11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi, I'm new to this forum. My daughter will be starting year 5 in September and already other parents have started to talk about exams, tutors etc. I am not keen on selection but accept that is the system we have in the Wirral. My daughter is very bright but I realise that is not enough to get her through the obstacle race of the 11+ or the Upton exam and she needs to be familiiar with the type of question asked and to answer the paper within the time allocated.
We are not sure if we will prepare her ourselves and avoid using tutors but this may not be good for family relationships! Can anyone answer the following questions?
1. Does anyone know of anyone who would do a diagnostic test to see which areas she needs to work on?
2. What exactly are the types of questions included in the Wirral 11+ and the Upton exam. I understand they are different and may be different from the papers used in other parts of the country.
3. There are a whole range of books available- which are the best ones to use for the 11+ and Upton exams?
4. I want to avoid starting too soon to avoid boredom/burnout/stress but will do some fun exercises over the summer, can anyone advise from experience what is the best time to start doing practice papers? Feb half term? Easter? or September before the exam?
5. Is there a list of tutors I could get hold of just in case? We are in the West Wirral area. Does anyone regulate or monitor tutors for quality or do we just need to go on personal recommendation? Can anyone recommend a good tutor or 11+ club?
I think that's all for now!
Thanks

Welcome to the forum, this may answer some of your questions.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/school ... ol-11-plus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As to tutors, unfortunately there is no regulatory body for tutors. The best way is to go on personal recommendation.

I am not from the area so am not familiar with the 11+ in Wirral. Hoefully someone will come along who has local knowledge. Meanwhile have a look around the rest of the site, There is a lot of information available.

The papers are Verbal reasoning so lots of word games, eg scrabble allowing use of a dictionary, boggle and ww.freerice.com to build up vocabulary will help

Hi Pippin,

We have 2 sons at St.Anselm's - we visited the school in September (along with WGSB) and were provided with several sample test papers from previous years. They are really useful. At Wirral/WKGS, they have 11+ VR papers for sale, which are highly recommended - they also sell them at WH Smith, and through this website. As regards tutors, speak to people who have "been through the mill" - you will find the tutoring different for Upton and WKGS - depends where you want her to go/where she wants to go!

Plenty of free downloadable 11+ test papers if you Google.

The Wirral 11 plus consists of 2 Verbal Reasoning tests published by GL Assessment, using 21 types of questions.

Take a look at the following thread for relevant publishers.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =12&t=4782" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In Bucks the child only needs to pass one of the two tests, however Wirral take the aggregate score.

Patricia

My DD didn't want a tutor and so she just did it herself. She went through a "how to do the 11 plus VR" book to understand all the types of questions and then did the free online tests on the web which she liked doing. Her weakest point was vocabulary so towards the end we made some cards with the word on one side and the defination and that on the other so that she could try and learn some of the words she was getting wrong in tests.

She sat the 11 plus and the Upton exams and passed both easily. However it was very worrying her doing it herself and I don't know whether i could do it again with my DS. At least we have a few years to think about it before we have to decide.