How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

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muminbrum
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Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:14 pm

Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by muminbrum »

We didn't do huge amounts but I just typed 'cloze' into google! There are a variety available for free and cloze generators where you can put your own text in.
KenR
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Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by KenR »

mike1880
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Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by mike1880 »

I'd be careful of doing too much. Both ours went to a tutor for one hour per week and got a couple of papers as homework. If your child needs actual education and to learn specific things (i.e. school isn't doing its job properly - it can happen) then you may well need more time, otherwise you need to be clear about what you're trying to achieve and what the best way is of going about it.

Spending a lot of time on papers (say, more than a couple of hours a week) won't improve your child's performance, you would be better advised to have your child spend the equivalent time reading (which I absolutely guarantee you WILL improve your child's chances).

Mike
Pumpkin Pie
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Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:27 pm

Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by Pumpkin Pie »

Spending a lot of time on papers (say, more than a couple of hours a week) won't improve your child's performance
Sorry Mike1880 I have to disagree with you there. My DD didn't have a tutor, so she worked on practice papers and I marked them. Her scores increased from ~70% to ~90+% in the space of 3 months!

With practice she got quicker, more familiar with question types and her confidence grew.
She passed her entrance exam with flying colours.

As they say 'practice makes perfect'! :wink:
Last edited by Pumpkin Pie on Fri Nov 02, 2012 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Paramjeet
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Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by Paramjeet »

My child hates reading; I don't encourage at all either. Maybe it's not right , who knows, but that's a fact.

Still did ok.
Amarstone
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Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2012 1:29 pm

Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by Amarstone »

Sadly, children can now get by on the vocab section because they are issued with lists of vocab by tutors/parents and simply learn what the words mean. I think originally, the intention was to select children who were well read and had developed understanding of sophisticated words as they had encountered them many times in different texts. However, potential GS students will have to do quite a bit of reading when they get into their chosen school I believe, so I think that encouraging reading is only helpful.
Last edited by Amarstone on Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
mike1880
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Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by mike1880 »

Pumpkin Pie wrote:Sorry Mike1880 I have to disagree with you there. My DD didn't have a tutor, so she worked on practice papers and I marked them. Her scores increased from ~70% to ~90+% in the space of 3 months!
I said "above a couple of hours a week". How many did your child do per week?
Pumpkin Pie
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Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:27 pm

Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by Pumpkin Pie »

In the summer holidays DD did at least one paper each day. Prior to that from the Easter she did one about every other day.

With respect to reading, I tried to encourage her to read, but she isn't one who likes to sit and read for pleasure. Despite this, her written English is excellent. That's because we have always played word games like Scrabble, Crosswords, Whirly Word, Jumbline, Hangman etc., since she was little. :wink:
mike1880
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Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by mike1880 »

The trouble with children is you can't run properly controlled experiments. It's not totally impossible that you'd have got the same improvment with fewer papers, but who can tell. With our daughter I did "problem maths" between the GS exam and independents; she did one indie maths paper a week and her scores improved by a similar amount. As far as I remember, when she first started out on GS practice her NVR scores reached high 90s after two or three papers and stayed there (she did particularly poorly on NVR in the two GS exams, btw!). But we'll never know (unless a few people with identical twins joins the forum and can be persuaded to participate in a ground-breaking and highly unethical controlled trial :lol: ).

Mike
ginx
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Location: Warwickshire

Re: How to DIY my child for the 11 plus

Post by ginx »

Use a variety of papers (there are loads you can buy, or download). Do a few questions a time, you know how your dc is feeling.

Talk about things. Try to make it fun and interesting for you both. Vocab is important, if your dc doesn't like reading, go explore or do something. Go out and talk about geography/history/geology/nature/gardening - anything. Do some cooking. You might enjoy it! Use the summer holidays if you can to do things, involve family or friends.

The professional coaching is probably enough! Don't pressure your dc. We didn't do much at all, our dd isn't the cleverest in the class, more of a borderline, she passed - but she wasn't stressed at all during the exam. Too much pressure could be detrimental generally, but especially on the day. We did nothing at all the week before and I am glad.

However, you know best ... your dc not mine ... best of luck.
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