11 Plus Exams Forum

Well, I have been preparing my son for the 11+ exams for a while now and he seems to have no problems with the work itself. However, when I set a mock paper (using GL Assessment papers) he completely panics, can't do it in the time, cries and gets silly things wrong!!! I don't know what to do. He was fine on the English paper as there is plenty of time for this but on the maths and VR he goes to pieces. This is worrying me as these are actually his better subjects!

How do I improve his confidence and speed! He can do the GL papers without any problems when he is just working through them in his own time. He is really bright at school (top of Maths and English in a large year group) and is really keen to learn.

Am now wondering whether to get a tutor as I feel like I am not helping! Am I introducing test conditions too early?

I wouldn't worry too much - you can get faster at anything with practice! Lay off the clocks for the time being, just ask him to work as quickly as he can and (discreetly) make a note of how many questions he has completed in the time allowed. You'll find this number should get higher and the overall time taken will reduce. He should eventually complete a paper within the specified time. It can sometimes take a while to reach this stage, but it's more important to work on the accuracy first. Speed really does come with practice.

Assuming the tests are in September you have plenty of time. Both my DSs couldn't complete a paper in the time in early July. By September in the real test they were finishing with time to spare (this was GL too).

I'd set him off on a paper and discretely time him, and then show him at the end that you were timing him and show him that its not a big deal...and give him massive amounts of praise too.

Maybe make it into a challenge to see if he can beat his last time and have a leaderboard? Maybe also do it yourself so he can challenge you?

Agree with the above.

Bomoboy don't worry i set my Ds a made up paper with timings a couple of days ago i was shocked to see him panic when i said that he was going to be timed and in exam conditions... i did some silent meditation with him followed by breathing exercises and gave him some positive affirmations... we did this for 5 mins and he then got on with it i was surprised to see him fly through the synonyms...although he struggled with the maths and comp (due to the tight timing pressures) because i think you have to remember the exam is very tight with time...

In regards to his confidence i would give him easy papers to do at first and timed to build his confidence and then highly praise him and then gradually more challenging papers...

Hope this helps

Timed paper always set a panic when introduced for the first time. The scores dip as dc's are more focussed on clock rather than the actual question. It easily take 3-6 months to overcome that time fear. You may have to start with easy one and gradually build confidence. Year 4 is the right time to introduce timed tests. Hope that makes sense.

I agree with all the above, time and accuracy will improve with practice. You'll be surprised how quickly.

When I did the first timed test with DS, he couldn't finish in time and the result was shocking.
Now he finishes in time and results are getting a lot better.

My dd was awful with timing at first. We went back to easier level mental maths and bonds that were supposed to take 10 minutes, that she could do usually in less, and used a timer out of a stack-aacups game-you have to slap it with both hands To stop the clock-made it more fun and got over the panick.