Is it too early to ask...?

Eleven Plus (11+) in Buckinghamshire (Bucks)

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Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Is it too early to ask...?

Post by Guest55 »

I have only taught one student who I would describe as 'having a terrible time' at GS - it was very sad and we did suggest he might be happier elsewhere.

Ironic - do you teach in Bucks?
Jules7
Posts: 248
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:55 pm

Re: Is it too early to ask...?

Post by Jules7 »

I don't come on this forum very often now as we are further down the educational path! Hopefully I have a few nuggets to pass on that might be of use.

Background
My youngest passed the Bucks and Berks CEM 11+ exams 2 years ago. DD found the exams intense timing wise but pretty straightforward. She is a quick worker and was on the top tables for both English and Maths by the end of Y4. She made a lot of progress in Y4 due to a fabulous teacher at the school who really believed in her (DD was quite a late developer I would say). She had weekly group tutoring in term time from the last term of Y4 which she really enjoyed as the tutor made it a fun, interactive, positive and low-pressure experience. We looked at a few tutor companies but were put off by the hot-housing outfits who issued reams of extra work. I did extra with her at home in the summer hols before the exams, say about 1h (maybe 1.5h with review of marking) per day but this was not every day. DD kept up with all her interests and clubs throughout, including leading up to and during the exam week to keep everything "normal".

Things that worked (according to DD)
Building vocab was very important, including shared reading and creating memory cards. Check out the vocab in Wind in the Willows for instance...
Practice lots of multi step problem solving maths type questions

Extra from me
We found CGP and FPTP books useful for practicing later in Y5.
I would say that we spent quite a bit of time ironing out careless/silly mistakes when it came to practising papers (especially in maths as she had a tendency to rush).
We didn't do any mock exams as that sounded like too much extra pressure beforehand
2littleboys
Posts: 274
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:42 pm

Re: Is it too early to ask...?

Post by 2littleboys »

Thank you Jules7 for your very helpful reply :)
Hopeful58
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2016 12:37 am

Re: Is it too early to ask...?

Post by Hopeful58 »

I am a reasonably long time lurker on this board as my eldest child did the 11+ from OOC two years ago (we were in the process of moving into Bucks). He didn't pass (by a significant and surprising margin) so I have been on the receiving end of 'not so good' news in the past.

My daughter sat the 11+ this year but for various reasons (too identifying to disclose here) we weren't planning for her to do so until right at the end of the summer term. We submitted her application to sit the exam a few days before the deadline and bought another pack of DIY papers (with trepidation given our last experience). We didn't have much time and my daughter wasn't very receptive to the sudden appearance of holiday work (although she didn't refuse point blank thank goodness).

My daughter had always scored highly on verbal reasoning measures (CAT score of 130+ in both Year 4 and 5). But when I started the CEM papers it was clear her vocabulary was really poor in the context of these papers. This really surprised me. My elder child always had a brilliant vocabulary and I had just assumed she would too but that was definitely not the case.

Given that verbal is 50% of the Bucks CEM and should have been her strongest subject, we really tried to concentrate on the vocabulary aspect. I made flash cards and we played games based on the CEM vocab list I got off this site. Ideally this sort of vocab should be built up over a couple of years with meaningful reading but in the circumstances, with just two months to go, we had to try to cram them in. But I was really surprised at the knowledge gap in this area given how strong her CAT scores were. I have a younger child and, if we think the 11+ route is a possibility, I will definitely aim for a more productive method of internalising this vocab.

On non verbal we looked at the 10 Minute papers over the summer just to familiarise her. Maths isn't a strong point and we just practised the basic mechanics to ensure she didn't totally forget them over the summer.

Apart from that, I concentrated on talking through exam technique. Including doing a couple of timed papers to give an idea of the time pressure. Although I think it is very difficult to concentrate properly on this type of task at home in the holidays.... Also the basics of moving on if you can't work out an answer, going back to 'guess' at the end on questions you have missed and trying to reduce the odds if you know that two answers are not right (so a 25% guess becomes a 50% guess).

Hope this is helpful. Good luck with it all. As I say, my older child, who my daughter acknowledges is 'more intelligent' and continues to do very well in school, didn't pass and that is one of those things. It made her results day a bit bittersweet in our family. But life goes on and I am confident that they both will move on positively.
2littleboys
Posts: 274
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:42 pm

Re: Is it too early to ask...?

Post by 2littleboys »

Hopeful58 I'm sure both of your children will do well with a caring parent like you :)

Luckily my son's strongest point is vocab so (hopefully?) this will stand him in good stead.

We will def practise exam technique as I know this is very important. However at the moment I'm concentrating on teaching him the information first so that he can apply it nearer the time.

Thanks again for posting.
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