Panicking on VR

Eleven Plus (11+) in Essex

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
Araucana girl
Posts: 492
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:48 pm

Panicking on VR

Post by Araucana girl »

Starting to panic :| dd just does not seem to be getting faster on the VR at the moment. We will be sitting CSSE and CCHS in Sept, vocab is her weakest for both even though you can never get her head out of a book :shock:
We did a mock at a centre a few weeks ago and she got 54/80, I have been ding a couple of the s.d. Bright Sparks and although she has improved since a few months back, she is still getting 54/80 on the most recent (the mock was also s.d. Paper 5).

Panicking now as not sure if possible to get these higher in a few months. Dd loves CCHS but not sure if she is good enough and whether it would be too fast moving a learning environment for her. She is a bright lass: 5cs and 4as at end of yr 5. I know CCHS will not test all the VR as CSSE but the bits she is bad at : antonyms and synonyms and cloze will :cry:

Any positive thoughts from anyone in this position last year or before where things got better and a happy ending? I don't know whether to hammer her with more s.d. Papers and go through some Walsh together or book her into an intensive revision course. She has a tutor but am starting to trust him less and less as feel he is maybe not giving her the right standard at this point in time, I might be wrong and he might still be building her up.

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

Albert Einstein
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by Daogroupie »

This concept that reading is enough is mistaken. You have to be learning and applying from what you are reading. What is your tutor actually doing with your dd? Do you know? Is she getting the same ones wrong every time? Make papers out of the ones she is getting wrong and do them until she gets them right. Have you focused on technique? Do you know what her technique is for each type of question? What advice is her tutor giving you about she should be spending her time? How many proper mocks have you done with her? Was that your first real mock? VR is all about speed, the questions are not hard. What were her sats levels? You mention 5C's and 4A's but not which is which! DG
bravado
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:28 am

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by bravado »

Apologies if this sounds obvious and is something you've already done, but have you voiced your concerns to your tutor?

This may all be part of his plan but in your place, I'd want to hear it from his lips, before I would be ready to lessen my worries.

First questions first.

1. Is she completing all, or mostly all the questions?

2. If the answer to 1 is "no", then is it due to not being able to attempt them all because time runs out or because there's a knowledge/technique gap?


All is not yet lost :D

Try not to get too caught-up in SATS levels at this stage - they can be a real red herring as far as the 11+ is concerned because KS2 curriculum doesn't contain VR, Cloze, NVR or English that's similar to the stuff they're going to face.
Last edited by bravado on Sun Jul 28, 2013 10:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
Pumpkin Pie
Posts: 661
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:27 pm

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by Pumpkin Pie »

My DD did the 11+ last year. She started out with similar scores to your DD in the June but by September she was getting 94% to 100% each time. Lots of practice certainly speeded her up and she became very familiar with question types (GL Assesment). Vocabulary was probably my DD's downfall too but we downloaded Patricia's list of useful vocabulary from on here.

If your DD is prepared to get lots of practice in this summer then she will definitely imrove. I was quite amazed at how my DD progressed in the summer.

As well as doing GL Assessment practice papers we downloaded any free VR papers available and did them too. (Started off doing Bond - How to do VR, then Bond VR Book).

There are lots of free antonym and synonym lists to download online too.

Good luck and as they say 'Practice Makes Perfect'.

PS DD had no tutor or no mock 11+, just DIY at home. She passed with a super score!
Araucana girl
Posts: 492
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:48 pm

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by Araucana girl »

Daogroupie wrote:This concept that reading is enough is mistaken. You have to be learning and applying from what you are reading. What is your tutor actually doing with your dd? Do you know? Is she getting the same ones wrong every time? Make papers out of the ones she is getting wrong and do them until she gets them right. Have you focused on technique? Do you know what her technique is for each type of question? What advice is her tutor giving you about she should be spending her time? How many proper mocks have you done with her? Was that your first real mock? VR is all about speed, the questions are not hard. What were her sats levels? You mention 5C's and 4A's but not which is which! DG
She got 5c in maths, reading and speaking and listening, 4a in science and writing. Tutor just seems to be wanting to work through a set order of his worksheets without focussing on her weak points which I am worried about. He has the order that he wants everyone to go through!
She does do badly on the s.d. Papers but on the papers he gives her gets 90%, with the s.d. Papers scores and time management plummets mainly due to higher level vocab. This was the first mock with a proper standard VR, she has two more booked.

I forgot to say that I have been reading with her at night for last 2 years with harder vocab books and explaining words she doesn't know but not everything goes in and she isn't that amenable to additional spelling tests on top of tutor work. She also does freerice occasionally.
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

Albert Einstein
Araucana girl
Posts: 492
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:48 pm

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by Araucana girl »

bravado wrote:Apologies if this sounds obvious and is something you've already done, but have you voiced your concerns to your tutor?

This may all be part of his plan but in your place, I'd want to hear it from his lips, before I would be ready to lessen my worries.

First questions first.

1. Is she completing all, or mostly all the questions?

2. If the answer to 1 is "no", then is it due to not being able to attempt them all because time runs out or because there's a knowledge/technique gap?

