Tips for Year 5

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ciaowood
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2018 12:46 pm

Re: Tips for Year 5

Post by ciaowood »

Thank you Sevenoaks Mum. I'll look into the online help, it sounds great. I'm not so sure I can see myself missing the 11 plus days lol - still, I'm yet to enter the realm of having teenagers and GCSEs so I'm sure there's time yet! Thanks for your advice.
PanicMode
Posts: 142
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:35 am

Re: Tips for Year 5

Post by PanicMode »

My fourth child is in Y5 so we're just on the treadmill again now (last one - yay!). My other three have all done really well just with group tutoring once a week and probably an hour a week of practice in the run up, plus they did 'summer school' for a week just before the test. As it's been a successful formula thus far, we're doing the same again, but he is feeling the pressure a bit poor thing, even though we're doing our utmost not to make a big deal of it. However, he wants to follow his brothers to Skinners' so there's a bit of added pressure, even without him being the fourth one.....

I would suggest making sure they are reading lots of different texts/books/materials, and I've found with my boys, I've had to work a bit on inference from a text - my daughter found that a bit easier - and ensuring their mental maths is quick - lots of times tables practice, fractions, averages etc. Then, the most important bit (easier said than done :wink: ) try to totally ignore what everyone else is doing (or says they are doing) and just plough your own furrow - you know your child, their abilities and weaknesses.....
ciaowood
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2018 12:46 pm

Re: Tips for Year 5

Post by ciaowood »

Thanks Panic Mode (apologies for the delay). I've just started my dd with a weekly tuition centre and will look to do some further sessions later on. I'm glad you have a formula that works for you and hope your son does well. It's hard for the youngest, having the pressure of their siblings already at grammar.

Good advice re reading but especially ignoring what others are doing! Thank you.
doodles
Posts: 8300
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:19 pm

Re: Tips for Year 5

Post by doodles »

It is a while since mine sat the Kent Test but I think it's safe to say it's good to make sure that the foundations like times tables are solidly in place. Practice timings, it's easier to build up to this gradually as they need to be accurate too.

Most importantly don't be phased by what other people say that they are doing! Follow a plan that works best for you and your child.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad !
padroeiro
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2019 12:18 pm
Location: Sidcup

Re: Tips for Year 5

Post by padroeiro »

We had a tutor, 1 hour a week and I think it brought some essential consistency into our preparation and made it a lot more systematic. With clear guidance, regular homework and mocks in February, April and August I am confident we couldn't possibly have done more. I think it is also important not to overdo it.
Our son found 1-to-1 tuition very enjoyable actually and it certainly boosted his confidence. We worked quite a lot on timing and being able to recognise more challenging questions skipping them when necessary. What we found helpful was a little warm up before sitting mocks - mixed 10 minutes test to get those brain cells up to speed :D
We used variety of books from CGP, Bond and Letts including practice papers.
Overall very happy with the results: top score reasoning, nearly top maths and just scrapped with English at 314 with no surprise as it's not his first language.
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