GL 11 plus - timing help

Discussion of the 11 Plus

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
TNM47
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:33 am

GL 11 plus - timing help

Post by TNM47 »

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
Glos18
Posts: 218
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:57 pm

Re: GL 11 plus - timing help

Post by Glos18 »

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).
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now