Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

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guest201
Posts: 484
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:04 pm

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by guest201 »

Amber wrote:
guest201 wrote:at least you know you could if your child felt like it.
10 year old on holiday, feeling like doing exam prep rather than anything else? Really? Not unless he or she felt pressured to do so, surely.
Exactly!! but if it makes the parent feel better having the stuff there, then why not?
loobylou
Posts: 2032
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by loobylou »

Dd did the exams at the same schools as your dd 4 years ago.
We went on a 3 week holiday of a lifetime at the start of the school holidays. I took some papers - she did one and was very unhappy about it so I took the decision to forget them and just have a great holiday. It was great. When we got back she had 2 hours a week with the tutor and probably about 3-4 hours a week of doing papers.
She passed very well.
We met people that same summer who literally did nothing but work all day and who failed.
Obviously these are only anecdotes but it's unlikely that that much practice in the last few weeks is honestly going to make all the difference - go on holiday, enjoy it and do some work whilst you're home the rest of the time...
RedPanda
Posts: 283
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:56 am

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by RedPanda »

Amber wrote:10 year old on holiday, feeling like doing exam prep rather than anything else? Really? Not unless he or she felt pressured to do so, surely.
Kids are a funny bunch aren't they? Our first didn't do anything - we didn't suggest and she didn't ask. Our second wanted to take a VR 10 minute test book with her instead of the usual puzzle books. So we bought one and she never took it out of the suitcase apart from one stormy day. It actually worked out well with all of us having a go with interesting results. Let's just say, I'd need to prep if I was sitting the test.

In hindsight I think she felt more pressure because her older sister passed. I can't believe she actually wanted to do any "academic work". As it turned out, she didn't need to.

Anyway, bottom line, I'd go and enjoy the holiday and forget about the tests. We've been away in the summer with both of ours (1 week short haul and 2 weeks long haul) and had a great time. No regrets.
bluesea
Posts: 180
Joined: Wed May 17, 2017 11:49 am

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by bluesea »

Sonya wrote:Hi, need some advice. Do you take a two weeks holiday aboard long haul during summer time, August? If your kid will have 11plus exam for two schools, Latymer is on 2nd Sep and DAO is on 1st and 3rd Sep. We are tempting to cancel our holiday and just concentrate on practicing past paper during summer holiday everyday solid.

What do you think? Any advice?

Many thanks.
Concerned that you are tempted to concentrate everyday solid, as you say. Please don't make your child work on papers every day. Take the two week holiday but also plan some other free days - hobbies, cinema, visits to family/friends, getting outdoors around their work days. Solidly doing papers for six or eight weeks will stress your child.
Sonya
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:45 pm

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by Sonya »

Thank you everyone for your kind a valuable advice. Good luck for those who are waiting for the results in March. Cheers.
piggys
Posts: 1636
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:29 am

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by piggys »

Sonya wrote:Hi, need some advice. Do you take a two weeks holiday aboard long haul during summer time, August? If your kid will have 11plus exam for two schools, Latymer is on 2nd Sep and DAO is on 1st and 3rd Sep. We are tempting to cancel our holiday and just concentrate on practicing past paper during summer holiday everyday solid.

What do you think? Any advice?

Many thanks.
Please do not do this- you will all ( you included) have a dreadful time and your dd will crash and burn.
exam2019
Posts: 227
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 3:14 pm

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by exam2019 »

Not sure of the source research but I watched a TED talk on study skills. Those who did best were those who started their exam prep planner by putting in fun stuff, breaks, holidays etc. Then planned study around that. It made them more efficient and motivated. Those who attempted to study all the time couldn’t keep up the pace and tended to give up on their planner; lower results followed. Good luck
Tinkers
Posts: 7240
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by Tinkers »

exam2019 wrote:Not sure of the source research but I watched a TED talk on study skills. Those who did best were those who started their exam prep planner by putting in fun stuff, breaks, holidays etc. Then planned study around that. It made them more efficient and motivated. Those who attempted to study all the time couldn’t keep up the pace and tended to give up on their planner; lower results followed. Good luck
When DD does revision timetables, she puts in the times she is doing something else first and allows time for ‘chilling’.
Middlesexmum
Posts: 1008
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:54 am

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by Middlesexmum »

You can combine both!

We had a summer holiday in Europe last summer a few weeks before dd sat HBS and SW Herts. She managed a paper a day most days. It didn't cut into holiday time at all really. We got into a routine - we usually sat by the pool during the day, came in around 3pm, dd did a paper and we marked it (an hour max), we all had a rest/read/watched TV then went out in the evening.

When my middle dd was preparing for exams she preferred to do a paper in the morning and get it out the way. That holiday was in the UK though so slightly different.
Bugismum
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Jan 21, 2018 3:45 pm

Re: Summer holiday before 11plus exam?

Post by Bugismum »

We usually spend our summers in Malaysia so our children can connect with my side of the family. Last summer we didn't as DD had her weekly hour tutor sessions over the holidays except for 2 weeks. We would have gone to Malaysia but my stepdaughter got married in the middle of the 2 week break. So my mum came to stay with us over the summer. We didn't really ramp up her 11plus prep either except for the last week of the holidays where I took her to the library to have some quiet time away from her siblings so she could do some practice workbooks.

DD also swims with our local swimming club and she kept up with her training over the summer holidays. DD qualified and moved up a swimming squad. Her friend from her swimming club and had the same 11plus tutor on the other hand stopped going to swimming training over the summer as she was made to concentrate on the 11plus. She didn't qualify by a large margin and didn't move up a swimming squad. Another friend from swimming club who is also half Malaysian like mine, went back to Malaysia for a few weeks and kept up with the swimming when she was here, missed out by only 3 point (her parents weren't too fussed with her results as she managed it with doing hardly any work) and went up a swimming squad.

Kids need the distraction. Go on holiday!
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