My son has been preparing for the Latymer entrance exam for over 18 months and in the last 2 months we've worked through the GL papers and today did paper 8. My son is bright, very good at maths, top set at his primary and our tutor comments that he is very strong and should have no trouble getting through. Initially, he was getting 42 or 43 out of 50 on the GL paper but on the last 3-4 papers is only getting 36 or 37 and on the last two papers only 33/50! We went through the papers and he lost about 10 marks through silly mistakes where he knew the answer but either didn't read the question properly or made other silly mistakes. More practice doesn't seem to help as he is getting more stressed, as am I, and his scores are not improving so I am wondering whether he should sit the exam at all. English is also a bit problem and we were relying on his excellent maths and VR to get through the first stage of the Latymer exam.

Why not give him a complete break - do some maths puzzles like the Primary maths challenge?

http://www.primarymathschallenge.org.uk/downloads

I would but the exam is on Saturday!!

I would second the complete break. There is limited value in doing tests in the immediate run up to a exam and you risk transmitting anxiety to the child.

ok, thank you both. Any tips on how to get them to stop making silly mistakes?

Please encourage your son and attend the exam. He will do well with all these preparations. Give him a break from writing the tests until Friday. May be he can write a paper on Friday if he feels good. GL papers pack3 (papers - 7,8 & 9) is bit difficult compared to the other 2 packs (just my opinion). There are other simple GL based MCQ papers that he can try just to bring up his confidence level. For Latymer, it is a combined paper for Maths and VR so it should be fine. Best wishes to him.

I would switch to some 10min tests instead. Or if it was a specific area that had a problem just make up some questions related to that. It might be better than continuing with full tests.
One thing for certain don't show him that you are concerned/worried - stay calm. As I always tell my children, don't worry if you are stuck as nearly everyone else will be too.

Does he 'read' the question in his mind or just scan it? He need to slow down and then when he gets an answer check it makes sense.

Could he make some questions up? I've suggested this before as it really works.

You start with a statement like 'Smoothies cost 50p' then make up some questions.

How many smoithies can I buy for ....

How much does ... smoothies cost?

Then go on to giving change and multi-stage problems. By making up questions they understand how problems are constructed.

Apologies, OP, but - am I the only one here into whose mind the saying, You don't fatten a pig by weighing it has sprung? The lad has been prepped and tested over and over since sometime in year 4? and if he has got to the point where he is getting lower marks on each successive test, it would seem somewhat bizarre to test him even more between now and the real thing.

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