alpha 11+ english

11 Plus English - Preparation and Information

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Guest

alpha 11+ english

Post by Guest »

I am mega depressed. Son has done two alpha 11+ english papers in the last 2 days and has scored 69% and 66% respectively and these seem to be the easiest papers in the two packs. Has anyone any experience of these papers and can anyone offer any words of encouragement to one mum who is having a bad day!! He will ultimately be sitting NFER English at the end of this year
Guest

Post by Guest »

Don't be depressed.

This is the first time he is doing the papers. My daughter scored similar if not lower marks at this stage and went on to pass her 11+.

I would only do a section a time initially and gradually built up.

Good luck
stevew61
Posts: 1786
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:54 pm
Location: caversham

Post by stevew61 »

Guest,

Be positive, you have a sound foundation to build on and plenty of time to boost the scores.

Break it into sections, find out and focus on weak areas, do not worry about time to much yet concentrate on technique.

This time last year my young August baby boy was scoring similar on English ( typical boy problem ) so we set about boosting his skills.

We got there in the end, so can you. 69% scored another 31% available :D

Good luck,

stevew61
Guest

Post by Guest »

Thank you for your kind replies which have made me feel a bit better. The biggest problem he has is rushing. I timed both papers and instead of taking 50 minutes he took less than 20 and made silly mistakes despite telling me he had checked through everything twice. I was shocked by the expected level of language never dreaming that an 11 year old would have to deal with words such as incarcerated, vociferous and mitigate. He is a bright boy with a very strong reading age but I nevertheless found it very hard. I suggested continuing to read would help but he was quite distressed and said he had never come across words like this in his books. He is just finishing Carries war (Nina Bawden) and I'm now worried that the stuff I'm suggesting for him to read is not demanding enough. However, I feel like I'm caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Do I give him books that have more complex language that he may struggle with or do I continue with easier stuff that he enjoys?

first guest
stevew61
Posts: 1786
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:54 pm
Location: caversham

Post by stevew61 »

Guest,

He needs to slow down...................

Yes boost the Reading, make him read out loud you will soon spot the words he does not know. Boosting vocab. is the hardest part. Look at some of the word lists on this site.

At this stage last year we were reading Harry Potter and the Beano. :cry:

I have learnt from my mistakes and have got year two boy onto Horrid Henry and a rhyming dictionairy, they read the lists like a rap. :D :D

stevew61
Guest

Post by Guest »

I agree he does need to slow down but he won't. I've done the conversation about decreasing speed to increase accuracy but he's not listening to me. I'm finding the whole think really frustrating and I can sense we are going to come to blows. Something I dearly want to avoid.
Mike
Posts: 625
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:29 pm

Post by Mike »

Hi Guest

Try this simple technique.

Before starting any work get him to sit still for 30 seconds.

Break the task into small sections and ask him to stop at the end of each section and sit still for 30 minutes.

Do this until you get him working for 50 minutes.

A few problems that the kids have with time management is that they do not know how long 50 minutes is, they are scared that they will not finish on time and they rush and make silly mistakes.

Hope this helps

Regards

Mike
Guest

Post by Guest »

Thanks Mike

Going to have a half term break now and will try out your idea once we are back.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Thanks Mike

Going to have a half term break now and will try out your idea once we are back.
Have just done paper 3 and tried the sit still for 30 seconds technique which my son thought was hilarious!! - I don't think he got the point at all as he still wizzed through at breakneck speed. I made him sit still for the full 50 minutes despite the fact that he did the paper in 20 minutes (how bad do I feel) and he spent the remaining time gazing at the wall and refused point blank to check over the answers more than once. Overall, however, he did far better acheiving a score of 84% which gives me some hope. Vocab was still the biggest problem. Looks like I'm just going to have to keep plugging away at the reading and nagging over time management!

I have printed out the word lists (thanks Steve) and we will use that as a starting point.

Any other suggestions gratefully received!
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Post by hermanmunster »

stevew61 wrote:At this stage last year we were reading Harry Potter and the Beano. :cry:
stevew61
Year 8 DS at grammar school still only reads the Beano....
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