Have I left it too late?

WorriedMum · Post by **WorriedMum** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:32 pm

Hi All,
My child has been going to a tutor since September and the feedback was that he was doing very well.
He has his practice papers at school this week so I've just purchased the NFER papers to do at home.
He did the VR at home and he scored 48/87 = 56%
Now I am panicking a bit on how he is going to get on in the practice papers at school this week.
He isn't a very confident child and I don't want it to set him back if he doesn't do well. Will he get told the results?
I now find out that the parents of the other children have been giving their children practice tests since January!
Have I messed up and left it too late for my son? I've been relying on the tutor as I didn't want him to get fed up with it and I was going to use time in the summer holidays to do more with him myself.
I am beating myself up over this as I feel I have let him down. He is a bright boy, he is just not familar with the papers.
Do the results of these practice papers get sent back to the grammar school and if so what do they do with them? And do we get told of the results as well?
I have shown nothing of my concerns to my son and said that he did well as it was his first attempt.
I feel so bad, as this is all new to me and I didn't realise I needed to do more with him earlier than this.
I haven't looked at NVR yet but I know maths is a strength so I am hoping he will fair better there.
Thanks for listening.

usa · Post by **usa** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:20 pm

Dear WorriedMum
Where are you from? I guess maybe Berks or Kent judging by the exams he has to take?
No - you havent left it too late. You have the whole of the summer to go over papers. Do not worry about what the rest of the playground parents have said.
I would suggest buying IPS VR technique and Practise book (from this site) and a few more besides. Think about where he is in Maths - Y5 curriculum will not cover the kind of things he will be asked in his exam so you will have to go over the bits that are missing (which is a fair bit I might add.) Have a look at the demos of the CDs, on this site. Personally I thought the Peter Robson books for Maths really helped me out (cheap and simple to use), but then we had a lot of catching up to do.
For NVR there are not as many books to buy. Again look on this site.
What I did last year, was concentrate on 1 subject at a time - say for a week - and know exactly how much we were going to do in a day/week - and stick to it.
Do get back to us. And no, the practise test results will not be sent to any future school.
You can do it - but you will have to persevere!
Good luck
USA

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:23 pm

Hi Worriedmum

Treat the practice tests as being completely insignificant and keep posting to this site for advice. If you or your son are stuck on any aspect of the 11+ there are people who can help you here.

Your sons tutor may be working through a program that is not yet complete i.e. looking at all question types before proceeding with test papers.

Also post to your appropriate area rather than the verbal reasoning pages, as you obviously need advice relevant to the LEA where the tests will be taken.

Regards

Mike

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:23 pm

WorriedMum wrote:Hi All,
My child has been going to a tutor since September and the feedback was that he was doing very well.
He has his practice papers at school this week so I've just purchased the NFER papers to do at home.
He did the VR at home and he scored 48/87 = 56%

Don't worry, the NFER papers are difficult, and I would be inclined to keep them to a few weeks before the test, especially if NFER tests are used in your area. I gradually built up to them over a few months of using other books and papers with my children (who didn't have any other tuition) and by the time of the test they were able to manage them and they both passed. This was in Birmingham, where they used to use NFER till a few years ago. Not sure where you live, but you have probably got at least till October to build up to this standard.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:58 pm

I was in despair about how badly my daughter was doing, because she was just too slow, even part way through the summer holidays. She didn't gain any speed until quite late on. But she passed in the end. (Bucks). So don't give up.

yoyo123 · Post by **yoyo123** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:03 pm

as someone has just posted to me, practice, practice, practice!!

When my 2 children took Kent 7 and 3 years ago respectively they were noyt finishing test papers in th etime, but the more we practised the better they became as they began to recognise the type of question.

We didn't start untila few months before test and both passedwith flying colours

WorriedMum · Post by **WorriedMum** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:39 pm

Thanks for all your replies.
Well he scored 75% in his VR practice test at school, so although still probably not a "pass", I thought he did well considering it was only the second one he had done. I feel there is hope again!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:41 pm

Thats a very good result, you should be proud of him

yoyo123 · Post by **yoyo123** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:29 am

If you want more practice, especially in the types of questions that he has more difficulty with, what about downloading one of the interactive
VR programmes from this site. They are excellent, you see one question at a time and it also records the time taken and provides a feedback on how he is improving. They do a maths one too.

Ring elevenplus and find ou twhich is more appropriate for you area. I am really impressed with the one I bought

WorriedMum · Post by **WorriedMum** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 7:02 pm

Hi All,
Another update, my son did the NFER 11b paper at home this week and he scored 81% so I feel a little less worried now.

Fingers crossed he keeps it up and does that well on the day - not long to go now! Eek!

Have I left it too late?

Have I left it too late?

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