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Eleven Plus (11+) in Essex

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mikedellfarm
Posts: 269
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:26 am

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by mikedellfarm »

Now the panic is setting in.. DS has his first formal mock looming. Have only booked him in for one as am away over the summer, so this is his big shot. I thought it senesible to do it sooner and then hopefully will be able to see where his gaps are. Perhaps it might also make him step it up a gear or two ! So I have read the general info on this website but thought I would ask if anyone wanted to share their best tips for mock preparation ? Please don't tell me to make him eat porridge for breakfast though !!! :lol: Many thanks
djy76
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:29 pm

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by djy76 »

Not sure I can offer any great advice (not much help) DS has done one mock, we certainly learnt where his areas of weakness were :roll: we have second (and final) one shortly too.

I kept the prep for the first mock low key, early to bed the night before, collection of pencils, rubbers into a see through case (acceptable at his mock) and then off he went.

I thought it interesting his main observations were about there being strangers in the room with him doing the same thing..

My nerves are starting to suffer from the age old dilemma am I doing as much as I can to help him prepare, we are currently battling over doing any homework. Whatever the outcome I want to think we both gave it our all..
mikedellfarm
Posts: 269
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:26 am

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by mikedellfarm »

I know the feeling, one minute I think we're doing fine, the next I panic. Last night I looked at the list of words that he HASNT learnt yet... lets just call it a mini dictionary ... and wanted to cry.
bravado
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:28 am

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by bravado »

We didn't do formal mocks but if we had, we'd have prepared DD2 for them in exactly the same way as we did for the real 11+ - that way, we could see what would have worked or not.

So with this in mind, here's what we did the day before the 11+

A few short tests (her idea) - she read over her hints and tips that she's written. No carbs and plenty of water for a healthy brain-function! A bath and tears, followed by me reading her some of her favourite poems and Shakespeare sonnets, whilst she tried to drift off to sleep. She had a dose of Rescue Remedy, to settle her nerves - whether it worked or not in real terms, or as a placebo, we'll never know for sure.

The morning of the test - a high protein breakfast, followed by a banana milkshake. Loads of Rescue Remedy and no mention of the tests or procedure at all, other than a huge "good luck and remember to switch the panic off and switch the brain juice on!"

We didn't do the following, as we'd made a pact not to talk about it but here's a few suggestions....

Have a chat afterwards about how they felt, rather than how the exam went. Allow them to explore those feelings as much or as little as they wish - it may well give you loads of clues as to how best to deal with yours and their nerves on the day.

When they're ready, you can talk about how they felt they did in terms of exam technique, timing, combating nerves etc. ask them what they think they'd do differently next time and most importantly , ask them what they felt they did well :D

Good luck!
bravado
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:28 am

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by bravado »

I was recently asked when is a good time to do past CSSE papers and perhaps my thoughts may help someone. You can also use these rhetorical questions to the question "Should I put my child forward for the 11+?"



It really all depends on the motivation of the child and external factors such as:

1. Does the child have a tutor or is it DIY or a mix of the two?

2. Is the child intrinsically, rather than extrinsically motivated? Is it their dream to go to GS or has the parent chosen that educational path for them?

3. Does the child willingly take on extra work on top of the KS2 or prep school homework or do they always need heavy motivation/encouragement/incentives?

4. Is the child in the state educational system or in a private prep?

5. How academically able is the child? Are they boxing above their weight in doing the 11+ or will they cruise along, easily meeting and often exceeding the challenges and targets? Will they find some areas hard to grasp yet still have sufficiently solid educational foundations to try to succeed?

6. What are the child's responses to failure or poor performance? Do they regress after non-achievement of targets? Do they bounce-back after set-backs with a positive attitude or is their confidence generally irretrievably lost in that topic area?

7. Is the child ready for the challenges and failures, developmentally, emotionally and psychologically?

8. Is the child supported at home, in terms of work, practice, technique etc? Is there good access to wide range of supplementary resources if required?

