2017 11+ advice

[Tigermama72]

My DS will be sitting the 11+ from Chelmsford in 2017. Any Chelmsford mums out here who can form a group discussion maybe? Where can one find out about all the important deadlines and dates (Open Days/registration) related to 11+ exam 2017 for a 2018 entry please? The CSSE has dates for 2017 entry only I think.

Is the 2017 format still Maths 25%, English 25% and VR 50%?
Also thinking of some extra coaching classes for DS, although he has been practising with Bond papers (though not every single day just yet!) since last one year.
Can anyone also recommend the best website to buy sample papers from? How can we get sample papers just from Essex please? Is it only the elevenplusexam.co.uk?

[ToadMum]

My DS will be sitting the 11+ from Chelmsford in 2017. Any Chelmsford mums out here who can form a group discussion maybe? Where can one find out about all the important deadlines and dates (Open Days/registration) related to 11+ exam 2017 for a 2018 entry please? The CSSE has dates for 2017 entry only I think.

Is the 2017 format still Maths 25%, English 25% and VR 50%?
Also thinking of some extra coaching classes for DS, although he has been practising with Bond papers (though not every single day just yet!) since last one year.
Can anyone also recommend the best website to buy sample papers from? How can we get sample papers just from Essex please? Is it only the elevenplusexam.co.uk?

The CSSE site may be focusing on the upcoming exam for 2017 entry at the moment, but it also has details about the test (a 60 minute English paper with a bit of VR and a short creative writing section and a 60 minute Maths paper with a bit of NVR - the exam you describe became obsolete with the 2015 entry), free familiarisation papers and links to the CSSE member schools. You can also order past papers via the site, although the office is closed during the holidays so I don't know whether you can do that at the moment.

The open days / evenings tend to be at about the same time each year. If you look at the Calendar on the website of the school(s) in which you are interested, they may already have them up for the coming academic year. When we looked at KEGS (2014 entry), they only had open mornings, some in March and some a little later in the school year. SHSB and WHSB hold open evenings in late June, usually.

[Tigermama72]

Thanks a lot Toadmum. When you say a bit of VR and bit of NVR, do we know the exact percentage of these? Also, my DS's reading and comprehension is relatively weaker than his Maths. So what would be the best way to improve these please? How far back do past papers go on CSSE? And are there any other sites which maybe helpful? I thought I had missed the deadline for open days- I looked at all the dates for the schools on the CSSE website but as I saw July, I thought I had missed already for 2018 entry! I am assuming now I should visit in summer 2017 for 2018 entry? Thanks again X

[Minesatea]

Re. VR/NVR amounts. The English paper since the change to the new style has had 5 marks for VR questions, often of the "add a letter to the three letter word" or anagram variety.
The maths papers I've seen have been more variable. There has been a nets of cube question in one paper but as yet nothing else that I would consider to be NVR(I did not buy the 2016 entry paper that DS sat) but have contained variable amounts of what is best described as numeric reasoning, some of which you would find in VR books.
Personally I did very little VR preparation and no NVR except for 1 work sheet on cube nets I downloaded after a google search. Concentrating on reading comprehension, short writing pieces and maths is more important now.
My DS reading comp was poor so I started with the Schofield and sims book1 and worked up in difficulty as he gained confidence before progressing to past papers from the CSSE and Louise Staples. (It must have worked as he recently managed the max score in his reading comp Sats)

[Tigermama72]

Thank you Minesatea for all the info. Helpful to know. What do you mean by 2016 entry papers please? (Sorry to sound utterly ignorant!)
Which year is your DS in now? I have just started on the first Schofield & Sims comprehension book. Sounds like a good idea to work through these first.

[Minesatea]

DS2 starts at CRGS in 3 weeks. So the 2016 entry CSSE paper was the one he sat which I haven't personally seen so my comments were based on the previous years and the sample papers, and what he could remember! He said there was still only 5 VR questions on the English paper (he only did one as he ran out of time) so comprehension was worth the most marks and then the creative writing.

[Tigermama72]

Thank you Minesatea. Good to know.