Is it too late?

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Karen

Is it too late?

Post by Karen »

I suppose I'm looking for reassurance. My son will be going into year 6 in
September exams end of Nov. Just seen his teacher and achieved level 4
apart from handwriting where he only got 3b.

Have I left it too late to Start? I think it's going to be hard to motivate him over the summer hols to get working. I have two other young children one a toddler who is not very good at giving us much time for work. My son still goes to bed quite early so we don't have lots of time in the evening either.

The task is so daunting and the chances seem so slim. Do I have enough time left or am I being unrealistic.

Thanks in anticipation!
Guest

Post by Guest »

Unless you are prepared to put in a lot of work, I think it is quite late to be starting from scratch. You do have the summer holidays but it is quite hard to make the children concentrate when they are on holiday. If you want to have a go, it might be worth looking at a private tutor - I know some people don't like using them, but I think as you have left it this late and you have younger children, a concentrated one to one would be best. What area do you live in? Different areas give different tests e.g. Essex don't do non VR.
Karen

Post by Karen »

Thanks I'm in Sutton (london Borough) I have thought about a tutor but trying to get one recommended is a nightmare its a closely guarded secret round here. Its all word of mouth people don't want to reveal their sources! I know what the exams involve and have got all the prep work together I'm going to give it my all, just wondered if anyone else had achieved success with only 5 months work....
Guest

Post by Guest »

Hi,

It is certainly possible. There are plenty of people who have prepared over the summer holiday and got through...BUT - it is going to depend on 1.Your starting point - how able is your son and how well he takes to this sort of testing and 2. What you need to achieve to get through in your area. I am not familiar with Sutton so you need to get some info by posting on that area, but it will be a lot harder to get into a Grammar school which eg allocates on the basis of highest scores than one in an all-selective area where the child only has to achieve the "pass mark" to get in if they live in the right area.

So it is probably best to do some information gathering first so that you can make a realistic assessment of his chances.

Best wishes

Sara
Karen

Post by Karen »

Thank you Sara. We are in an area with 5 Grammar schools however we get a lot of out of borough applicants from Surrey and London so it does all come down to score. There were certainly many who passed last year who never got places, I think that must be worse than failing.
chad
Posts: 1647
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:49 pm
Location: berkshire

Post by chad »

Karen

I left it very late to make the decision to try for the 11+. Practised the real papers from about Middle of September for Nov test.
He did pass (not with a lot of leeway) with his natural ability in Maths & Non-verbal making up for his severe lack of Vocabulary in Verbal.

So it can be done but I would definately recommend starting earlier.
Guest

Post by Guest »

A suggestion from left-field Karen! Hire a babysitter (much cheaper than an 11+ coach) to look after the younger ones and coach him in the resulting peace and quiet! (Wish I'd done that - I'd be a lot richer now if I had!)

Sally-Anne
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear Karen

Of course it is possible to coach in 5 months.

What tests are applicable to your area?

Patricia
Karen

Post by Karen »

Thanks so far for all the valuable advice. The exam entails a 50 minute verbal reasoning paper, a similar length maths paper and an english comprehension plus a 30 minute essay which I suspect is where the differences will show.
Karen

Post by Karen »

Thanks so far for all the valuable advice. The exam entails a 50 minute verbal reasoning paper, a similar length maths paper and an english comprehension plus a 30 minute essay which I suspect is where the differences will show.
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