Basically, these are rhetorical questions for you, so that you can try and gauge whether it's the right time to start doing past CSSE papers. Without knowing your child or your situation, it's terribly difficult for me to advise. All I would counsel, is that if you start to regularly offer past papers before YR5 has even begun, you will prematurely run out of genuine CSSE papers in Maths and English and that's not a good situation to be in. It's fine to offer the odd one or two, to ascertain a base-line level and subsequent progress but don't forget that they're a finite resource. In addition to this, it may be far too early in your DC's prep to attempt a genuine English paper, very few cusp YR4/5 children have the level of inference skills required to do well. It can be used to allow the child to see the end goal - to present a realistic picture of the scope of what they'll need to offer the examiner. However they need to have all this explained very carefully to them, so that they know the paper they attempt, is no more than a diagnostic tool for the tutor or parent. It's an exercise in encouraging a positive psychological approach to their performance: they need to learn to welcome and embrace their mistakes because through mistakes, we grow stronger. :D
bravado
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:28 am

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by bravado »

Right about now, you may be having a real crisis of confidence :cry:

Your DC may be doing the strangest of things that they weren't doing 3 weeks ago: turning over two pages at once, making silly, careless mistakes that drive you nuts, getting slower, rather than quicker :roll:

Panic not, it's very common and they still have a good shot at success :D

In terms of VR, no-one knows what level of currently available practice paper is comparable to the real thing. All we know for certain, is that GL write the paper for CSSE.

Many accept that Susan Daughtrey's "Bright Sparks" 1 and 2 and Walsh Books 1 - 3 are challenging. It would make sense to give those a go at some point in the final 8 weeks of your preparation. How you approach them, is up to you and your child, some say don't do entire Walsh papers as they're too challenging, some say do "Bright Sparks" papers in a specific order, as they feel they're graded in difficulty. It's all a matter of personal choice as you know your child better than anyone else :D

I can tell you what we did: we did all the Walsh papers in their entireity, ie they were timed, mock tests. We didn't follow the order set out/advised for Susan Daughtrey's "Bright Sparks". I am not trashing anyone else's advice but merely saying that we followed our own path. It had no ill-effects on DD2 but that's not to say it's the right strategy for another DC :wink:

All I can tell you, is that on the day, DD2 scored 73/80. She was working on SD Bright Sparks, Walsh 1 - 3 and GL VR 2 months before the test and was scoring anything between 70/80 to 80/80 on them. I have to be honest and say that we pretty much ditched GL papers in early August, in favour of the more challenging stuff but it's impossible to say if this helped on the day or not?

The vocab on SD is in places, slightly more challenging than GL and Walsh is definitely more challenging overall. Not being in the position of seeing past VR papers, it's so hard to gauge the level of published GL papers.

There's a fine line between challenging them so that they can move on up a level and trashing their confidence. I feel sure you'll both face every glitch and backward step as a "learning experience" on that learning curve. That's all you can do, to be honest. Be prepared that their speed may slow-down or their marks drop off: that's perfectly normal when attempting a new publisher and certainly one of a much higher level of difficulty

When they attempt Walsh or SD, you can take one of several approaches - you can

1. forewarn them that they may well find it a little difficult, perhaps a little different to what they've been used to. Or

2. you can let them get on with it and after, if it's been a little "floptastic", you can heap praise on them, telling them how proud you are because everyone finds these really hard and they've done well.

Whether you choose 1 or 2, or another option, as long as you praise them to the moon and back, no matter what the outcome, then it's all good :D I can vividly remember DD2 looking and feeling like she'd conquered Everest, when she survived a notoriously hard paper :D In a way, the mark was irrelevant; her confidence grew because she'd attempted it :D

You and your DC still have time - please try not to worry - it will all come together. Speed is something that will certainly improve

a) with practice and

b) a good set of sound exam technique skills.
littlemissm
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:44 pm

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by littlemissm »

Hi, a big thank you for your advice.

DS is due to sit 11+ this September. We decided to cancel our tutor a few weeks ago and DIY as we felt the tutor wasn't reaching the right levels. I have quite a lot of material already which is keeping him going, his results are ok and he did a mock a couple of weeks ago which his results were pretty positive.
Now I am worried about if the material I am using is the right level so I really appreciate the feedback on the VR practice papers.
Does anyone have any feedback on Maths and English practice papers as to which ones are a realistic level for Essex?

Thank you
bravado
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:28 am

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by bravado »

littlemissm wrote:Hi, a big thank you for your advice.

DS is due to sit 11+ this September. We decided to cancel our tutor a few weeks ago and DIY as we felt the tutor wasn't reaching the right levels. I have quite a lot of material already which is keeping him going, his results are ok and he did a mock a couple of weeks ago which his results were pretty positive.
Now I am worried about if the material I am using is the right level so I really appreciate the feedback on the VR practice papers.
Does anyone have any feedback on Maths and English practice papers as to which ones are a realistic level for Essex?

