DAO advice please

[Tallulah2]

Hi, I am a newbie here and after some advice about the DAO exams.
My son is in year 5 and we have only started tutoring this September (don't know if that is too late), he has been doing Kumon maths but stopped just before we started tutoring.
What else would I need to do to help my son do well in the exams?
Is a tutor once a week enough?
He is above average in his class but not the top...is it still worth going for it? I know there is so much competition but I would also like to give him the opportunity to at least try.
Some experiences would be welcome

Thanks

[Daogroupie]

A very important factor will be how he feels about it.

I know of students who have had a real drive to get into the school and so have been prepared to do the work necessary.

Another factor will be the experience of your tutor. How many students did they have sitting this year? Have you spoken to a parent who has used the tutor this year? When did your tutor last visit the school?

DAO changed exam formats this year for the first time in twenty years so you need to be make sure that your tutor is working with the right formats.

Any student can get into DAO if they do the right preparation. But it is a very specific exam format especially the English and many tutors do not have the necessary experience to focus on the right aspects.

I know of top table students who have got into the 30 percents for the English paper but then gone on to win scholarships at St Albans, MT and Habs.

Sadly they simply were not prepared properly for the DAO English format.

How did you select your tutor? What evidence have you seen or who have you spoken to that has convinced you that they have the necessary information to prepare your ds? DG

[anorthlondonparent1]

If 'any student can get into DAO with the right preparation' then something would be very wrong with the system.
I think you might have omitted the word 'bright' DAOGroupie. If it were the case that any child, regardless of natural ability, could get in by putting tons of work in and via tutoring, what would that say?

[Daogroupie]

I don't believe in "bright" and "natural ability"

I have had years of experiencing very "average" students put their heads down and work and outstrip the "natural talent" of the student who does not prepare properly.

Some of the top GCSE performers this year I had never even heard of and some of the "stars" of the year "let themselves down"

If the OP and her ds both want him to go to DAO he has just as much chance as anyone provided they work "smart" DG

[hjhj]

Agree with Daogroupie .Natural ability...? Every Dc is naturally able.The one who work harder than others.Get proper tuition Maybe Parents,Tutor or school are the one who thrive at11 plus.Gcse.ALevels....Anyone has a chance to get into competitive school.We all 98%human are Naturally equally able.

[hjhj]

It reminds me of one of the biggest financial crisis of this century. they said 6 figure bonuses will not be available any more.The people responsible for causing the crises said"Well you are going to brain drain"by not giving us bounes.I rather drain that brain.
In short all dss are competent.Some times parents,teacher,laxk of home atmosphere,wrong selection of tutor........ask me and I keep counting .Parents let children down unintentionally. parents?over or under work.Over or under interest....sorry i cant go on any more.

[anorthlondonparent1]

Not sure I can understand all of your argument due to language skills hjhj but frankly there is no way in the world natural ability is irrelevant.

Are you and DAO seriously suggesting that ANY child could get into schools such as DAO or QE simply by working very hard indeed? There are children out there who cannot comprehend certain ideas at the age of 10 no matter how much work they do. They are struggling with basic maths and learning times tables in year 5 and 6.

There are also plenty of children out there who work hard and do not do that well at school and in exams and others who do very little but have natural ability who ace things and everything in between.

IF the idea here is that a reasonably bright child who puts lots of work in has a good chance of getting a place, then I might take it more seriously.

[Finsbury]

My view is that I think you would need to have at least a certain amount of natural raw ability to pass given that (a) it is based on a ranking (not a pass mark) and (b) it is so competitive.

I was told by another parent (anecdotally) that in their son's primary school class the 'ranking' of the children in the grammar school exams broadly followed the perception in their class of their abilities. Assuming that they didn't all do the same amount of work then that says something.

From our own experience what I can say is that practising the tests (and doing the work) can make a big difference to test scores over a relatively short period. I appreciate this isn't exactly your question though.

Having just been through all of this for the first time the other question you should probably ask yourself is whether (for you and your son) it is worth the huge amount of time and effort and what your other alternatives are. A good and local non selective state school may be available. I am not saying I would do any different but it is worth considering.

[ToadMum]

Agree with Daogroupie .Natural ability...? Every Dc is naturally able.The one who work harder than others.Get proper tuition Maybe Parents,Tutor or school are the one who thrive at11 plus.Gcse.ALevels....Anyone has a chance to get into competitive school.We all 98%human are Naturally equally able.

I'll pass that last one on to my friend with the 15 year old whose inability to express himself at all coherently had stupidly been put down all these years to his severe autism, and ditto my friend whose 30 year old has Downs. They can perhaps give their respective offspring a serious talking to about not having applied themselves enough at primary school. Then, of course, beat themselves and their spouses up a bit more about how they haven't managed to do enough for their boys over the years.

Okay, rant over for now, but

:

[piggys]

I too have many years experience of teaching English language and Literature up to A level in all sorts of environments, including super selectives, adult colleges and ordinary comprehensives. IMO and IME natural ability is most definitely a factor in academic success. So is hard graft. It is a mistake to conflate the two. It is also a mistake to ignore the fact that there are people who are naturally very bright and those who are not so bright. There are all kinds of reasons for differing levels of achievement and it's a little.....unthinking, shall we say.....not to take these into account.

OP I would advise you to go with your instinct and decide whether or not you want to put your ds forward for the exams; If it's a real struggle then IMO you'd be better off doing something different. Daogroupie paints a picture of hours and hours of thankless toil, sacrifice and suffering but it doesn't have to be like that (and if it is, stop - it's not worth it).

It's not that hard to get a bright child into a selective if they are prepped adequately. It is also possible to get a not so bright child into a selective with hour after hour of slog from year 3 or 4. There is nothing to be gained from tutoring a child to with in an inch of his life to get him into an SS only to then have him endure years of feeling inadequate and bottom of the class (and believe me I have known some kids like this - awful pushy parent syndrome).

Don't listen to the scaremongering OP - pm me if you want . Dame Alice Owen is a good school - but it's not THAT good.