despair turns to hope

Questions and advice about our 11 Plus Interactive CDs

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alice

despair turns to hope

Post by alice »

For nearly a year we engaged a tutor for our preparation for the exams in October (bucks vr). In July however our tutor said she no longer felt that our daughter would succeed in the 11plus and told us it was a waste of money to continue tutoring. Neither my daughter nor I were ready to give up. No other tutor would take on my daughter on short notice. We then chanced upon the volume 1 cd on this website and I have to say that we have not looked back since. The confidence she has gained from this is quite simply astounding. She did the practice cd for a week, some sections she did several times. Now every paper she has attempted she has steadily improved her score. In Bright sparks papers, which she had not previously attempted, she scored a 90-95% finishing well within time whereas previously 75% was her personal best on any paper. I can only attribute this success on her determination and this cd. Fingers crossed and heartfelt thanks to all involved.
Guest

more hope

Post by Guest »

Alice, Nice to hear your story. For your information there is an active Bucks forum if you have any specific question that you and your daughter need help with. Look specifically for comments by Mike or Patricia.

I see a number of people have good vibes about the CD. I am preparing my son for 2008 and will probably order one too.

Laura
Chris

Post by Chris »

Alice,

The 'Mike' that Laura refers to is 'Mike Edwards', who is the co-author of the CD you are praising. 'Patricia', whose surname I do not know is the expert on verbal reasoning and Bucks.

My son tried the CD and it was a useful review for us not so much for seeing where he was weak at since he seemed equally good at everything (or equally bad!) but what took the most times. It was the dreaded codes! Anyone with tips on codes?

chris
Mike Edwards

Post by Mike Edwards »

Hi Chris

If you use the CD DEMO as a point of reference and let me know which of the coding question types your son is taking his time with, then I can give you some tips.

If your son is doing the 80 questions in 50 minutes questions, remember that the average completion time for each question is approximately 37 seconds. A good exercise to reduce timing anxiety is to get him to sit still and do nothing for 37 seconds, he will soon realise what a long time this is. Also, for each question he finishes within 37 seconds, he is accumulating spare time so that he can spend longer on some questions.

I believe that children should be taking the full 50 minutes to complete the papers and not rushing through them and finishing 5-10 minutes early.

Regards

Mike
John Cam
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:52 pm

Post by John Cam »

Alice,

Nice to hear your success story. Which CD are you referring to and is it relevant to the Bucks 11 plus which seems to be different to other parts of the country?

Thanks,
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear John

The only CDs that are applicable to Bucks are those produced by The Tutors.

Patricia
John Cam
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:52 pm

Post by John Cam »

Patricia,

Which one specifically? Does that mean vocab builder would be a waste of time? Also, are the tutor CD's available to all parents / tutors?

Thanks,
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear John

All the The Tutors Verbal Reasoning CDs are applicable to Bucks. They are available for purchase to parents and tutors.

The Vocab builder contains types that are not necessarily relevant to Bucks but could be used to increase vocab. I cannot comment personally on its use as I have only looked at it, not actually trialled it with my students.

I have replied to you re vocab on your post in 11 plus exams...

Patricia
John Cam
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:52 pm

Post by John Cam »

Last questions, do you think if I got all three, vocab builder, verbal reasoning for beginners and verbal reasoning part 1, would I be overloading him with too much?
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

See my reply in the 11 plus exams section...
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