11 Plus Exams Forum

I'd love to know how others are approaching these - especially those who are in a similar position to us! Bright state-school child but started preparing late so still some learning to do now, though hope by then it will be purely embedding knowledge and approach.

I'm thinking of taking 5 days off 100% just fun stuff, and then doing 2 hours a day in the morning with fun/relaxing stuff for the rest of the time.... with another day off near end of hols.

Hi Loveyouradvice, as I'm a first timer I can't claim to really know what I'm doing, but my instincts are to do less than this, to be honest quite a lot less! Dd's tutor will probably give her a practice paper to do, and I thought if she was keen we might talk through some possible writing topics and finish the last few bond 10 minute tests together, really just so she doesn't forget anything. I get the feeling lots of folks do much more, but I think that might panic my dd, and wear her out, they are always so tired at the end of the long Autumn term.

P.s. should add dd also state primary, she has had a tutor for the last year, but not one who gives lots of homework.

DD is really tired...end-of-termitis combined with colds does knock them out (and me!) - thinking I may rethink... look forward to hearing others thoughts....

At the mo, she is keen to do this but I think I may well cut back.

Feel quite conflicted as she's going to highly competitive London exams and hasnt yet quite mastered completing papers on time... and part of me thinks this extra time investment could work - part of me thinks could be counter productive!

Heard of one poor boy today who's got a tutor for 25 hours in the week before the exams!!!!!!

Dd is sitting London Consortium exams. Spoke to tutor again about this yesterday, I.e. should we be doing more? He is very much of the view that provided they have mastered the skills, you should not overdo it as the xc become tired, fed up and stressed, often going backwards. We will see if he is right! On timing, it is hard to finish these papers, adrenaline on the day might help a bit. It's difficult to know what the pass mark is, for different schools......

In case of our primary school, which stopped all proper schooling / homework since 2 weeks ago and put kids into a full scale Christmas Production rehearsals which will last until 19 dec, I just can't afford to stop (home)tutoring as we're facing 3 x competitive indies exams. So DS will continue with comprehension, math and a bit of VR until mid-Jan when this nightmare is over. They have not done a single math lesson at school for a week - if this goes on he'll forget his times tables!

i find it really annoying - schools seem to be working against us in this case (not that i'd expect them to be hugely supportive, but at least to maintain a decent level of basic skills!)

grrr.....

Hi

We are doing a lot less than this too. An hour every other day, with 10 minutes a day on maths to keep it from slipping. Maybe we should do more. DS is always going to be borderline for super-selective indies as his marks fluctuate so much, but he's probably reasonably secure with a mid-stream selective that we like.

It depends on your child's make up, but our DS is super sensitive to stress and really drops/loses sleep if we put pressure on, so we're going at a steady pace, just flinging the odd paper at him 3-4 times a week, and focusing noisily on all the pantos circuses and parties we'll be attending. Seems to be working reasonably well so far.

(Also at state school primary which is very far from being academic in its orientation. Arty and horizontally laid back, so we really had our work cut out.)

If kids don't do anything for weeks eg times tables, then they really won't forget them ... unless they weren't really confident of them anyway .
I probably haven't gone through times tables or anything like that since DD was about 6, but I can still rattle them off and I expect she can too (15 now).

I agree with Hermanmunster. If your child doesn't know what it needs to know by now then you are on a bit of a sticky wicket. Let the poor things enjoy Christmas but maybe do some gentle revision when the festivities are over. Just go over the stuff you think they might find the hardest.