IPS – VERBAL REASONING 11+ DAILY PRACTICE TESTS

FULL TITLE

IPS Eleven Plus Secondary School Selection

Verbal Reasoning

11+ Daily Practice Tests

AUTHOR

Nicholas G. Stevens

PUBLISHER

Internet Primary Schools Limited (IPS)

ISBN

0954285352

EDITION REVIEWED

2004

OUR RATING

MRP

£ 5.99

OUR PRICE

£ 5.25

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Customer Saving

12.5%

Date Reviewed

2 September 2004

SUMMARY

A useful practice booklet containing 20 ‘Daily’ 5 minute tests consisting of 10 questions for pupils who do not full length practice papers daily. This is a dual format edition (both Multiple Choice and Standard) with answers.

REVIEW

IPS innovative daily dose is a useful addition to the armoury. The questions remain of an excellent probing standard and the layout mimics actual format that the child will encounter on exam day.

These short tests, designed for duration of 5-6 minutes, are handy space fillers and especially refreshing for the battle weary child who is fatigued by the full length papers.

However in practice I had a couple of issues, for instance I found it difficult to conceal the next daily test from my son and found him picking at the next test when he had completed the current assignment; secondly each answer sheet covers eight days of tests which can be misplaced over the period and finally I found that 5 minutes was a little too short for my child.

Unlike other practice papers by IPS this series omits their standard question “type” indicator, which can be useful in identifying weaknesses in your child’s abilities to certain types of questions.

Despite the above, the flexibility of setting revision in multiples of 5 minutes e.g. say twenty minutes (i.e. 4 ‘daily’ tests) was most agreeable for me and very practical.

As it covered the entire single side of the answer sheet.

Quite apart from my experience I expect that the schools would view these tests as a welcome addition to fill in those moments before breaks or at the start of day to get the children focused with these bite size tests.

The “types” encompass all the styles of questions written by Nfer Nelson examinations which are currently favoured by LEA’s such as Buckinghamshire and Kent.

Overall this is a useful publication and in a “Practice, Practice, Practice” environment it is a useful gap filler.