best maths materials

[faz]

hi, can anyone tell me, whats the bes maths
practice papers to use for watford area, is bonds
any good. And can someone tell me what do the
cats test involve. Thanks

[splash]

I don't know about Watford specifically since I do not live there but you could try sample papers from independent schools they might be harder than Bond, here you can find some papers http://habsboys.org.uk/info/examination ... 11plus.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.sevenoaksschool.org/y7downloads" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope this helps

[3b1g]

If you mean for the SW Herts consortium (Watford Grammars, Parmiter's etc), I used Bond How to do 11+ Maths to identify which topics needed strengthening, then Bond papers and ten minute tests for practice. Lastly a variety of papers for mock exam type experience.

[Mindset]

And can someone tell me what do the
cats test involve. Thanks

CATs tests (cognitive ability) are used to get a snapshot of a student's ability in 3 areas; quantitive, verbal and non-verbal. I personally think that it's really important not to prepare students for them. Schools use them in different ways, but usually for progress tracking. If a child has hyper-inflated CATa scores because of lots of prep then they'll find it hard to work 'above the expected progress'. The inflated CATs results will make it look like they're under performing for 3 years!

There are practise questions at the start of each 'battery' (section) and they're really not too bad. I just told mine to enjoy them and not to stress too much.

[Cricket]

For Herts SW Consortium test, we used Bond too as well as Schofield & Sims Mental Arithmetic as is good to help with timing. Then using practice papers (any of 11+ that are not multiple choice).

The actual level of maths for the test appears to be pretty basic so no point doing anything too complicated. Practice of KS2 level maths and avoiding silly errors on basics seems to be the key.

[splash]

Try a few Letts. Type '11+ sample papers' on Google and you'll fing plenty of papers for practice from independent schools.