11 Plus Exams Forum

So, the 11+ is done (woohoo!), but we're now looking ahead to an independent entrance exam in January. The style of exam is very different from the 11 plus - there's no multiple choice, it's a more traditional paper with questions worth several marks each. I'm not worried about the maths, but I'm a bit concerned about the English comprehension. My son isn't bad at extracting information from a text and picking the right answer - he did pretty well in all the 11+ practice papers - but he's got almost no experience of how to write answers to questions like 'Why does the author describe this scene like this? [5]', or 'What do we learn about the characters of Fred in this extract? [4]' or 'How does the author create atmosphere in this piece? [3]'. I don't think they've really done much of this sort of thing at his (state) primary - certainly not to the depth and level of complexity that will be expected of him now. I want to give him tools to help him answer these kinds of questions, but all the resources I've come across are aimed more at how to skim read a text, how to find information etc - not how to express answers to these sorts of questions. Can anyone give me any advice?

If you are asked to write about the character of Fred (for example) tips to help are as follows:

- what does Fred do? (how do his actions reflect personality - so if Fred runs away this suggests he is timid/frightens easily; alternatively if Fred challenges or confronts people this could suggest he is a forceful or aggressive type.

- how does Fred speak and interact with others? (tone of voice to convey character)

- How do other people behave around Fred?

- What does Fred look like and are any physical attributes used to suggest character (for example is he has 'heavy black eyes this could imply cruelty whereas long tapering fingers suggests he is a delicate type)

For atmosphere look for settings and weather ( is it stormy and tempestuous or remote and quiet etc) and check for other lexical markers as well such as time markers and adjectives).

HTH

Thanks, that's really helpful!

piggys wrote:If you are asked to write about the character of Fred (for example) tips to help are as follows:

- what does Fred do? (how do his actions reflect personality - so if Fred runs away this suggests he is timid/frightens easily; alternatively if Fred challenges or confronts people this could suggest he is a forceful or aggressive type.

- how does Fred speak and interact with others? (tone of voice to convey character)

- How do other people behave around Fred?

- What does Fred look like and are any physical attributes used to suggest character (for example is he has 'heavy black eyes this could imply cruelty whereas long tapering fingers suggests he is a delicate type)

For atmosphere look for settings and weather ( is it stormy and tempestuous or remote and quiet etc) and check for other lexical markers as well such as time markers and adjectives).

HTH

Piggys this is so useful. I just realised that my son is not answering comprehension questions properly at school. He understands most of the passage but does not write the answer correctly. Do you have any further guidance on answering comprehension and wording it correctly. Aside from Bond are there any comorehension books or papers with answers you would recommend?