Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Discussion of the 11 Plus

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Loopyloulou
Posts: 878
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2008 5:20 pm

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by Loopyloulou »

deleted
Last edited by Loopyloulou on Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Loopy
katel
Posts: 960
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:30 pm

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by katel »

I didn't mean to upset anyone. And as, I said, preparing for super selectives is a whole different ball game.

It's just that preparing for the 11+ is such a deadly dull, soul destroying process that I want my children to do as little as possible, leaving them more time for doing useful, constructive things.

We live in an area where 60% ish will secure a grammar school place.Once my ds is getting a safe margin consistently, I see no reason at all for spending time, which could be better used for other things, coaching him to get 100%. It will be no advantage to him to get 140 in the test - all he needs to do is pass. Which he either will or won't. Getting 100% in a practice paper as others have sadly found out is no guarantee of performance on the day.
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by scarlett »

Ah, don't worry Katel...we're all still friends ! The thing is ( perhaps from your personal experiences ) you're assuming it's a soul destroying process.It doesn't have to be ! You can still work hard ( and we do it alongside our child ...so it's us too) and be happy, do the things you want to do...relax. I found the whole process, although stressful at times, incredibly rewarding and I learn't so much about my son...we really bonded and even now he often says to me...thanks so much for helping me, we now have great discussions about things and his work ethic has really improved and his self esteem has soared.This has filtered down to my other 2. I wouldn't change a thing and irrespective of his levels, his school , it's these more important things the 11 plus has unlocked for us and that's what will give my son a great future.
katel
Posts: 960
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:30 pm

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by katel »

That's fabulous, scarlett - but wouldn't is be so much better if you had had those experiences over something worthwhile, something which would actually add to your son's mental furniture - music or history or..I don;t know..anything but ****** NVR!
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by scarlett »

Actually my son likes ****** NVR ...plus the weeks before the 11 plus he was performing on a West End Show and he camped over at a military show helping with the pyrotechnics for the renactments...we had a great beach holiday....so my son's mental furniture is pretty large.....a king size bed and 2 chaise longues perhaps.
menagerie
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 9:37 pm

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by menagerie »

Katel, I have wondered, while reading this thread, if it's you who hates and wants to stop, not your children :wink: . It doesn't have to be soul destroying. My boys love Alex Rider books. I give them the Bond papers and tell them they are James Bond papers, that NVR is spy de-coding. We'd not have won the second world war without some obsessive NVR- high flying nerds. It's not pointless at all. Seeing patterns and sequences in things which have no recognisable link to the everyday helps train them for forensic, chemical, biological, medical breakthroughs, space research, computer design and technology. Music and sport are there to relax us when we knock off work. Unless they are to be our work, in which case preparing to be a professional sportsman or musician becomes far more gruelling and limiting than any 11+ work (read Agassi's biography or the Tiger Mother book.)

If you are hating it, put some more fun into it. Play word games, write notes to each other in code. Buy a few computer maths games and let them mess around with those for half an hour a day so you get a week off. Don't burn out before they do, and don't show them how dull you think it is.

Work hard and play hard. Knock off after 30 mins to do something fun. Build up a points or credits system which rewards with a trip to the theatre or a concert - something you all enjoy.
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by scarlett »

I'm sure Katel will correct me, but I think her children are past the 11 plus stage so might not need your good advice, Menagerie !
katel
Posts: 960
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:30 pm

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by katel »

I do have one left to do it in September!

No, I don't think it would suit either me or ds to pretend that the preparation is anything but a chore - we just do our 20 minutes a day and get it over with. He knows that it is a means to an end rather than an end in itself.

I think I started this thread because I just don't understand why people post about doing an hour or more work a day when their child is already doing as well as they need to. I don't get the psychology of it. And I don't understand why the kids don't rebel, frankly!
First-timer
Posts: 698
Joined: Wed Sep 23, 2009 1:47 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by First-timer »

I started much too late with DS for him to plateau out. :oops:

So much depends on the area you are in and which schools you are aiming for. There can be a disparity between the level of the available practice materials and the level of the exam. The 10% dropped in a practice paper could equate to more in the real thing and make the difference between getting a place and missing out. If you are faced with Maths and English exams and not just VR/NVR then all practice is useful as the likely questions are far less predictable.

When embarking on preparing for the 11+, parents have no idea when their child will reach a level of 90% across the board and could reach this several months before the exam. While I can see the appeal in stopping, I can't see that many parents would have the cojones to do so. DC might get rusty, that year's paper could be a bit more difficult than previous years, they could slow down etc. There is also the very strong need to be able to say that you did all you could - just in case. Practise less frequently in the areas DC appears to have mastered by all means, but stopping altogether seems to me to be a very risky strategy.
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Once your child is consistently hitting 80%-90%......

Post by scarlett »

Katel will let us know in October if the strategy works !
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now