether he has a realistic chance of passing the exam? We are loathe to tutor him but have been told that nobody gets into Tiffin without being tutored. If we do have to go down the tutor route can anybody recommend one? Thanks.

The problem you might come up against is that most of the reknowned local tutors could well be fully booked by this stage. It might be worth asking some of the Year 6 parents who they used?

Difficult to say.

He'll need to be at the 'top' of his year group as for most of the SW London primaries (at least the ones I know) it's the top 5% of the year group that pass for the super selectives - possibly less. I know there are some primaries with bigger numbers but that would be the average.

I'm afraid you will need tutoring unless you are very patient and have time to spare. All the DC I know who've passed have tutored - most have paid for it and worked with DC themselves.

As a rule of thumb refer to NFER scores given by your primary.100 is average,125 is grammar school material and 135 you are heading for oxbridge.These score are standardised for age and can be use in conjunction with SAT levels to determine if he is bright enough for Tiffin.Sorry, I would say level 6 for year 6 to stand a chance despite heads saying that good level 5 will do.

tphillips18 wrote: We are loathe to tutor him but have been told that nobody gets into Tiffin without being tutored. If we do have to go down the tutor route can anybody recommend one? Thanks.

I know three children who have just passed first stage Tiffin Boys (with good scores) without tutors, but they did do a fair bit of work at home with their parents.

Before I embarked on the 11+ with my youngest, I had him do 11+ practice papers in comprehension and 10+ in maths and VR. This was just before the end of year 4, just to see how good he was without any preparation at all. We started working at home from the beginning of year 5.

I would suggest you get Bond or GL Assessment papers, preferably multiple choice as Tiffin's 1st stage was a multiple choice exam, and see how your DS performs. You will be able to judge from his results how advanced he is. Good luck!

tphillips18 wrote:Hi All. This is my first post, I hope that someone can help! My son has just started Year 5 and is considered "bright". How bright is he though? Tiffin bright or just proud mum and dad bright? Is there a way that we can get him assessed or is there anything we can do to see whether he has a realistic chance of passing the exam? We are loathe to tutor him but have been told that nobody gets into Tiffin without being tutored. If we do have to go down the tutor route can anybody recommend one? Thanks.

We too had a bright DS at school. we just believed in him and us as well and started tutoring at home itself...

He got through the first stage of tiffins and waiting to write the second stage now. he is into year 6 now.

I felt a little hard work from the whole family is needed...not some external tutor..

tphillips18 wrote:Hi All. This is my first post, I hope that someone can help! My son has just started Year 5 and is considered "bright". How bright is he though? Tiffin bright or just proud mum and dad bright?

Actually IMHO he needs to be "tutor-able bright".
Has your DS done the CAT tests? If so, dig out the results, it will show you where you are on the scale.
As far as tutoring.... you need to be prepared and familar with the tests (and their scope/syllabus); it doesn't need to be a huge lifestyle change and can potentially be DIY.
Regards
SVE

There is no such thing as bright enough for GS

I know of boys who have aced the Year 6 exam and not passed the GS test
There are boys who have been tutored to death with no expense spared who failed at stage 1 test

You need ability + exam technique / familiarization + small bit of luck on the day, in that order.