tutors for Abbey
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tutors for Abbey
Our DD has had a tutor for the last few months and will be taking the Abbey exam in January. She is bright and the reason we wanted a tutor was to fill in any gaps her primary school may have missed and to prepare her for the exam and year 7 on, e.g. to give her coaching and practice in English comprehension.
Over the last few weeks the tutor has been covering various topics but I couldn't see a clear link between the work and the exam. In short, I wanted to know from the tutor where DD was now, what the exam requires, what the gaps are between the 2 and therefore what needs to be covered between now and then. Our tutor doesn't seem to want to plan out the final few weeks in this way. At £45 an hour (in our home), I'm feeling a little short changed.
Are my expectations incorrect of a tutor's approach?
More to the point, I would appreciate a PM of any recommended Abbey tutors in the Reading area - I may want to try a fresh approach for the final few weeks.
Genuine recommendations by PM only (private message) are acceptable - but beware of the possibility that someone who appears to be offering a recommendation may have a vested interest! Please let us know if you think anyone is abusing the system by soliciting for business or 'spamming'. (It's easy to report a possible problem: just click on the 'report button' - the red exclamation mark.)
Always treat recommendations from unknown persons with caution. However, there are many long standing members (check the date of joining and number of posts) who make a valuable contribution to the forum. If you receive a recommendation from one of them, it could be worth considering seriously (while still exercising a degree of caution).
If you receive a recommendation from anyone else, please exercise extreme caution!
- Moderator
Note also:
Tutors can found in the online tutor directory by following this link:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/services/directory
Institutional Course details can be found by following this link:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/servic ... us-courses
Intensive Holiday Courses can be found by following this link:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/servic ... ve-courses
Kind regards,
ForumAdmin
Over the last few weeks the tutor has been covering various topics but I couldn't see a clear link between the work and the exam. In short, I wanted to know from the tutor where DD was now, what the exam requires, what the gaps are between the 2 and therefore what needs to be covered between now and then. Our tutor doesn't seem to want to plan out the final few weeks in this way. At £45 an hour (in our home), I'm feeling a little short changed.
Are my expectations incorrect of a tutor's approach?
More to the point, I would appreciate a PM of any recommended Abbey tutors in the Reading area - I may want to try a fresh approach for the final few weeks.
Genuine recommendations by PM only (private message) are acceptable - but beware of the possibility that someone who appears to be offering a recommendation may have a vested interest! Please let us know if you think anyone is abusing the system by soliciting for business or 'spamming'. (It's easy to report a possible problem: just click on the 'report button' - the red exclamation mark.)
Always treat recommendations from unknown persons with caution. However, there are many long standing members (check the date of joining and number of posts) who make a valuable contribution to the forum. If you receive a recommendation from one of them, it could be worth considering seriously (while still exercising a degree of caution).
If you receive a recommendation from anyone else, please exercise extreme caution!
- Moderator
Note also:
Tutors can found in the online tutor directory by following this link:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/services/directory
Institutional Course details can be found by following this link:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/servic ... us-courses
Intensive Holiday Courses can be found by following this link:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/servic ... ve-courses
Kind regards,
ForumAdmin
Re: tutors for Abbey
Don't Panic. 
The Abbey exam is not a competition it is more about assessing ability, potential and suitability for the school. In short they are trying to identify students who will really struggle and weed them out.
The feedback I've had, second hand, is that they would expect students to have at least one level 5 at the end of year 6.
With such a short time before the exam I would focus on confidence rather than a change of direction.
Even if you have a bad exam day they will look at school references and grades for potential.
The Abbey exam is not a competition it is more about assessing ability, potential and suitability for the school. In short they are trying to identify students who will really struggle and weed them out.
The feedback I've had, second hand, is that they would expect students to have at least one level 5 at the end of year 6.
With such a short time before the exam I would focus on confidence rather than a change of direction.
Even if you have a bad exam day they will look at school references and grades for potential.
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Reading Mum
- Posts: 1841
- Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:44 am
- Location: Reading
Re: tutors for Abbey
I echo the info from Steve.
I wouldn't expect a tutor to know much about the exam as its in-house, not published and can change at any point.
If anything I would think about practicing creative writing rather than comprehension as that gives more scope to shine - and it's what they are doing in school at the moment
They will identify any gaps and plug them once DD is in year 7 so no need for you to be doing that unless it's purely as prep for the exam. They really don't want people being tutored for the exam as its only a part of the input to the decision on making an offer.
I wouldn't expect a tutor to know much about the exam as its in-house, not published and can change at any point.
If anything I would think about practicing creative writing rather than comprehension as that gives more scope to shine - and it's what they are doing in school at the moment
They will identify any gaps and plug them once DD is in year 7 so no need for you to be doing that unless it's purely as prep for the exam. They really don't want people being tutored for the exam as its only a part of the input to the decision on making an offer.
Re: tutors for Abbey
Thanks for your kind words a few weeks back. I've left it a while before I responded again as we did change tutor.
Thank heavens we did! The new tutor is so much more on the ball, knows the level of ability required and has identified a few significant gaps in DD's Maths and is tailoring each session to tackle these. I'm confident there is (just) enough time to make progress in these areas before the exam. And the relationship between tutor, DD and parents is so much better. We also in effect have found our tutor for DD2 by default.
Aside from the previous tutor not identifying the areas for development or having any structure as the weeks rolled by, being asked to photocopy about 30 of 40 pages out of an old exercise book didn't go down well either. The new tutor simply provides the appropriate resources and charges at cost.
It's now the final few days and we shall focus on confidence and not too much pressure, but for anybody reading this in the future, I would say that finding the right tutor for DD is so important.
Thank heavens we did! The new tutor is so much more on the ball, knows the level of ability required and has identified a few significant gaps in DD's Maths and is tailoring each session to tackle these. I'm confident there is (just) enough time to make progress in these areas before the exam. And the relationship between tutor, DD and parents is so much better. We also in effect have found our tutor for DD2 by default.
Aside from the previous tutor not identifying the areas for development or having any structure as the weeks rolled by, being asked to photocopy about 30 of 40 pages out of an old exercise book didn't go down well either. The new tutor simply provides the appropriate resources and charges at cost.
It's now the final few days and we shall focus on confidence and not too much pressure, but for anybody reading this in the future, I would say that finding the right tutor for DD is so important.
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Reading Mum
- Posts: 1841
- Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:44 am
- Location: Reading
Re: tutors for Abbey
Good luck to your DD
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Daogroupie
- Posts: 11107
- Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
- Location: Herts
Re: tutors for Abbey
This is really good feedback RG4. I run classes and am amazed the money many parents pay for tutors who are clearly not progressing their dc's. I would like to see parents making really sure they are getting value for money by being actually able to measure the progress being made. Did you always have doubts or did they surface in November when you posted? I am sending you a pm. DG