.
She is running out of time, speed is a real issue! I think it is technique, I don't know whether he has actually given her actual tips to do specific questions.
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

Albert Einstein
bravado
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:28 am

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by bravado »

Araucana girl wrote:
bravado wrote:Apologies if this sounds obvious and is something you've already done, but have you voiced your concerns to your tutor?

This may all be part of his plan but in your place, I'd want to hear it from his lips, before I would be ready to lessen my worries.

First questions first.

1. Is she completing all, or mostly all the questions?

2. If the answer to 1 is "no", then is it due to not being able to attempt them all because time runs out or because there's a knowledge/technique gap?

.
She is running out of time, speed is a real issue! I think it is technique, I don't know whether he has actually given her actual tips to do specific questions.
Is there a pattern to the questions she finds challenging, time-wise ie question type K, M, etc? Or is is general speed technique?

What happens when she does a paper un-timed? Does she get pretty much everything right or about 70/80?

Sorry for all the questions - I'm trying to get as much info as possible so I can find a strategy for the CSSE VR :D

With regard to the tutor: not all children are the same or have the same issues/needs/strengths/ but sometimes they go through the same patterns in their learning voyage. We've seen on here that some DC's start to do the most crazy things on tests round about now, after having pretty much nailed it up until this point. However, I would be getting a little worried and would want to talk to the tutor in depth about his strategy with my DC at this point in time. He may well be able to reassure you.
Araucana girl
Posts: 492
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:48 pm

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by Araucana girl »

bravado wrote:
Araucana girl wrote:
bravado wrote:Apologies if this sounds obvious and is something you've already done, but have you voiced your concerns to your tutor?

This may all be part of his plan but in your place, I'd want to hear it from his lips, before I would be ready to lessen my worries.

First questions first.

1. Is she completing all, or mostly all the questions?

2. If the answer to 1 is "no", then is it due to not being able to attempt them all because time runs out or because there's a knowledge/technique gap?

.
She is running out of time, speed is a real issue! I think it is technique, I don't know whether he has actually given her actual tips to do specific questions.
Is there a pattern to the questions she finds challenging, time-wise ie question type K, M, etc? Or is is general speed technique?

What happens when she does a paper un-timed? Does she get pretty much everything right or about 70/80?

Sorry for all the questions - I'm trying to get as much info as possible so I can find a strategy for the CSSE VR :D

With regard to the tutor: not all children are the same or have the same issues/needs/strengths/ but sometimes they go through the same patterns in their learning voyage. We've seen on here that some DC's start to do the most crazy things on tests round about now, after having pretty much nailed it up until this point. However, I would be getting a little worried and would want to talk to the tutor in depth about his strategy with my DC at this point in time. He may well be able to reassure you.
I haven't really thought about doing these ones untimed. I think the next one I do I will make her do the ones she has left or got wrong again - I normally just go through them with her and show her what she should have done.

I am going to grill her tutor on Tuesday when she next goes. He is actually giving her the examples to do so it might just be me panicing - it is when he gives her another 3 sheets of triangles and angles to do and I think "but she can do these already what is the point of another 2 sheets when she had completed the first without any problems?" aaagh.

Codes take her a while and she hates them as they all do, but when she does them she gets them right. It is the antonyms and synonyms with the harder vocab she gets wrong and the ones where she has to pick the two odd ones out in a list of five.

I think I am going to go through Patricia's list of words tomorrow, strike out the ones she knows and then learn a section a week with a target chart at the end of the week if she knows them with some antonyms and synonyms. We tried having ones on the wall but they did not go in and we haven't got through the vast majority of them.

I will up my game with vocab :D
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

Albert Einstein
Araucana girl
Posts: 492
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:48 pm

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by Araucana girl »

Pumpkin Pie wrote:My DD did the 11+ last year. She started out with similar scores to your DD in the June but by September she was getting 94% to 100% each time. Lots of practice certainly speeded her up and she became very familiar with question types (GL Assesment). Vocabulary was probably my DD's downfall too but we downloaded Patricia's list of useful vocabulary from on here.

If your DD is prepared to get lots of practice in this summer then she will definitely imrove. I was quite amazed at how my DD progressed in the summer.

As well as doing GL Assessment practice papers we downloaded any free VR papers available and did them too. (Started off doing Bond - How to do VR, then Bond VR Book).

There are lots of free antonym and synonym lists to download online too.

Good luck and as they say 'Practice Makes Perfect'.

PS DD had no tutor or no mock 11+, just DIY at home. She passed with a super score!
Thanks Pumpkin Pie that is reassuring. I will go through Patricia's list of spellings with her and hammer them. I think I am just having a panic moment. I think we really need to learn more vocab the more I think about it.
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

Albert Einstein
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Panicking on VR

Post by Daogroupie »

It seems that your tutor is being generic instead of specific to the needs of your dd She should not be revising topics that she is already getting right. She should only be focusing on her weak areas. Do the papers untimed and draw a pencil line to where she gets to and have a target to get one question further each time. Find out if it just speed or if she is getting the same ones wrong each time. See if your tutor can actually tell you exactly where she is weak. Use Patricia's vocab list get her to construct sentences using the words. Work only on her weak areas at this stage. DG
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now