Advice please

Eleven Plus (11+) in Wirral

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sjo070
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:36 pm

Advice please

Post by sjo070 »

My daughter takes the 11+ later this year. She refuses to have a tutor. Sometime ago, I have bought NFER verbal reasoning test papers - which we have practiced with varying degrees of success. And more recently, I bought a set of Bright Sparks papers. Which ones should I be using and do I get her to sit the entire paper or just sections to begin with (bearing in mind there are only a few weeks to go ................!).

Also, I have seen other members refer to 'scores' that their children have achieved. Where on earth do you get this information from?
kittyhola
Posts: 62
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:09 am
Location: Parkgate

Post by kittyhola »

Hi - I feel there are people on this site who can give you more info than me but since you haven't had any replies yet I thought I'd try and get the ball rolling! Mike is very helpful and if you look at the advice I was recently given that should hopefully help a little. I think you need to do a mixture of timed tests and then work on specific question types if there are some that your daughter is struggling with. I've been doing that with my DD and it seems to be helping her. I've just bought from Amazon the NFER papers with the giraffe on the front - most people say these are the closest to the real thing and I'm intending to use them in the last month or so. I've also ordered the Susan Daughtrey ones to use over the next few weeks. I may be very unpopular for saying this but here goes - in Wirral so many children are tutored that if your child isn't, then sadly they are already at a disadvantage. Brutal but true. Whilst I respect your daughter for declining a tutor I wonder if she realises how many children have a tutor. On the other hand - if she passes without tutoring then this will be a fantastic achievement and a great reflection on her ability and this is the way the 11+ was supposed to be!
In terms of scores - forgive me if you already know this - the Wirral test is 2 verbal reasoning tests comprising of 80 questions each and each test lasts 50 minutes. The pass mark is 236 and no one really knows how this is worked out. The scores you may be referring to such as percentage scores are just what we work out when our children do a practice paper. Your child needs around 85% to pass and I think that's what most of us are referring to when we talk about scores. i hope this is of some help - this site is full of very knowledgeable people and I'm sure they will correct any of my information if it is wrong. Good luck - cliche I know but you aren't alone, there's lots of support here. :D
Pensby
Posts: 197
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:28 pm
Location: PENSBY

Post by Pensby »

Hi
My son and daughter both passed the 11+ with out a tutor,my son got full marks ,so it CAN be done!! Many of last years kids on this site were not tutored either and got very high scores!!

I would recommend the tutors interactive cd's on this site in conjunction with the NFER papers you've bought.The cd's/downlods can be done as many tinmes as you like and are marked immediately to give a percentage score.

If your DD can get 85% + on these you should be fine,if she has a birthday later on in the year she will get extra points as the scores are standardised .

I don't know about the bright sparks papers ,be careful not to do more than the 21 question types you need to( check this site for a detailed list!)
With our DD we didn't have that info and wasted time on types she didn't need to do.

hope that helps! GOOD LUCK!!

Pensby :lol:
guest42
Posts: 138
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 12:32 pm

Post by guest42 »

My daughter also passed last year with full marks (282) with no tutor. I personally felt that the time I spent tutoring herself was way more productive than the West Wirral School of Cramming experience.

However we did go through every APPROPRIATE 11+ practice paper known to man. If you read through this site you will find details of which practice papers apply to Wirral and which don't. You will also see details of how to order them online.
scatshouse
Posts: 438
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:00 am

Post by scatshouse »

Hi sjo070,

The following posts on the Bucks forum are also pertainable to the Wirral tests and may help.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... highlight=

Don't worry about not having a tutor, we didn't have one. Although I do admit to having panic attacks when I found out just how many children are tutored and for how long. My worries turned out to be unfounded though as my son was the only child in his class to pass.

We started 7 weeks before the tests and only had the NFER papers, which only contain 15 of the question types, and Susan Daughtrey's Bright Sparks papers, which contain all 21 question types your daughter needs to know. We also had some 10 minute practice papers which my son did a couple of times a week (can't remember who publishes these sorry, but I can PM you with the name of the shop I bought them from if you like).

Good Luck
Scatshouse
Wallasey
Posts: 91
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:28 am
Location: Wirral

Post by Wallasey »

I think it is necessary to prepare children for the exam, but this doesn't have to be done by a tutor. As others have said, preparation by parents can be just as successful, and you have the added bonus of not paying out for a tutor!

At this stage it's a good idea to practise doing the tests under timed conditions, because this can take some getting used to. We did one a week and went through any questions that caused problems. At first my DD didn't complete the whole test in the 50 minutes, but over a few weeks she improved her speed without losing too much accuracy.

My DD found the NFER papers easier than the Susan Daughtrey ones and I think I have read of others who felt the same, so you have probably done them in the right order!
mumster
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:29 pm

Post by mumster »

Like lots on this site my daughter was not tutored but we did prepare ourselves.

We used the NFER papers (bought from Wirral Grammar School). We used to practice each night about 20-30 mins and at the weekend she'd do a whole test (not timed at first) - then we would go through any particular question type she was struggling with and practice those.

About 6 weeks before the real thing we would go to the library on Saturdays and she did timed tests and in these she was coming out with about 93% (we stopped doing this a week before the real exams).

In her final exams she scored 96% and was successful in gaining her place at Wirral Grammar School for Girls.

Hope this helps. It seems like such a long time ago now!

:D
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