Dear all,

i'd really welcome some advice. We are from Cheshire and my daughter goes to a great primary school in Year 6. We are moving to Dorset in January. We've looked at schools and chosen 3 schools - 2 grammar and 1 private. All requiring an 11+ style exam.

She has to sit an 11+ for the grammar schools early Feb but the private school has asked her to sit their exam next week as they want to be sure she'll get in to senior school before offering her a place in year 6. I really think that just a couple more weeks of practicing will do her some good. Should I just go for it next week or push back for beginning of Jan?

and what advice would you give someone who hasn't done any tutoring to stand the best chances of passing the 11+ in Feb??

Thanks for anyone with any insights or opinions.
xx

Hi

Welcome to the forum! Good luck with your move to Dorset.

My gut reaction says children can & do pass the 11+ without a lot of preparation...but then there are lots of parents who do the entire opposite and tutor children to within an inch of their life! I'm not a fan of over tutoring - children need to be able to cope when they get to the school...having said that a bit of preparation / familiarisation with the type of things that are coming up will help. Not sure what I'd do with the independent school - I guess it depends how far up your preferred list it is?

I'd suggest looking at the section on late preparation on this site. I'd also look at the test familiarisation books on the grammar schools you're going for as that should tell you what to expect - coverage / question style / format etc. I'd make a plan for the next few weeks of what to go over - but remember that it's Christmas & you're moving house. I'd recommend CGP books but I'm not familiar with Dorset which I think is GL rather than CEM (different type of tests). I'm sure there will be some other expert folk along with GL experience.

Best of luck.

CGP are good and they have a version of their books with practice tests for GL as well as one for CEM. Good luck!