Hi
My DD is in Yr5 and wants to do the 11+ exam to try to get into Kendrick. We have decided that she won’t go for tuitions and we will work together.
I have been reading here lots of useful information about 11+ and which resources to use.
I have seen different books (published in different years) at different prices. It's bit confusing. I have seen that shops and online there are Bond assessment books with Publication Year 2015 which are cheaper than the later ones. Would the book published in 2015 and 2018 or later have completely different content (questions and exercises). If so is worth buying all of them?

Can any of you who have done the DIY tutoring advise me how much time you/ your child have spent a day/week? Most of the people I know have sent their children to tuitions and spend hours each day doing the papers. Is the case for you guys as well?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Hours a day is probably an exaggeration! Suggest 30mins max. of the CGP books and bond books, and even then that’s very unlikely to be everyday. Not sure if there’s any difference between old and new books, suspect not. Personally, I think the important thing is to read lots and play lots of fun word games. DIY is fine, pretty much the same thing but less expensive and more relaxed.

Actual exam can be scary and unfamiliar, so one thing we did is sign up to a single SD mock exam, just to give her the experience of exam conditions in a big hall. My daughter said it was quite similar to the real thing.

The above is what we did and she got a very good result this year. Good luck.

Thre are two types of Bond books, you will want CEM ones, the earlier ones are probably not as suitable.

We didn’t do CEM for DD as it was GL for kendrick at that point, so I’m no expert. However I believe the CGP and FPTP books are good, Bond CEM books are a little more difficult and shouldn’t be used at first. I think the 10 minute tests are also supposed to be good. We used the CGP equivalent GL 10 minute ones from time to time, but they are probably more uselful for CEM to help with the speed.

CEM is very time pressured as well so you’ll need to work on that nearer the time.

I spent about an hour in total a week, but that was GL, and DD just ‘got’ NVR so we spent most of the time doing VR. She did some NVR every other week just to speed her up a little. You may want to allow a little more as you’ll be dealing with maths and effectively English, but see how she is going.

The best thing about DIY is you can be flexible and adapt to what she needs.

(You are bound to hear from other parents, that you ‘have to have a tutor’ to get through. I heard the same more than once. If you feel happy DIYing and stay happy doing that, keep going.)

Thank you DM3! Trust me when I said hours I was not kidding I know few good friends of mine who send their children to tuitions since YR2 for the preparation for 11+ and then since y4 4 they stopped all the other extracurricular activities to focus on the 11+ and did at least 3hrs a day. This is the reason why I did not consider the grammar school but my DD wants to try and I said that I will help her. My DD is a bookworm and adores reading more than anything and she always been like that which is a good thing! Which word games can you recommend us?

Did you home tuition your DD? If so when did you start the preparation?

Thank you Tinkers!

I have just ordered the CGP Practice ones to start with and then once we are done with it I will get the 10mins test and get the Bond one later, as you say they are more difficult ones. I did not hear about the FPTP but I have not looked up and they seem to have good reviews: so worth giving a try! We got a year ahead so will have time to do a bit that too hopefully!
Are these book good with NVR as well?
You are so right! Lots of my Friends are saying to I should have sent or need to send my DD to tuitions but I don't want to put too much stress on her and just focus one exam and feel down if she doesnt "pass". I will stick with home tuition and come you guys for help! Thank you

Crosswords, word searches, hexagon (the one where you create as many words as you can), word juice app. Whizz match.

We also DIYed (same year as Tinkers DD so it was GL back then). There is no need for hours to be spent- if the child needs that level then maybe Kendrick is not the school for them. DD knew of people in her school doing that sort of level but none of them got in.
We did some familiarisation of the sort of questions and then some 10 minute tests most days in the months before the exam. In the run up to the actual exam she did a couple of practice tests.
DD did one of the Sutton mocks for the exam experience but that was set in a big hall and Kendrick actually divides the girls up into various classrooms so it wasn't that representative. I still think a mock is worth it if you can fit one in.
I encouraged her to read on the kindle and use the dictionary function to look up unfamiliar words rather than just skim over them.

I think if your daughter loves reading then that will already be a huge help. My daughter did too, so naturally was good with word meanings and context. For the non verbal reasoning and maths we got a few free apps on my ipad, and she really enjoyed doing those as it was like playing games rather than studying. We also did two mock exams to get used to the exam environment. She passed easily and is very happy at Kendrick.

For the English section of CEM, being a good reader is the single most important criteria for a top score.

I can always tell when a student reads good books.

But make sure she follows up with new words. She needs to keep a notebook by her as she reads to write down new words and you should challenge her to use them in a sentence and incorporate them into her daily vocabulary. DG

Thank you DM3

We will try to do more crosswords and words searches! Normally we do it in school holidays and have a completion to see who complete them first! Not familiar with the hexagon (I will ask Google!) but we used to play scrabble.. We may start to play that at the weekends as a family again!

Appreciate your help very much