DIY Preparation for Berkshire Grammar

[mum-of-three]

Hi Everybody

I would like some advice and help wrt getting my DS prepared for Reading and Slough entrance test. He is in Year 4 at the moment and I plan to work through with him on my own in order to save the tution/travel cost.

Can someone please let me know if they have already done such a setup? I would like to have some advice and the way people have been working through as follows:

a. Where should we start? Being in Year 4 there are a number of concepts that he is not familiar with at the moment e.g. ratio and proportion, percentages etc. What is the suggested way to go and learn the concepts which after all we would have to do on our own as he needs to be aware of everything before Year 6. Are there any guide books which could help me in explaining the concepts to him.

b. Should I straight away start with the papers or make sure that he is aware of all the concepts first and then give him the papers to kick start? In terms of level of difficulty are there easier papers to start with and then to work the way through to the harder papers.

c. Can someone please give me some names of the books or papers that I should buy? Further if someone has already done DIY prep can I please ask how much did they spend on it? I have just assumed that it would be cheaper than the tution and academies. Can someone please throw some light on it.

d. Further I would also greatly appreciate if someone could let me know the way they have been working. Like how many hours a week are given to maths, english and VR/NVR. Its just so that I know how to align my DS studies with my daily commitments.

I am very confused at the moment and with all the information that i have acquired from various places I am not sure where does all fit in.

Anxiously waiting for your replies and help.

[earleymom]

Hi mum-of-three,

These links might be of help - Useful suggestions from Complete Novice,stevew61,cocoa0101:

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 60#p191360
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 10&t=19705
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 10&t=14854

[FluffyD]

For the maths you could always google "maths whizz" its an online computer game type programme which teaches maths amazingly well.
It's free as well!
Last night my DS finally got to grips with denominators because of that website.

[mum-of-three]

Thankyou so much earleymom and FluffyD for the helpful links. I shall go through them and will let you know if I need any more help.

[tiffinboys]

Also the following thread - see Patricia's advise.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =12&t=4782" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[earleymom]

Regarding :

d. Further I would also greatly appreciate if someone could let me know the way they have been working. Like how many hours a week are given to maths, english and VR/NVR. Its just so that I know how to align my DS studies with my daily commitments.

User Jaysdarlin had a post about weekly plan for her Year 4 DS: May be you can modify this to suit your needs?

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... ekend+plan

She has compiled a decent list of words under http://www.flashcardexchange.com/tag/11plus You can make flash cards out of these.

If you PM her, she'll provide you a link for the Category cards she has mentioned in her post.

** By 'First Aid', she means the "The New First Aid in English" by Angus MacIver

[mum-of-three]

Thanks earleymom this link is really amazing....

I must appreciate your help and guidance. Can I please ask you how many of your DD/DS have opted for Reading or Kenderick?

[earleymom]

I'm in the same boat as you are.. DS1 in year 4. Lurking around in the forum all the time to get ideas from other parents..

I 'try'(its so hard with daily commitments) to follow stevew61's advice:
1. Build up the foundation this year
2. Introduce the methods/techniques slowly.

So far, only doing the first. Making my DS read books, note down 'hard' words, make a list, ask my DS to look into the dictionary, write the meaning and a sentence to go with it. He thinks its so boring(especially to write it down), but, loves it when he can recollect the same word used elsewhere.. Looking into First Aid too, especially the categories(Groups of animals, Names of baby animals, Masculine/Feminine lists, etc). For Maths, we do Schofield and Simms - Mental Maths, one sheet a day(again, we're only 'trying' ). Slowly introducing new concepts in Maths, like, Fractions, decimals, conversion from one to another.

Still long way to go, and its so scary . But, this forum is such a great resource, not just in terms of getting advice or useful information, but, also getting to know other parent's views and it keeps me going

[Rosette]

mum-of-three I have pm'd you.

[bahuguna]

Hi Everyone
I am preparing my DS for reading boys exam this year Oct 2012. I am really confused with what is available and don't know which books to use. Reading Boys website says no preparation is needed and no past papers are available and they have VR and or NVR. there is no set pattern. I am really looking for advice and help about how to go about it and which books/sample papers to buy.