How much is too much...starting them off & in which areas

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thedad
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 8:44 pm

How much is too much...starting them off & in which areas

Post by thedad »

Ok so in the last week + I have gone through a steep learning curve and now feel I can hold a conversation and understand what I and my daughter are entering into with regards to Queen Marys & there CEM 11+ exam

I have spoken with the school, enrolled her or registered with various websites (freerice & mymaths) and the like, purchased various Bonds., CPG & S&S books covering all the areas & am ready to push the button & start her off...but where do I start?

Do I get her to complete the benchmark tests in the CPG books & gauge her levels & start from there?
Do I start at the lowest level I/e the 7/8 book range to allow her to gain some confidence in the questions processes etc?
Do I focus on one area say her weakest NVR & hit that, or give her a smattering of each topic?

Finally the amount & level - how many times per week and for how long?

Of course I have to ensure she remains a child & the 'pressure' im feeling is not transmitted to her, that she remains 'free & happy & stress-lite' & her other hobbies dancing, brownies, swimming etc don't suffer

I want her to do her work as she has been doing and not be overally aware it is for this exam as its not until next year, but what has been others experiences in starting been ....little & often, or 1 or 2 sessions per week various topics or focus on one?

Whats worked, more importantly what does not work & yes of course every child is different but are there any advice from those whos been through it, as I am aware shes got one chance & I don't want to blow it by hamming the process or going at it in a hock handed fashion

thanks

TD
Smudger
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:03 pm

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by Smudger »

Weird that nobody has replied. I started a thread to help people like you a while back and had very few responses.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=35382" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think you have to post several hundred posts before you get noticed.
koala
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:34 am

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by koala »

It is very difficult to summarise what you should be doing over the next 12 months. I have two boys at KEFW and I did not have the benefit of this site until a few weeks before the exam. However, one of the benefits of this site is that most of what you are asking has been asked and responded to before and everyone's experience is different. May I suggest you go through old Birmingham threads and pick out what is relevant to you. I found that extremely useful. One of the most useful contributors to this site was fm. Her/his threads are well worth reading even though they are a few years old. You may want to note who else contributes useful information and search on them as author.

For us, we did not DIY, but we hired a tutor who had experience of both the exams we were aiming for. Many DIY. They listened to the tutor who explained things very well. They did one hour per week with tutor and less than one hour inbetween sessions as they had school and other activities to fit in. Others on this site did more, some did less.

We started 10 months before exam. Some on this site start much earlier and some start very late. They did Bond Book practice and other papers inbetween sessions. Started at the easy ones (cant remember which age) as I wanted them to enjoy them and give them confidence. They did a wide variety of familiarisation papers in NVR, VR (English) and Maths and they understood why they were doing them.

We did one mock exam a few weeks before to gauge where they were at and then we moved it on again. Some do many mocks and some don't do them at all.

There is no right or wrong way of preparing. But please don't expect forum members to sit down and give you loads of hints and tips on their experience as this takes a lot of time and may not be what you want to hear. Go through the site yourself and pick out the information you need and then decide how you are going to approach it with your child. Don't get hung up on what others are doing either as at the end of the day, the objective is to prepare your child for an exam and only you (and the tutor if you have one) and your child know how thoroughly you have done this. After the two exams (KE and South Warks) both my two DC said they felt they were well prepared for the majority of questions that came up and they attempted to answer as many as they could in the time available.

Some people on the forum seem anxious about age standardisation, pass marks, number of children taking the exam etc. This is not something within your control and I would suggest it is not something to worry or comment about. Just concentrate on your child, review how you are doing and tweak it as you go along.

Good luck.
moseleymum
Posts: 659
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:59 pm

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by moseleymum »

Smudger, I think it's really unfair to write that you have to post several hundred posts before you get noticed.

As koala has pointed out, a lot of the new forum members ask questions which have been asked before, are often answered in "stickies" at the top of this or other sections of the forum and are therefore often available via a simple search. Most searches can be done without even joining the forum. Long time members who have tutored their own children or teach others have detailed posts about 11+ approaches that worked for them, according to age or ability of the child at the start of tutoring (home or otherwise).

Yes every child is different and no one really knows the definitive answer to every single question as the 11+ content is variable and no authentic past papers are available. As the parent only you can decide what is and isn't enough/ too much using this forum as a valuable resource to assist you.
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by kenyancowgirl »

And, fundamentally, it depends on your starting point. If your child is naturally bright, you may merely need to do exam prep with them rather than content tutoring, if not, you may feel you need to do a lot of the latter. It depends on what you realistically think your back up plans are if a gs place is not forthcoming - how hard do you want to push for a gs place. As others have said - you know your own child better than anyone else - you know what they need and what they will cope with. We did a few weeks of an hour a week of the here is an nvr book, have a go, type of preparation, supplemented with encouraging our dc to read and the mental maths they did at school. That is all - it worked for us but we also know people who were doing two hours a day and more at weekends - that would not have made any of us happy.
Stroller
Posts: 1546
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 9:39 am

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by Stroller »

Great post, koala.
koala wrote:
There is no right or wrong way of preparing. But please don't expect forum members to sit down and give you loads of hints and tips on their experience as this takes a lot of time and may not be what you want to hear. Go through the site yourself and pick out the information you need and then decide how you are going to approach it
<soapbox>Asking loads of (often unstructured) questions tries to offload the reading burden on others. Vague headings don't help. Worse still, many questions don't even give clues about the child's age, school year and/ or gender and geographic area where relevant. You'd need to play question-and-answer ping pong to be drip fed enough information to formulate a response. I'm often amazed at how altruistic and patient the replies can be. </soapbox>

Far from being offended at the low number of responses, we should appreciate those who go to the trouble of providing a helpful reply. Many others lurk without EVER contributing. That's the nature of the beast!
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Smudger
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:03 pm

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by Smudger »

moseleymum wrote:Smudger, I think it's really unfair to write that you have to post several hundred posts before you get noticed.

As koala has pointed out, a lot of the new forum members ask questions which have been asked before, are often answered in "stickies" at the top of this or other sections of the forum and are therefore often available via a simple search. Most searches can be done without even joining the forum. Long time members who have tutored their own children or teach others have detailed posts about 11+ approaches that worked for them, according to age or ability of the child at the start of tutoring (home or otherwise).
Yes, probably unfair. Thanks for your reply which is really useful. When somebody asks a question that has been asked before it is good to point them to previous threads rather than not replying. It is not always obvious to everybody how these things work.

At least this guy has some response now.
um
Posts: 2378
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 1:06 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by um »

It would be helpful if thedad could explain which year group the child in question is in...without this information, it would be difficult for any posters to offer advice, and it isn't clear.
moseleymum
Posts: 659
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:59 pm

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by moseleymum »

Smudger wrote: At least this guy has some response now.

Yes but then he also had responses to a previous similar thread, posted before this one :wink:

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=38093" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe it would have been easier for posters to follow if the questions had been added to the original thread?
Smudger
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:03 pm

Re: How much is too much...starting them off & in which area

Post by Smudger »

moseleymum wrote: Maybe it would have been easier for posters to follow if the questions had been added to the original thread?
True. Maybe he will come back and say thanks now!
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