Thank you
Pm me for a site that gives papers that are close to Essex English and Maths.

Maybe consider moving on to the SD Bright Sparks and Walsh Reasoning 1 - 3 for VR.

Variety for Maths is imperative - Bond Exam papers - not necessarily the Bond Assessment Papers , GL Assessment Papers. Use the Fifth and More Fifth Bond Maths Assessment papers for smaller chunks of testing.

Bond do a "Secrets of Comprehension" aimed at the 11+ market - and instead of the Bond English Assessment Papers, you may also try their English Comprehension series for some variety. Please be aware that the 11+ 12+ one is very challenging and it may be better to start with the 9 - 10 one or the 10 - 11 , depending on the level/stage of preparation of your DC. The format isn't necessarily the same but the level is challenging. Use the Bond English Assessment Papers from time-to-time - again, the format isn't the same but the inference challenges are still there.

If you haven't already done so, then I'd really recommend reading this thread from the beginning as there's some invaluable tips from lots of posters
littlemissm
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:44 pm

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by littlemissm »

A big thank you for your reply. We've covered a lot of the Bond Maths & English material already along with Schofield and Sims so feel happier we seem to be heading in the right direction.
Have sent you a PM and i'll have a good look on this forum which I am very glad I discovered. :)
bravado
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:28 am

Re: Essex DIY Tips. Tricks, Hints, Help & General Panic Thre

Post by bravado »

If your child doesn't do their tests on a table, or works with all their test paraphernalia spread out on the table, then now is the time to try change their "mock" or test habits :D

Many of us who have done exams know that the tables are often smaller than conventional desks or tables - they will certainly be smaller than dining or kitchen tables. Because of this, it's good to get them used to coping with less space, especially when doing a multiple choice paper, where there'll probably be an extra sheet of paper to work with.


VR
It probably sounds a little obvious but ensure that they keep the answer sheet to the right of the question paper if they're right-handed.

Make sure that they don't place their pen, pencil ruler or eraser close to the edges of the desk - there's nothing worse than knocking your property onto the floor into an exam, especially your pencil! It can be very embarrassing and throw a candidate off kilter, notwithstanding the fact that they may have to raise their hand to ask an invigilator to return it to them, which, if it's their only pencil on the table, can lose them precious time. We trained DD2 to keep her pencil where she was less-likely to knock it off. I highly recommend having a go! Experiment with your child - watch a couple of tests to see how how they work in a practical sense and then make suggestions to them as to where it may be best to place their pencil etc

If they do drop their only pencil during VR, then talk through some strategies with them, so that if it should happen on the day, they will be mentally prepared and it won't faze them so much :D We told DD that if this should happen, raise your hand immediately but say nothing. Whilst you're waiting for an invigilator to come to your table, use the time to your advantage and read through the next questions and the answer sheet, mentally making a note of the answers, so that when your pencil is returned, you can hit the ground running and try to make up that lost time.

If you knock your answer sheet to the floor, then once again, raise your hand immediately. Whilst you're waiting for an invigilator, use that precious time to continue to go through the questions and write your answer beside each question. Make sure that you circle the answer, so that you don't get it mixed up with your workings. If you prefer a blank piece of paper to do this, and you are provided with one, then write down the answer, with the question number beside it, then you can transfer those answers to the answer sheet when it is safely back on your desk. It is imperative to avoid putting the wrong answer down, so to avoid this, you should impress upon your DC to write both the question number and answer beside it ie

Q23 - Sally


English & Maths
Knocking a question paper off the desk is less likely to happen in Maths or English, where the answers are entered onto the question paper. However, if a vital writing tool is knocked off the desk, then follow the procedures for VR above and go through the remainder of the questions, spotting the potential for easily won marks and/or go through and check what you've already done for errors. If your DC is prone to making careless mistakes (especially when under pressure and, aren't we all?) then you may find it more useful for them to be told to check their work, rather than read ahead.

If they should drop their writing tool early in the paper and have only done about 4 questions, then encourage them to read ahead - it's all about making sound judgement calls and encouraging our children to make their own useful assessments under duress. Discuss it with them - put them in "what if" scenarios and explore what they'd do in such situations. We had some very interesting answers :D At the end of the day it could be one of the most useful 11+ discussions you'll have with your DC in the last 6 weeks before the test.

Always remember that being mentally prepared, is as important as being academically prepared :wink:
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