alpha 11+ english
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Guest
Hi, Mega depressed parent with breakneck speed whizz kid,
It's often very hard for boys to sit still for 50 minutes.
I found it all comes together at the end.
Mike's technique is good but probably better nearer August/September time.
At this point,your son is trying to get as much done as fast as possible,while you are trying to get maximum content correct.
it is wasteful and unproductive right now to waste time training him to sit still. Once, he has finished the paper and is 100% sure he has checked through at least twice and does not want to change any answers, you should note the time taken. Use the remaining time to do some other work or short test and that will mean he has the stamina to work for 50 minutes straight out.
Mark his work and see his score. If he has 15 minutes left over from the paper, give him 15 minutes another day to go through the paper. Say that he has some mistakes and you want him to go over the whole paper to check for these mistakes and you want to see if he can improve his score. My son was always annoyed by the fact that he could have scored more,especially as I tell him that I know he knows the ones he got wrong and that he answeres were very obvious.
After doing the checking, he more often than not,mamages to get a near perfect score.
The benefits of doing this is that
1) you don't waste precious revsion time sitting around doing nothing especially as he can't see any other mistakes.
2) he is still practising working solidly for 50 minutes.
3) He still gets to do do checking and corrections although it is on a different day
In time, he will be able to manage a whole 50 minutes on the English paper+checking without thinking too much about it.
It's June and you hav enough time to do work, find his weak areas and do practice papers.
Utilise all the time you can so that by the time tests come, you are not rushing with things you might have forgotten.
It's often very hard for boys to sit still for 50 minutes.
I found it all comes together at the end.
Mike's technique is good but probably better nearer August/September time.
At this point,your son is trying to get as much done as fast as possible,while you are trying to get maximum content correct.
it is wasteful and unproductive right now to waste time training him to sit still. Once, he has finished the paper and is 100% sure he has checked through at least twice and does not want to change any answers, you should note the time taken. Use the remaining time to do some other work or short test and that will mean he has the stamina to work for 50 minutes straight out.
Mark his work and see his score. If he has 15 minutes left over from the paper, give him 15 minutes another day to go through the paper. Say that he has some mistakes and you want him to go over the whole paper to check for these mistakes and you want to see if he can improve his score. My son was always annoyed by the fact that he could have scored more,especially as I tell him that I know he knows the ones he got wrong and that he answeres were very obvious.
After doing the checking, he more often than not,mamages to get a near perfect score.
The benefits of doing this is that
1) you don't waste precious revsion time sitting around doing nothing especially as he can't see any other mistakes.
2) he is still practising working solidly for 50 minutes.
3) He still gets to do do checking and corrections although it is on a different day
In time, he will be able to manage a whole 50 minutes on the English paper+checking without thinking too much about it.
It's June and you hav enough time to do work, find his weak areas and do practice papers.
Utilise all the time you can so that by the time tests come, you are not rushing with things you might have forgotten.
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Guest
Thank you guest. Sounds like sensible advice to me. It does rather feel like a waste of time making him sit still when he clearly wants to charge around the garden but I find this whole process so confusing. Its quite an art meeting his needs and balancing them against what I think he should be doing! I will try your idea of filling in extra time with shorter tasks so he still sits for 50 minutes but isn't getting bored and we'll see how he gets on.
Mega depressed parent with breakneck speed whizz (well I can keep my fingers crossed) kid.
By the way has your son done the 11+ or is he doing it this year
Mega depressed parent with breakneck speed whizz (well I can keep my fingers crossed) kid.
By the way has your son done the 11+ or is he doing it this year
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Guest
Thankfully,he has done his and is going to grammar school in September.By the way has your son done the 11+ or is he doing it this year
Your son sounded so much like mine when I was trying to get him interested in doing a decent piece of English. He would be so happy to do Maths,VR,NVR but would put off the English as long as poss. He reads well but is a very active lad and the thought of sitting still for English for 1 hour was quite pointless, especially as there is nothing more to add!
I found that because he works at such great speed for the other subjects,it was difficult to 'slow' down for English. In the end because the thought processes were there to understand the compehension or do the tasks required,it didn't matter too much about the rushing.
The key is the content and how many he can get right. Once he improved his scores after the next check, he became more conscientous with his checking.Also was confident he'd finish within time limits for real tests.
Re: alpha 11+ english
Have the ppl who have posted in this thread - do you still have the Alpha 11+ English or Maths books?
if you would be interested in selling them or letting me copy them for a fee - PLEASE PM ME
if you would be interested in selling them or letting me copy them for a fee - PLEASE PM ME
Re: alpha 11+ english
Rashdah, photocopying them is against copyright rules. We do not stock them any more , but I think Amazon do.
edited to add:
They are out of print, this is an old thread , 2007. Have checked Amazon
at the prices!
edited to add:
They are out of print, this is an old thread , 2007. Have checked Amazon
at the prices!Re: alpha 11+ english
Thats why I resulted in posting on this forum!
Its silly prices - i thought photocopying for commercial use is illegal - if anyone can let me photocopy these for my son to use - for personal use - please help
I really want these books - PLEASE SOMEONE CONTACT ME
Its silly prices - i thought photocopying for commercial use is illegal - if anyone can let me photocopy these for my son to use - for personal use - please help
I really want these books - PLEASE SOMEONE CONTACT ME
