Speed

Eleven Plus (11+) in Buckinghamshire (Bucks)

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MelW
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:33 pm

Speed

Post by MelW »

Has anyone got any tips on how to speed my DS up when completing a practice test? He can answer the tests well but is currently too slow....
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Speed

Post by yoyo123 »

practice, practice , practice!!

you could also time each section of the papers and find where he is slowest.
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: Speed

Post by Marylou »

I find the Tutors software (available on here) helps a bit with speed. Children are far more geared to working against the clock on a computer. You still need pencil and paper for code-type questions, though.
Marylou
no_ball

Re: Speed

Post by no_ball »

I had a similar task to undertake, I kept the number of questions to answer the same for a test paper for instance but I reduced the time to answer by 5 mins for instance.
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Re: Speed

Post by patricia »

Copy and paste of one of my old posts...


Timing, off the top of my head..

1] Speed writing, get your child to write out their name as quickly as possible 10 times. Keep timing until they get quicker and quicker.

2] Do NOT write neatly, I tell my children, this is one itme they can write as scruffy as they want, as long as THEY can read it [because no one else will look at it]

3] Work directly from the answer sheet for types D H Q and E [ as identified by IPS]

4] When marking the answer sheet use one line from left to right [right handed children] I tell my children if you do one line then go back over it again, that second line takes approx half a second. 80 times half a second, thats 40 seconds wasted just drawing a line! 40 seconds thats a code answered or perhaps 5 easy questions...

5] Type Z MUST be left till last. Guess and move on.

6] Child must not panic, thinking that they must complete 40 questions in 25 minutes. Its NOT 30 seconds per question. If 2 types of codes and the bracket maths appear [ K ] in the first half of the paper, then they are probably not going to be anywhere near question 40.

7] Make notes! Some children [particulary boys] think that they have to keep everything in their head. Its actually quicker to make notes, particulary all the maths and code questions. When working quickly a child trying to keep figures and sequences in their head often either makes mistakes or forgets where they are and then have start again [wasting time]

8] Practice, Practice, Practice. There is no doubt about it, practice does make perfect.

9] 10 x 10 times table squares every week. [numbers mixed up, not in order and including the 11 and 12s] The answer 7 x 8 is 56 now not 5/10 seconds later. Eventually add the 15 then 13 times table.

10] Teach multiplication and division the old fashioned way. Not chunking and grids. I tell my children they do it my way for the 11 plus, they do as their teacher says for school.

11] Use, perhaps AFN papers during session time. Time each individual section. Say I am going to give you 5 minutes to answer this section of 7/8 codes. I am going to give you 3 minutes to complete this section of 7 bracket maths [ K ]

12] Photocopy papers [your own personal use, so its OK] have competitions with your child, can they beat you answering a section of finding the hidden 4 letter word or a section of codes etc etc.

13] .......

Patricia
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: Speed

Post by Marylou »

Thanks for posting these again, Patricia - these tips have helped us greatly in the past but different children have different issues! Especially agree with number 10. I recently caught DS using a complicated long division process for a very simple calculation, which seemed to take up most of the space available on the question sheet - "but it's division and my teacher says this is how we have to do it". :roll:

He has also started "colouring in" the boxes instead of using a single line, so will have to nip that one in the bud. I think this might be a "boy" thing.

On the plus side, though - we don't have to worry about him wasting time by writing neatly! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Marylou
scary mum
Posts: 8841
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Speed

Post by scary mum »

On the plus side, though - we don't have to worry about him wasting time by writing neatly!
Funnily enough we did a paper this weekend (first full length one) and it was SLOOOW, so this post was very timely. Like Mary-Lou, when I read the writing neatly bit I laughed...

Trouble is, I'm still not clear why DS was so slow, but I'm hoping practice will make a big difference (on the bright side he did get nearly all of them right :D ), but it took ages.
scary mum
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: Speed

Post by Marylou »

Scary Mum - I think you just have to go through each question type and try to pinpoint what exactly is slowing him down. I've also found that, sometimes, just a bad couple of questions near the beginning can set the tone for the rest of the paper. My DS finds it difficult to guess and move on if he doesn't know an answer and this affects his mood when doing the other questions, and he ends up getting bogged down in sections which he would simply whizz through if I gave them to him to do as an exercise in a practice session and not part of a full paper. I always ask DS which parts he found most difficult and which parts he thinks he spent the most time on. Sometimes this is obvious from the amount of pencil! :wink:

I think it really is just a matter of practice from now on, and refining the exam technique and time-saving methods. A high score is a great confidence booster, and you get quicker at anything the more often you do it. I'm hoping that this will work for us, anyway. :)
Marylou
no_ball

Re: Speed

Post by no_ball »

Another incentive that works is bribing the child to finish early in practice paper
H2OHNO
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:11 am

Re: Speed

Post by H2OHNO »

Having gone through the 11+ this year all I can suggest for your DS to get quicker:

1. Know the question techniques.
2. Practice questions.

Speed comes when they see the question and immediately start following the methods they have learnt.

The more questions they do the faster they become, eventually it’s a bit like watching a small 11+ question processing robot.

The little robots also respond to bribery, when losing the will to live towards the end !!!

:D
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