entrance without private tutoring

[matreshka]

I did DIY my child from year 3. When he was at Y5 i hired a tutor(group tutoring). I would say that he did not benefit from it academicaly , just he could see that other children were at a lower level than him. It gave him a boost of confidence. By the way all 12 children in a class had been tutored since Y3 entirely by tutor(not DIY). So my kid spend there a few month just for boosting confidence and gain speed at tests. The result is......only him who passed 11+ out of a whole group. In fact tutor is a very popular and to get place there is a great honour!!!

[DC17C]

Hmmmm gosh I wouldn't be very impressed with a tutor with such a poor history of success especially tuition from yr3!!

I do find it quite interesting though - my dd had maybe 3 months of VR tuition last year and I was quite involved in supporting her at home. I know of other children who went to the same tutor for maybe 6 months prior to 11+. They ended up with lower score than dd and I would say their parents left it much more to the tutor. I''ll carry on with DIY with DS.

[Fran17]

We approached the preparation with a DIY and tutor approach. We were very lucky to have a wonderful tutor who assessed my DSs, worked on their weaknesses and filled in the gaps. It was a combined effort as I didn't feel confident in my knowledge of what was required to go it alone. I have several friends who coached their own children, like lots of people on here, and they did very well indeed. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[ILEANA]

I thank you all very much for the advice. It is indeed very encouraging to find out that some other parents have successfully done it. The unfortunate thing is that I don't know many parents who's children past the 11+ and none for QEboys. However, seeing that people
respond to post/queries that is a step ahead.

[ILEANA]

I have been working with my child for quite a while on Maths mostly as it is my strongest subject. However, I am a little bit concerned about English. The hard work is there and probably it is normal to find it this way as English is my second language after all.

Does anyone know if there is going to be an essey for this year's exam?

Thank you very much.

UCA

[Daogroupie]

Upto now QE boys has been multiple choice. First round NVR/VR and Second round English and Maths. This could change this year but I think that is unlikely as they have done so well with the boys they currently get with the format they have used upto now. I would start working on NVR/VR now. DG

[2Girlsmum]

We self-tutored dd1 for St Michael's Grammar and Latymer over one year and found it a wonderful experience, though hard work as her Primary school hadn't challenged her at all and we had to cover quite a bit of ground.

This website was invaluable for tips on tests, types of questions within tests, info on mocks etc. She came in the top 25 for both schools, and we stuck with our 1st choice St Michael's which she absolutely loves:) I know of 2 children who had private tutors and didn't make R2 at Latymer. There were 4 girls in DD's Y6 class who sat the test and the 3 who made R2 were all home-tutored:) It can be done, but you will still need to budget at least £200 on bought papers IMO (as well as the downloadable freebies from Indie schools like Habs Boys, St Emmanuel, Greenwich etc) , and spend several hours a week on 11+ work.

Good luck!

[mattsurf]

Hi. I would be very grateful is someone could spare a little time to answer my query.
My son is going to be 10years in August 12 therfore he is going to sit 11+ tests this year between October and December.

Are you sure? Most 11+ exams have been brought forward to September due to new Government rules - certainly that is the case in Wiltshire

Home tutoring is fine... however, it is good to get some guidance and support from a Tutor, also a Tutor will arange mock exams where the children sit a simulated 11+ with close to real papers in exam conditions - tough to do at home

At the risk of generating a barage of comments, I am doing around 15 hours per week with my son

In Salisbury a Tutor will cost around £15 per hour

[ILEANA]

Salisbury is a long way for me - approx 112miles one way

Anyhow, as far as I know the exams will be held those months. Obviously I will look for updates nearer to the time.

Uca

[ConcernedDad]

DIY can certainly be done. As someone mentioned, it can also be quiet an enriching experience for the child as well as the parents.

English coaching can not be done in a short span of time. If you can get DC to read a number of books, it will greatly help. 11+ or no 11+, good reading habits will always help DC. You may want to arrange a couple of tutions closer to the exam date to get specific tips on story writing, suggestions on DC's writing style etc.

You can download lots of papers on Maths, VR and NVR. As long as one of the parents is confident in correcting and explaining the answers to DC, no tutor is necessary. You may want to explain the underlying concepts to DC much earlier than the exam depending on your / DC's inclination, but we found that the preparation in the month preceding the exam is far more important for Maths, VR and NVR.

What we did was - we made DC complete a good number of papers (not Bond papers, but exam papers downloaded from internet) at her pace. We collated all the questions that DC got wrong into a separate collection, and we made DC redo this collection of questions a couple of days before every exam. This proved to be excellent revision prior to the exam. Agree collation takes some effort, but definitely worthwhile.

Good luck!