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When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 10:59 pm
by busybees
Hi

My sone just started in year 5. All this 11+ is new to me. Can someone advice me when to start and what to do. I was born and had my education in India for 19 years so this is all new and dont know where to start. My son had 4a and 4b in reading and writing and 5c in maths in year 4.

Please help!!!

Please dont just read and no replies.....

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 11:27 pm
by tiredmum
The beginning of year 5 is a very good time to start preparing for the 11 plus.

What area are you from? different areas have different tests :)

You have certainly come to the right place here for help and advice :)

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:06 am
by busybees
tiredmum wrote:The beginning of year 5 is a very good time to start preparing for the 11 plus.

What area are you from? different areas have different tests :)

You have certainly come to the right place here for help and advice :)

Thank you. I am in birmingham area. so where to start advice me please and what to do.

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:14 am
by patricia
Dear Busybees.

Welcome to the forum.

Take a look at the Birmingham section of the forum, scroll down the front page or click on the following link.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... m.php?f=11

Good Luck

Patricia

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:04 pm
by KateS
When we started practicing for the 11 plus I used the Bond products to help my son. The Bond Parents Stress Free Guide was amazing, and answered all my questions, even down to what to wear to the exam!

They do supply a study planner in there to different time scales which you can use on each subject.

Good luck with the practice and of course the exam!

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:13 pm
by patricia
Dear kateS

Firstly welcome to the forum

Which school/area are you applying for?

Bond are not relevant for the majority of areas with regard to Verbal Reasoning. Are you using them for Non verbal reasoning?

Patricia

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:19 pm
by KateS
Hi Patricia

I am from the Gloucester area, Bond does do all 4 of the 11 + subjects but the book I can recommend is definitely for the parents (takes the stress out of it!).

Why are you not finding Bond relevant, it came highly recommended from a teacher friend of mine....

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:31 pm
by patricia
Dear KateS

Bond may cover all subjects but they are not necessarily relevant to the actual exams, they are certainly not applicable to the VR component used by the majority of schools/areas.

Take a look at the Gloucester section, further down the front page of the forum.

Patricia

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:36 pm
by Tolstoy
Gloucester use Nfer V.R multiple choice tests, Katie, this is why Patricia doesn't recommend Bond. Practice papers that use the 21 recognised V.R multiple choice type questions are the best to use. Have a look in the Gloucestershire section of the site as it contains lots of good advice.

Re: When to start preparing for 11+ exams... Confused...

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 4:11 pm
by Milla
Our tutor started ours on Bond, actually, regardless of the multiple choice / actual exam element. Her thinking was to get them to think how to do the questions before moving onto dealing with the multiple choice part. Since the Glos tests are shrouded in a sort of mystery, partic the supposedly difficult second paper, I don't think it does any harm to do all sorts of questions in all sorts of formats at the beginning since you never quite know what you're going to be getting anyway. Mine would have been very bored to do same old same old each week and the variety of different sources (and for this I would include clozes, maths paper etc) helps offset tedium, and develop varied thinking patterns rather than being pinned down to a very narrow focus.