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11+ prep

Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 10:16 pm
by mh
Greetings all

Currently preparing my 10 yr old nephew who is the 1st member in our family to attempt the 11+ plus examinations.

He is an able child performing very well in school in all subjects and recommened by his teacher for the 11+ exams.

I have covered Mathematics, Verbal Reasoning to a good extent. However I need advice on preparing him for the English aspect. In particular what material +books + allied past papers should I be covering with him for English.

Further I have been informed that Non verbal reasoning is not touched upon in the exams anymore. Is this the case?

Many thanks

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 7:35 am
by KenR
Hi mh,

Welcome to the Biirmingham forum.

No it's not true; at least for some of the Birmingham 11+ exam.

Suggest you take a look at the Birmingham 11+ exam details - there is a section in regions off the home page.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11-plus-birmingham.php

Also if it's the King Edward VI Grammars you are interested in, then I would take a look at some of the previous postings in this forum which give an idea of the typical exam content. Not a traditional 11+ exam but ther is a NVR section which accounts for 1/3 of the marks.

Hope this helps

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 7:44 am
by Guest
The only prep I would siggest, other than practice papers, is reading bookds, news papers and keeping with current affairs. Good knowledge of words and their meanings is HIGHLY recommended.

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 11:12 am
by KE Mum
I think current affairs is going a bit far!

We did VR, NVR, English and Maths. Used Bond, Learning Together and NFER. Bond is particularly good as it has a book for each subject and is age related - she got up to the 11+ books by around June of the previous academic year, to give you an indication. We also used a comprehension book (Collins) from WH Smith. To revise maths in the few weeks before the test we used a book (I think it is Bond) called secondary school maths (or something like that) which had algebra etc, but I think this was taking it all a bit far, as there is no algebra in the test (or there wasn't then and I am sure there isn't now either since it isn't on the National curriculum until year 7).

For the comprehension I also used to read bits out of the paper or a book and then ask her questions on it about an hour or 2 later - to help improve recall. She really enjoyed this and would do it now given half the chance. She is also a big reader and we encouraged her to read - which we still do and I am sure that your nephew's parents do too.

After she had done the test, I asked if there was anything that was particularly helpful to her, and she said not really. So who knows if this preparation helps, but we enjoyed doing it at the time.

Good luck!

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 11:21 am
by Guest
I think current affairs is going a bit far!
Perhaps an understanding on the Bush Administration or Britains involvment in Iraq is taking things too far for most chidren but there are plenty of other tpoics in the news that children are interested in. For instance my son was watching newsround before school this morning and came into the kitchen to tell me how stupid it was to charge people to take their rubbish away. A long discussion ensued between us and his older brother that covered pro's and con's of charging and the efffect on our global footprint. I encourage my child to watch newsround (childrens current affairs) as I find it far more stimulating than discussions on the football results over breakfast!!!!

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 11:59 am
by mum
Hi KE Mum,

In which channel and what time is this newsround (children's) shown?

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 12:00 pm
by mum
sorru the previous post should have been addressed to Guest.........about newsround

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 12:28 pm
by Guest
Newsround is a national institution having been around for well over 30 years. You can catch it after childrens TV on BBC1 from 5.25-5.35pm. Its also repeated on CBBC (digital) in the morning which is when my children often watch it. I'm not sure of the time but its somewhere between 8 and 8.30am. I like it because its news with the nasty bits taken out making it suitable viewing for younger children. Its probably worth watching it with your children in the first instance for discussion purposes but ultimately they will watch on their own and discuss the bits they find interesting with you.

Re: 11+ prep

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 3:12 pm
by Dibble
mh wrote:Greetings all

Currently preparing my 10 yr old nephew who is the 1st member in our family to attempt the 11+ plus examinations.

He is an able child performing very well in school in all subjects and recommened by his teacher for the 11+ exams.

I have covered Mathematics, Verbal Reasoning to a good extent. However I need advice on preparing him for the English aspect. In particular what material +books + allied past papers should I be covering with him for English.

Further I have been informed that Non verbal reasoning is not touched upon in the exams anymore. Is this the case?

Many thanks
Which schools are you applying to mh? Not all 11+ exams are the same.

Full credit for taking this task on, I hope your relationship with your nephew survives!
You could even be having fun?
How much time do you have to dedicate to this, by the way?

Verbal reasoning/English comprehension was where my son felt most comfortable, by a long way, so I won't be a lot of help in that area. Past posts in this forum might be.

Does your Nephew naturally read a lot? My son does but I still find it easy to be fooled into believing he 'must' be learning something when, in fact, the words are just passing in front of his eyes.

I think that reading alone is often overstressed and not something that interests all boys. For me the interaction of simply talking is the best way to improve vocabulary and other verbal skills. Of course, you'll need something interesting to talk about and someone with a wide enough vocabulary to stretch him. I really like the Newsround idea others have suggested. You can get a quick look (and do some preparation :-) here;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/

My son was never willing to dash off to the dictionary with a word he didn't understand but then, neither am I. Perhaps a little 'leading by example' would have helped there?

I'd always meant to look at the calculator-like electronic dictionaries. I'd be interested if anyone has tried those as a learning aid.

I found it very useful to talk to my sons teachers and, thinking about it, my son too. They pointed out a few narrow, but quite deep, gaps in his skills. Once things got that targeted I could easily make up suitable puzzles and questions.

The KEVI schools make more effort than most to lessen the effects of exam 'preparation'. I can't really say how successful they are in that, but you have to make a judgement about how much 'preparation' has value. I do believe that confidence and a positive attitude towards the test are more important than endlessly pouring (or should that be poring? Mmmm...) over text books and tests. With my son I quite frequently found that although knowledge was gained it was being paid for in confidence – and sometimes that price wasn't worth paying.

Best of luck.
Do stick around.
It's nice to see someone coming into the fresh admissions round.
Hope I can be of some help in the future

exam prep

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 10:05 pm
by mh
Thank you for the swift replies.

I have gained valuable and practical insights which I intend to put into practice.

Dibble- I spend approx 2-3 hours on the weekend tutoring/mentoring 6 nephews including the one preparing for 11+. I thoroughly enjoy the experience.

I feel that possibly I started the 11+ specific preparation a bit late in the day ( that being about 2 months ago- others may disagree). However the bandwagon is rolling and gaining momentum so all is not lost.

I am sure i'll be contributing to this site from now on.