GL 11 plus - timing help
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GL 11 plus - timing help
Hi
My son sits the exam in September and is very bright but timing seems to be a real issue for him and he leaves lots of gaps. Does anyone have any advice/techniques to help with this?
Thanks
My son sits the exam in September and is very bright but timing seems to be a real issue for him and he leaves lots of gaps. Does anyone have any advice/techniques to help with this?
Thanks
Re: GL 11 plus - timing help
We had a similar issue when my DS did the 11+ last year, although we are in a cem area. He has Spld which means his reading and processing speeds are slower, although we did not apply for extra time. To our surprise (and delight) he got into his first choice school.
Things we did to help:
- look at a paper together and discuss how long each question should take eg. 10 mins to do 20 questions, so 30 sec each. I actually sat with him a couple of times with a stop watch and timed him for each question, telling him to move on if he hit 30sec.
- do general speed improvement exercises. Old favourites like hit the button are good - doing a couple each evening trying to beat previous scores keeps the brain working quickly. Similarly, I downloaded an app which times your reading speed, which improved his fluency.
- discuss strategy with him. Optimising the score in a given time. Why is he leaving lots of gaps? Is it because he can't do it (in which case this isn't a timing thing) or is he panicking (in which case you might want to give him some easier tests to build up his confidence, then gradually increase the difficulty).
Things we did to help:
- look at a paper together and discuss how long each question should take eg. 10 mins to do 20 questions, so 30 sec each. I actually sat with him a couple of times with a stop watch and timed him for each question, telling him to move on if he hit 30sec.
- do general speed improvement exercises. Old favourites like hit the button are good - doing a couple each evening trying to beat previous scores keeps the brain working quickly. Similarly, I downloaded an app which times your reading speed, which improved his fluency.
- discuss strategy with him. Optimising the score in a given time. Why is he leaving lots of gaps? Is it because he can't do it (in which case this isn't a timing thing) or is he panicking (in which case you might want to give him some easier tests to build up his confidence, then gradually increase the difficulty).