My daughter is intending to take the STT in Sep 2019. We have been DIYing in a relatively laid back manner since Nov 2018. She normally does 10-15 mins a few times a week but it is by no means regular.

Before Easter she completed the free VR familiarisation paper that is available on the GL website. She got 58 of the 80 questions right. She got 3 answers wrong and didn't put down any answer for 19 of the questions, mostly because she ran out of time.

If we had taught her to spend the last few minutes randomly picking answers for the 19 unanswered ones, she should have got another 3 answers right. That would make her score 61/80 (76%). I would also hope that by continuing the DIY between now and Sep she can still improve a bit (i.e. learn to work a bit faster etc).

Is anyone able to give me an idea of whether she is currently on track for achieving the qualifying score of 121+ in the actual test?

I know that the STT score is age standardised and so her results here at home can't be directly translated. I'm also aware that she could do either better or worse on non-VR and maths.

But assuming her level is about the same in all three areas, it would be useful to know whether we need to ramp up the preparation. We would prefer to avoid as much stress/pressure as possible and would only want to increase the practise if actually necessary.

Hi!

There’s no way to know for certain what is “enough” as this is a cohort exam.

So unfortunately, the score that’s successful is not a particular % but the score that “beats 70% of the other children who sit the test”.

All you can do is practice in a way that seems sensible, pick up any gaps, work on any slow/difficult topics, avoid getting into the crazy over-prep-hype, make sure you have a break for 1-2 weeks over summer to avoid burnout/boredom, and cross your fingers!

Good things to do are regular ten-minute-tests in a variety of topics (CGP ten minute tests are great) and don’t worry too much about a million long mock tests, they are generally boring and a pain to mark: the real value lies in doing short checks and correcting any errors together, and building up speed.

Little and often so it’s habit but not an utter chore is best, and pull back for a bit if DC seem bored/frustrated. Reward the effort rather than the actual marks, and try to keep yourself both sane, it can be done!! Good luck.

Mocks are not compulsory but if your child is DIY sometimes can be helpful as a one off or two off just to familiarise them wth “taking a test” before the actual day comes. Bear in mind most kids who do these are tutored (and often tutored by the same people setting the exams) so don’t be discouraged if their cohort mark for a mock seems low.

Yes! You do need to ramp it up!!! You have to get your child into the top 30% of scores. Everyone is tutoring and sitting mocks like mad. To give your child a chance, you probably need to do more. I don't agree with the craziness but that's just how it is

Deb70 makes an interesting reply.... please do not buy into the panic that “everyone is doing tons of mocks”. Such statements only go further to whip up anxiety, which is something the OP explicitly states she wants to avoid!

Sure, there will be some high-anxiety parents that fund multiple mocks, that make their children work 1-2 hours a day (or even more) on prep work, who cancel holidays, who withdraw gaming devices or cancel exctracurricular clubs.

The child who only gets in by such extreme measures may struggle in the fast paced grammar system and will spend 7 years at grammar feeling under pressure to perform. Or worse, get 5 years in and find their exam grades aren’t good enough to stay at the GS.
There are children at GS who are extra-tutored all the way up through the school in order to “manage”.

In Bucks, the “hyper tutored “ kids are balanced by the relatively large numbers of “normal” children who sit the transfer test by default. (Sadly in Slough this doesn’t happen as the test is opt-in and score based, that does seem to make it more difficult to get a passing mark). But in Bucks NO SCHOOL PLACE OFFERS ARE SCORE BASED, so the obsession with “a high score” really shouldn’t exist.

Should you do a bit more? Yes, probably, but on your terms, not those of other people.

Good luck!

Ps, given that we’re past Easter, you’re probably best getting into a routine of spending some time regularly (maybe an hour 3 times a week) doing two ten-minute tests and then marking them, checking she can do within the time, and highlight/correcting any gaps (ten mins to take, 20 mins to mark, then do another one of a different topic).
At half term try a 40 min mock paper for each subject and see how she does.
If you are concerned or she seems to be not getting quicker consider a “tips” holiday course or a mock that includes a “tips” session on exam technique.
If you think you’re doing okay just concentrate on building up speed and accuracy. If she does her best then that’s all you need to know. But we’re just random parents on the internet and it’s def what’s right for your family that’s important here, not just what we recommend.

I couldn't agree more, and this was my strategy last year: do a bit of practice but no tuition centres or mocks. Relax over summer.
Come September and all the children who'd strenuously denied having tuition (mums too) suddenly were admitting they had been tutored up to the eyeballs, sitting monthly mocks and all sitting multiple eleven plus exams at different schools.
There are sadly now more and more people with this kind of strategy, so that "normal" bright kids who really should be in grammar schools, are getting pushed out by these aggressive helicopter parents who want little Johnny to go to grammar school at any cost, believing the more they train their kids, the more right they have to a GS place.
My child failed (just) but thankfully qualified via selection review, but going through that review was horrible and not something I would wish on anyone.
The OP may want to avoid getting into the whole tuition lunacy, but not doing it may cost them their child's place. Good luck

Hi Everyone!

Lots of food for thought here. Thanks for all your responses (and the PM from Deb70)!

**** is other people.

Our local private school wrote the following letter to a group of applicants this year:

The score your son secured would have been enough for a place last year.

Unfortunately this year we have more applicants and their scores have been higher, so the score that he reached is no longer enough to obtain one of our places.

In ten years on the forum I have never seen a single post from a member complaining that they did too much preparation, but many many posts from those who bitterly regret not doing enough.

Everything you do will help your dd in secondary school so yes I strongly recommend you ramp it up so you do not join the long list of parents who wonder "what if" when the October results come out.

Another one of our local schools runs a mock GCSE and A levels results day complete with brown envelopes. They do this with the results of the actual mocks.

The goal is to make students really understand what it will feel like when your friends do well and you do not.

It really is a wake up call for some students who assume that their friends are not doing any work and then suddenly find out that they most definitely are.

I suggest you do a Bucks mock. The forum have some great mocks specifically for Bucks.

It will help your dd with her timing and give you a clearer idea of what your cohort is scoring. DG

I will be the first then. I found the mocks of little value. They really didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I also think the 1 1/2 hours spent preparing each week, for 5 months leading up to the exam, was more than enough. Off the back of conversations with other parents I spend the whole time stressing about letting my DC down and needing to do more but I wasn't prepared to make two or three years of my DC's childhood all about the 11 plus. I'm more than happy with the outcome and I am so glad I didn't resort to making my DC spend hours on end working through every 11 plus book I could find on the market.

I know a few parents who had their DC do an hour a day in yr3 & yr4. They increased it to two hours a day in yr5 along with 3 or 4 mocks and 1-2-1 tuition with additional homework. I doubt they could have fitted more in tbh. It is worrying if parents like that think they didn't do enough, don't you think?

The OP states they are in Y5 and doing ten minutes a few times a week so no we are not talking about parents who did two hours a day plus one to tutors and multiple mocks.

You state that you are more than happy with the outcome so even if you feel you did more than enough it does not seem to have been a negative result for you. DG