11 Plus Exams Forum

My DD and I both find these questions near on impossible! She can normally get one or two, but she finds them virtually impossible. Or perhaps that is me - but I can generally find one more but never all of them and not without a very long time thinking about it. DD is a very advanced reader and I have a PhD but I am dyslexic and DD isn’t but her brain works similarly to mine in some instances.

Is there a trick we are missing here? I don’t understand why they are so incredibly hard (either actually or for us). I am worried that having a whole section she finds incredibly hard will be an issue for the final mark. Or is it normal there are some bits that are just difficult?!? She is very good at NVR, so maybe it will not be such an issue?

Sorry! On my phone and just spotted that my title was too long!

It shouldjust be a question of vocabulary. I assume that you are both using the strategy of looking for the low frequency word and then free associating possible words to make the next one?
Practice helps, so the more of these your daughter does, along with checking the answers, the better she should get.
That said, sometimes children do find a type of question difficult. However the belief that they can’t do that type can become a self fulfilling prophecy, so encouraging a positive attitude may also help.