11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello,
Please can someone explain the order in which GL assessment papers should be practiced.
Are the 8 papers to be done in any randomn order or does it get harder from 1 till 8 . I read somewhere that 1-4 are for practice an 5-8 give you indicator score. Is it true? And what's best time to begin these papers?

Apologies if its been posted before. Thanks for your help in advance.

Don't think it make a difference except there is one NVR paper which is known as an absolute stinker!!

What I would say it's that my son didn't always score fantastically on them , and thought that the AGSB exam was actually easier! They are pretty hard.

Yes thats right, nvr paper 1....is the one. My DS scored only 60% on it...but managed to score 90% on the next one. So the level of diffculty does not come in order.

Just start with the first pack and work your way. Revisit papers and try it under time pressure.


TM is right, ALty exam was tiny bit easier than GL papers....but only a tiny....exact words of my DS.

Thanks TM and Oshosh. And when should we begin practicing them? From easter holidays ?
Does everyone end up doing them all ?

Why are you doing nvr? I thought they had dropped that for Alty Boys, or is that from the year after? We didn't do the English either.

Doing NVR for Sale Grammar and English for Alty boys this year. We can't take chance of not doing NVR at all.

2 packs of each subject, 4 papers per pack would mean 32 papers. Are u also doing bond papers?.

Even though practice papers are important.....i would also devot energy on strengthing core skills needed for 11 plus....eg the maths syllabus. We might have done about 40 papers, maybe less, but no more. But we revisited all papers during revision.

You can start practice papers sometime soon. That will let you knowwhere DS strength and weakness is, and then you can work on them. My only advice is to make sure all syllabus is covered before you start the test papers.

Good luck.

We did some 'extras' - if you want to know pls ask - crack on with GL for now

I gave my son his first GL practice paper 5 months before the exam and he scored around 50%. My son felt he wasn't good enough for grammar school. I realise this was my mistake as he hadn't fully covered the topics and I was just trying to establish what level he was at. I then went back and covered the areas that he hadn't covered in school, before giving him a second paper in June, in which he scored in the 80s. After around 10 practice papers his marks had increased and were fairly consistent so I thought he'd reached the point of his ability. We covered 16 practice papers in the end, alongside lots of reading, and he very comfortably passed all the tests. Personally, I would have liked to have covered a few more papers with him for peace of mind, but he got to the point where he didn't see the point of doing more.....perhaps the lovely weather and his friends playing football had something to do with it

I fully agree with Oshosh in that all the topics should be covered before attempting the papers and then focus on areas of weakness.

TIDDLYMUM wrote:We did some 'extras' - if you want to know pls ask - crack on with GL for now

TM - Extras and GL. What are those extras. Please share with us.

NS1- I worry the same. If we do it now, low score will lead to low confidence. I'll test waters in April

Oshosh - We are doing Bond papers, on 10-11+ now. I think GL is the next step after Bond.