What plans do you have for 11 plus revision over Summer?

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um
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What plans do you have for 11 plus revision over Summer?

Post by um »

I'm not sure how much work/revision my 10 year old should be doing over the 6 week summer holiday. He takes the exams in Autumn.
Of course a child this age shouldn't have this burden of exams but the alternative option is to be eaten alive at the local comp for 7 years.
He is bright, does well at school, but his performance can vary, he needs to consolidate.
What are other parents out there planning? Any suggestions for motivating him as the weather is supposed to be very hot so it won't be easy!
Milla
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Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

this could be me writing this! such a relief to know others out there in this position. My boy could soar or bomb. He went to his tutor yesterday, a lovely soul who has 5 or 6 of them at a go. She was wincing at how advanced the private school children are. "Not brighter, no no," she says sternly, "but all that practice."
She wants what she calls "her" children to do as well. The invidiousness (?word??) of the system upsets her, that the private schools, not being tied to the nat curr, can indulge in daily VR and then use this as a selling point to prospective parents. Level playing field? Nope.
I'm planning on little bits and pieces in "dead time" - before The Simpsons, say. The unspoken threat of the work being done (and I think here, really, ten mins, just to keep it going) or the programme not being watched, I am banking on doing the trick. Trouble is I'm not very systematic myself, or self-disciplined, or good at routines. Can't think where my son gets this anomaly from!
moved
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Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Post by moved »

I run a summer 11+ club, where the children sit two papers per week of the holidays. These are of the standard of the actual test. So three each VR, English and maths. At the end of each session parents are given a feedback sheet on work that still needs to be covered. This is easily achieved at home, each test your child sits will give you an indication of areas of weakness.

I have added a link to the Essex thread where parents put up how much/little work they did with their children as an indication for others
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... php?t=9898

My own pupils sit one of each paper each week from September. Our exam is in November. I also recommend little chunks of word building via Boggle, Scrabble on the DS, etc. Car games such as concentration naming countries, fish, flowers, etc. are also useful. These can all be viewed as play.
SSM
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Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:09 pm

Post by SSM »

I found doing a timetable was very helpful. As both my DS and I then knew what we were doing on which days.

He sat his 11+ in mid Sept. I timetabled about 40mins to 1hr Mon to Friday and then maybe 1 paper on Sat and 1 on Sun. (looking at that now seems an awful lot). We did not do any work on the 2 weeks we were away on holiday. Normally we would do it first thing in the morning, so would be done by 10am, leaving the rest of the day free.

He did get fed up towards the end of August, and so we just eased off a bit.
coolmum123
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Post by coolmum123 »

I agrre with SSm. We were doing 1 paper a day (English maths Vr and NVR) as DS was doing Grammar and Indies. We would get them over and done with in the morning and then i would take him out for lunch or we would plan things for the afternoon. it seemed to work as there is an incentive to get the things done, I did emphasise that we weren't finished until the corrections had been done (incentive to focus and get things right first time :wink: ).

I was saying to my DS the other day actually as that he was lucky he had his last year as the weather was awful so it didn't feel so bad being cooped up in the house. I do feel sorry for kids when the weather is good.

I would also say plaaning is key that way you know what topics need going over and you manage to cover everything, it takes a lot of time on your part but it really does make things less stressful for the child.
Milla
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Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

ONE PAPER A DAY! Am panicking at own slackness now!
coolmum123
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:18 pm

Post by coolmum123 »

i think you may have misunderstood!! I meant a total of one paper per day and each day it would be one of the 4 subjects - English, Maths, VR, NVR!!!

Hope I havn't caused too much of a panic!! :D
mad?
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Post by mad? »

Don't panic! last year we were doing indie and grammar and did one paper a week ...(either maths, vr or english)OR a ten minute test every other day. Final outcome successful on all fronts.
mad?
Milla
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Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

nope, still panicking. I veer from total dejection (at a run, say of idiotic mistakes) to partial elation at some ray of cleverness. Oh Gawd, how long to go? Just the 5 months! Why aren't I rake thin???
onedown01
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Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 11:12 pm
Location: Kent

summer rev

Post by onedown01 »

Was in this boat this time last year. Around this time last year I devised a timetable which I discussed with DS before the start of the summer holiday. First two weeks of holidays were work free - we went away for two weeks.

For the remaining 4 weeks we kept weekends free and I put lots of effort into listening to what DS wanted to do in free time (day trips or lazy days). Monday to Friday DS completed a 1 hour test straight after breakfast, although he was so bad I reverted to three Bond ten minute tests for the first 2 weeks (In Kent, so that is three subjects, VR, NVR and Maths).

He didn't feel so bad as test was out of the way by 11am at the latest. A free lunchtime and afternoon. Then at 6pm I'd mark test and we went through questions. I did not try and help him with all wrong answers because we would have been there for four hours! Instead I focussed for a max of 20- 30 minutes on where I felt DS 'half' got the answer - minimum effort for maximum improvement given that it was the summer holidays.

Also coached on exam technique for multiple choice which often helped to speed up exam times.
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