The Final Push

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mattsurf
Posts: 230
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:44 am

The Final Push

Post by mattsurf »

2 Months today till the 11+ test and we are now at the final push. I am not happy that we are quite there - VR is fine, we have finished pretty much everything that Bond has to offer, the only errors are careless ones! English has been good, but the last paper was a disaster (I put this down to rushing to go out with friends). Maths has always been the big issue - some days we get 85%+ others we are back down in the 60's

The other issue is speed (especially in Maths). I feel that we are so close, but it has not come together.

How are others doing at the moment (I mean parents)? We are really ramping up the amount of work, doing at least one paper and corrections every night. Ideally I want to get everything sorted so that we can ease off in the final weeks up to the 11+

I am normally very relaxed, however, I can honestly say that I am getting stressed now.

I am taking the final plunge into bribery for completing papers on time and >75% - I would normally be opposed to such methods... however, extreme measures are now called for. Does anyone else do this?

Am I being too pushy or are there others in this situation

Matt
essex-mum18
Posts: 218
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:09 am

Re: The Final Push

Post by essex-mum18 »

mattsurf wrote:2 Months today till the 11+ test and we are now at the final push. I am not happy that we are quite there - VR is fine, we have finished pretty much everything that Bond has to offer, the only errors are careless ones! English has been good, but the last paper was a disaster (I put this down to rushing to go out with friends). Maths has always been the big issue - some days we get 85%+ others we are back down in the 60's

The other issue is speed (especially in Maths). I feel that we are so close, but it has not come together.

How are others doing at the moment (I mean parents)? We are really ramping up the amount of work, doing at least one paper and corrections every night. Ideally I want to get everything sorted so that we can ease off in the final weeks up to the 11+

I am normally very relaxed, however, I can honestly say that I am getting stressed now.

I am taking the final plunge into bribery for completing papers on time and >75% - I would normally be opposed to such methods... however, extreme measures are now called for. Does anyone else do this?

Am I being too pushy or are there others in this situation

Matt
Hi, Matt

I do not think you are too pushy because I really understand that you want your child to do the best on that one important day. They do so well on one day and then another day, the marks can be dropped quite significantly. But please try not to get too stressed ( I appreciate it is not easy) because your child can feel it too. :oops:

As you said, the maths paper could be scored between 60s and 80s. Are there any particular areas he/ she may find difficult with which caused the drop in scores? It may be worth investigating and work on those areas. I must admit that I also used bribery ( I told him REWARD instead) :) sometimes for my son when he did the 11+ papers 2 years ago.

Good luck!
clarendon
Posts: 253
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Birmingham

Post by clarendon »

Hi mattsurf,

Agree with Essex mum... your anxiety will rub off onto your son. My d passed 11+ here last year and is at KE Handsworth.. maths was always her downfall during prep. The careless mistakes, the length of time to do the work, the tantrums.. I could go on BUT she only dropped 5 marks in the maths in Sutton test, her highest score in KE test was the numeric and she got a 5a in the maths sats. Like you I felt that the maths never quite "came together" but clearly it had!
My son is sitting the test this year and shows a better understanding of maths than his sister did, but again the silly, careless mistakes are all there! Likewise with his peers... friends whose mums I chat to and other kids in his tutor group. I'm working on his mental arithmetic and going over ( and sometimes over again) questions that he finds more challenging rather than getting him to do endless practice at this stage.
Once I feel he's grasped these issues will reintroduce some tests but I feel it's his confidence which needs the most work now!
Best wishes to you and your son
mattsurf
Posts: 230
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:44 am

Post by mattsurf »

clarendon wrote:Hi mattsurf,

Agree with Essex mum... your anxiety will rub off onto your son. My d passed 11+ here last year and is at KE Handsworth.. maths was always her downfall during prep. The careless mistakes, the length of time to do the work, the tantrums.. I could go on BUT she only dropped 5 marks in the maths in Sutton test, her highest score in KE test was the numeric and she got a 5a in the maths sats. Like you I felt that the maths never quite "came together" but clearly it had!

Best wishes to you and your son
Thanks for the encouragement - We have just moved out of Sutton Coldfield to Salisbury - luckily the 11+ test is similar, however it is pretty disruptive moving school etc just 3 months before the test, it all adds to the general workload

Like you our biggest issue is the silly mistakes - there are a few areas where DS is a bit weaker (such as percentages and equations) however we are working on those subjects. My biggest frustration is the careless mistakes on things that should be really easy marks. I just feel that given the competition for GS places silly mistakes really could make a huge difference
Milla
Posts: 2556
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

I don't think ANY of our kids are alone in silly mistakes - but aint hindsight a wonderful thing. I certainly don't get everything I do right straight off and it's SO much easier to see the right answer after the event.

Be assured, we are all pretty stressed at this stage - and, frankly (!) bored of it all by now. It's been going on too long, it's acquired a sort of out of proportion momentum, perspective is lost and there's nothing to do but kick around either fretting that our darling offspring STILL can't quite get one way codes or (insert particular bugbear).

To be embarrasingly honest, I just want to mainlain X Factor at the moment and be thoroughly frivolous, and not have to gird occasional loins showing exhausted interest in hidden four letter words and stupid problems involving unlikely groups of children's tedious interest in sport (aka type Z - I think!?! :? questions).

Roll on the end of it all, eh, and a sort of return to what passes for normal life!
clarendon
Posts: 253
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Birmingham

Post by clarendon »

matt,
Trust that on the day he'll be focussed and realise the importance of the occasion and those "silly mistakes" just won't be made. It was just the same with my daughter, believe me, I know the frustration a parent can feel! When it mattered she came thru' tho'
fm

Post by fm »

If it's any consolation all but two of my pupils are giving a good impression of being 'brain dead', all are bored with it all by now and so are their parents. Also, some will have had the school work load racked up on year 6 so be contending with that.

When the silly mistakes increase, I sometimes reduce the work load, realising the egg (read child) is in danger of being over-boiled.

Children who score roughly the same mark each time will score pretty much the same thing in the exam. It is the erratic ones that will surprise you and usually in a good way.
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