11+ CEM Reading 2017 Exams

[2littleboys]

Thanks loubylou22 It's good to know that your son qualified without intense (or dare I say it?) over the top preparation. It gives hope to those of us who are taking the "bite sized chunks" approach.

That's good Aethel- I have PM'd you.

[Foreseer]

Whilst I am sure there are successes, all the people I know who went to Kumon did not succeed in CEM 11+.

Based on my understanding, there are 3 reasons why Kumon isn't good for 11+ exam preparation:

1) Kumon expects a child to start from the basic level and progress slowly to the advanced level, as a result your child will unlikely reach the required level on the 11+ exams day.
2) Kumon's focus is on pure maths question and repetition, whereas 11+'s emphasis is on worded question that requires both arithmetic and comprehension skill.
3) Kumon is never designed for 11+.

[BlueBerry]

Help I feel like giving up

DS who's meant to be one of the brightest in his year is really struggling at the moment. He can't score more than 55% on the Bonds 10mins tests.... these are supposed to be the easy books. I'm blaming myself as he's still carrying on with all his extra curricular sports.................

[Tinkers]

It's close to the end of term, it's also been very warm and that's quite draining too.

He is possibly quite tired.

[BlueBerry]

Yes I think he is tired, he's doing in excess of 5hrs in organized sports per week. But at the same time, I do not think he is capable of getting into Reading. Not because he's not bright enough but I think it's because we started this process too late.

The boys that I know have been preparing for these exams since Year 3.

[Tinkers]

Honest opinion.
I doubt having tutoring from year 3 really makes that much difference. If the DC is bright they could have probably done well with far less. The only person that really benefits from it is the tutor in their wallet.

It's always going to be quality not quantity that counts. There will be some starting quite late and they will still be successful.

Give your DS a break for a few days. Let him enjoy some down time.

[BlueBerry]

Thanks Tinkers. But my problem is quite the opposite, my DS is enjoying far too much downtime....

[ToadMum]

Yes I think he is tired, he's doing in excess of 5hrs in organized sports per week. But at the same time, I do not think he is capable of getting into Reading. Not because he's not bright enough but I think it's because we started this process too late.

The boys that I know have been preparing for these exams since Year 3.

He might pass. He might not. How does he feel? At this point (well, said the same to all of ours and life very definitely carried on as usual - the exam was just somewhere we had to remember we were going on a particular Saturday morning), I would be putting over the attitude that, well, he might pass, he might not. All that matters is to ignore everyone else in the room except the invigilator and do his best.

If I were him and you made me give up sport (I assume that your DS is putting in all these hours voluntarily?) and I failed anyway, then I would be pretty darn resentful.

[Aethel]

Do not get caught up in the "start them as a foetus" tutoring carousel!

It is NORMAL to worry you are not preparing your DC enough.

It is NORMAL for the DC to get bored of preparing,repeating,trying.

Even with the best will in the world, these are children (my DD is still 9) and they need and deserve a break- have a look at posts from RomfordDad over on the general topics to see what some parents consider normal. We do not all need to do that.

Try stealth practice for a bit instead. No "questions" for two weeks: do the newspaper crossword together . Play bananagrams. Find a really interesting novel and read it to him one chapter a night (try Chocky by John Wyndham, A rag, a bone, and a hank of hair by Nicholas Fisk, or Verdigris Deep by Frances Hardinge: great spooky stories! )
Go to the cinema and watch the Minions film! Go on your phone and download some apps like Wurdle (it's like Boggle) and Scrabble.

I too am thinking urgh. But it was the same last year, and DD1 passed. I can tell you now that she did not achieve perfect marks at any point!! And if our DC don't pass, we will all still be ok, because we know it's trying and having a go that counts, and supporting our DC as best we can.

[BlueBerry]

Hi Toadmum & Aethel,

Thanks for your replies and reassurance.

Toadmum, yes my son is doing all these porting activities voluntarily. We have asked him many times to cut back but he refuses. And we aren't forcing him to give anything up because I know that he will sulk and will just waste time if he is forced to do any work when he doesn't want to.

Aethel, thanks for the book recommendation, I'll look it up now. And we haven't got bananagrams, I'll see whether I have the budget to buy it.