11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi all,
Last minute preparation.
My DS, God bless him has been doing very well in maths. He gets 98 -100% in nfer. for lack of materials, decided to try him on bond, to my surprise, not sure if this is due to the fact that he's had enough and couldn't be bothered, his marks went down to between 72-88%.
Question is : Nfer vs Bond, which one is harder?
Many thanks

There are a few threads comparing the difficulty of different papers. I think, while not everyone will agree, Bond are generally felt to be harder than Nfer.

Thanks Bexley mum, can't sleep, so I'll keep posting.
So, would you say the real thing is closer to nfer or bond?

hi My DS is also doing Bond having dot in the 90% mark for the NFER. He finds Bond trickier too!

Real thing is closer to nfer so if you are ok with them there shouldn't be a problem.

Tracy wrote:Real thing is closer to nfer so if you are ok with them there shouldn't be a problem.

We ve just bought the whole set of Bond. Our son will try for QE Boys next year. But now I discovered everyone is talking about NFER. Is Bond not suitable? Please help. I am new to this subject. Thanks.

nat wrote:

Tracy wrote:Real thing is closer to nfer so if you are ok with them there shouldn't be a problem.

We ve just bought the whole set of Bond. Our son will try for QE Boys next year. But now I discovered everyone is talking about NFER. Is Bond not suitable? Please help. I am new to this subject. Thanks.

We are going through BOND books - DS currently on Level 5 for Maths, English and VR. We are also using NFER, as well as some from Tuition for You, from the internet. NFER is certainly the easiest, Bond is great as the level of difficulty gradually increases. Alot of kids who used NFER found that the actual 11+ last year was much harder than anything that they had seen before. I would be much happier if my son went into the exam and found that the paper was much easier than he is used to!

To put this into context, DS can complete a Level 5 Bond VR paper in 40 minutes and get 85-95%, he tried one of the NFER sample papers last night and completed it in 20 minutes (this paper is supposed to take 50 mins) and he got 96%

The only issue we had with Bond was during the summer holidays - as I mentioned before, the difficulty ramps up - we got to a situation where DS just couldn't do it - so I spent quite a lot of time explaining how to tackle the questions, the basics of fractions, decimals, equations (which have never been covered in school) and areas of irregular shapes. It was touch an go whether he would work hard to do it or give up completely (anyone with a subborn 10 year old will know what I mean). Luckily he decided to really put in the effort and we are now onto Level 5 maths and getting consitently above 70% within 50 minutes.

as to the Bond / NFER debate - I am not sure that it matters at the begining - make sure that you have a program that stretches your child (but not too much), have a consistent timetable, as a parent put in lots of time now (a year in advance), teach your child how to do the each subject. My son has gone from being on the middle group at school to the G&T table for all of his subjects - it has given him an amazing level of confidence and he feels good about the effort that he is putting in

That is so helpful Matt. Thanks for sharing your experience. I am sure your hard work will not be wasted. We are also prepared to spend time with our son. And one more question, this NFer - is NFER Nelson, right? I know I'm ignorant, but I hope to become an expert soon.

Good luck.

mattsurf wrote:

nat wrote:

Tracy wrote:Real thing is closer to nfer so if you are ok with them there shouldn't be a problem.

We ve just bought the whole set of Bond. Our son will try for QE Boys next year. But now I discovered everyone is talking about NFER. Is Bond not suitable? Please help. I am new to this subject. Thanks.

We are going through BOND books - DS currently on Level 5 for Maths, English and VR. We are also using NFER, as well as some from Tuition for You, from the internet. NFER is certainly the easiest, Bond is great as the level of difficulty gradually increases. Alot of kids who used NFER found that the actual 11+ last year was much harder than anything that they had seen before. I would be much happier if my son went into the exam and found that the paper was much easier than he is used to!

To put this into context, DS can complete a Level 5 Bond VR paper in 40 minutes and get 85-95%, he tried one of the NFER sample papers last night and completed it in 20 minutes (this paper is supposed to take 50 mins) and he got 96%

The only issue we had with Bond was during the summer holidays - as I mentioned before, the difficulty ramps up - we got to a situation where DS just couldn't do it - so I spent quite a lot of time explaining how to tackle the questions, the basics of fractions, decimals, equations (which have never been covered in school) and areas of irregular shapes. It was touch an go whether he would work hard to do it or give up completely (anyone with a subborn 10 year old will know what I mean). Luckily he decided to really put in the effort and we are now onto Level 5 maths and getting consitently above 70% within 50 minutes.

as to the Bond / NFER debate - I am not sure that it matters at the begining - make sure that you have a program that stretches your child (but not too much), have a consistent timetable, as a parent put in lots of time now (a year in advance), teach your child how to do the each subject. My son has gone from being on the middle group at school to the G&T table for all of his subjects - it has given him an amazing level of confidence and he feels good about the effort that he is putting in

Hi mattsurf

In your time tutoring for the 11plus have you come across or used Schofield & Sims mental arithmatic maths books..?

Would be useful to know how they compare to the Bond and NFER..

Many thanks
Villagedad

I don't think that we used the Schofield & Sims mental arithmatic maths books.

I think that we have not focused suffiently on mental arithmatic. Accurate mental arithmatic is an essential skill for the 11+, my son is rather inaccurate and this is a concern for me when he takes his test in 6 weeks.

Another observation is that we focused too much on one series - you get to realise that there is a pattern to the questions, my son is now a master at these type of questions, but he can get thrown by questions which are slightly different or asked in a different style. I would advise varying the material a little