11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello, I'm new, having found this site after lots of browsing...

I have three daughters (currently in Years 5, 4 and 2) in a good primary school. They are all achieving well above average, and enjoy school.

We live in Calderdale (Halifax, West Yorkshire) which has two Grammar Schools, one of which is a ten minute walk away!

Although I am a teacher myself ( I work as an advisor for children with SEN), I feel really out of my depth helping our eldest prepare for her 11+.

We have bought some sample papers and looked at a few online tests and she is scoring highly(above 90%)in verbal reasoning, slightly lower in maths. Her writing skills are very strong.

She has a late June birthday, so will we benefit if scores are standardized? I have no idea if the school does this.

Her 11+ will consist of three papers (mathematics, verbal reasoning and continuous writing)

We are a little unsure whether we want to push her with tuition, but she is keen to get into the local grammar (this year 1450 children sat for 310 places)

I'd appreciate any thoughts? A good local tutor? Or am I as well working through practice papers with her at home? (She will sit the tests Dec 09)

Many thanks, and sorry for such a long-winded post!

Helen

Hello Helen,

My DC is sitting the exam in December. He qualified in the Pre-Test but only 723 entered, more are expected to take the actual exam.

I did not send him to a tutor so can't help with that. I know that a lot of children are tutored but I don't think it is essential. (I hope not anyway!)


Yes VR is age standardised which will benefit you if June children score less well than Sept. 90% in VR is wonderful.

Thank you for that!

I have just spoken with a tutor (who is full) but says she isn't entirely in agreement with tutoring either!

She has given me a few pointers, such as standardized scores for verbal reasoning which will benefit our daughter as she has a June birthday!

She also recommended we look at Bond maths papers, so I shall buy a few and see how she gets on.

I did find a website called *** Advertising Censored ***, and downloaded some free materials which were quite useful.

Good luck to your son!

Helen

Thanks. I think the maths is mostly covered at school. Only a few things which were not covered yet. Simple algebra, ratio and probability.

VR is most important exam (worth marks out of 140)
Maths only worth (71 marks)
Writing only used to select the final 70 candidates.

If you do nothing else this year - work on Vocab. Good luck to you.

Thank you, Mitasol, that is really useful to know.

We shall focus on the verbal reasoning, with a bit of time on the maths and continuous writing stuff.

Do you know how many essay titles the children are given in the exam for continuous writing? And how long the paper is? I have no idea!

Thank you

Helen

The writing element was not included in the Pretest but I understand it is 30 mins. This will only be marked for those children not obtaining a place in the top 230/232. Children from this to 400th position will have essays marked.

The final 25% will be allocated places on VR + Maths + Essay.

Hi again

Is the pre-test not a pre-requisite for the exam 11+ itself?

Thanks

No. The exam is after the return of CAF. So the pre-test is to help you decide if placing the schools on your CAF is a viable option.

Thanks Mitasol, you have been really helpful!

Helen

Sorry Mitasol, more questions!

Is the mathematics paper a multiple choice answer sheet, or do the children write their answers directly onto the paper? I have found both versions in Bond and wondered which to expect?

I am assuming the verbal reasoning is onto an answer sheet?

Thank you

Helen