Stressed !!!

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Doghouse135
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:11 pm
Location: Medway

Stressed !!!

Post by Doghouse135 »

Hi All

What an invaluable site - I wish I'd found it months ago.............. :lol:

Anyway, I have a son who will be sitting the Medway test this Autumn. We've been completing test papers but my son is getting so disheartened as he's really struggling with the verbal reasoning papers.

His school appear to have done NOTHING in preparation for the 11+ and therefore have not been any help whatsoever. I'm doing my best but have started to feel that I've not been best equipped to help him.

My older son sat the 11+ but as he has special needs, he wasn't expected to pass it and therefore I didn't feel under any pressure (nor did he :D )

I'm trying to stay really positive as my younger son desperately wants to go to Chatham Grammar but don't know how to help him further.

Any advice would be greatly received. He's doing OK with his Maths papers but it's the vocabulary on the Verbal Reasoning that he's struggling with - we seem to have hit a mental block :cry:
coolmum123
Posts: 271
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:18 pm

Post by coolmum123 »

not sure if the following will be useful but how about reading with him and looking up words in the dictionary as you go along? and then getting him to write a sentance using the word/s you looked up?
Doghouse135
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:11 pm
Location: Medway

Post by Doghouse135 »

Thanks Coolmum 123 - I'll give that a go. His vocabulary is quite good but he wasn't prepared for some of the words he's come across in the practice papers (apathetic (!!!)) :shock:

I've printed out some different practice papers today for the verbal reasoning and he's done really well. I guess it just depends on the type of questions on the day. We've spent some more time today looking at how the questions are worded too as he seems to be racing through the question and summising what is required instead of reading it thoroughly.

Does their levels at the end of Year 5 give a good indication of their chances ?

My son got a 4B for his literacy and a 5C for his maths so I'm hopeful :wink:
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Post by yoyo123 »

have you tried the Tutors downloads?
There is a brilliant free VR methods and techinques course which is free.

How about playing scrabble, using a dictionary to help him work out words to play. wordsearches are good too as they help him spot letter patterns in words.

As for teh school's attitude, if your son is at a state school they won;t be allowed to help him with teh 11+.
Doghouse135
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:11 pm
Location: Medway

Post by Doghouse135 »

Hi Yoyo123

Yes - we play scrabble. I'm surprised you say that the state schools don't prepare for 11+ as most of the people I speak to at work seem to believe their childs school does - p'raps it's just the 'my childs school is better than yours' syndrome that we seem to have a lot of :x

Can someone show me where to go for the tutors downloads - I've had a looke but haven't managed to find them - need to take some PC skills tutoring from the kids I think :oops:
coolmum123
Posts: 271
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:18 pm

Post by coolmum123 »

Hi Doghouse 135,

my DS used to do that with maths (ie read the question very fast - hence miunderstanding it and then give an incoorect answer) and to help him I encouraged him to point a pencil at every word in the question, underline the main points eg opposite, same as etc and then I would ask him to tell me what he thought the question was asking him and then he would go ahead and answer it. We did it for about a week or so and now he has gotten the hang of it so there is no need for it. Maybe something you could try too?

REgards
Coolmum
Road Runner
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:32 pm

Mel x

Post by Road Runner »

Hi Doghouse

I can share a tip with you, something I used as a way to enhance confidence with my daughter when we first started(I am tutoring her myself). I sometimes scanned the test paper before dd did it so I would know what unusual words would come up then I added them to the words I ask her to look up in our next session. I didn't give her the test straight away I usually leave it but when I did she did better then if she had gone in blind. Some may say that it is better she just does it blind gets them wrong and we then go through them but I only ever use the words I know for sure she will not know and by doing this she became more confident.

Good luck

Mel
chad
Posts: 1647
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:49 pm
Location: berkshire

Post by chad »

Hi Doghouse..... I don't think anyone gave you a link for the downloads.
Just in case you haven't found them.

You access them from the home page..... column on left hand side... Free downloads...

Here is the direct link...

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/revisi ... wnload.php

Scroll down to the tutors section and you will find the 'technique course'.
Doghouse135
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:11 pm
Location: Medway

Post by Doghouse135 »

Thank you everyone. All your tips have been very helpful. We're progressing a little - I'm not pushing it with him as he has a stubborn streak - not sure where he gets that from :lol: and if I push too hard, he'll just give up.

We're doing about 30-45 minutes at a time but building it up slowly for him.

He seems to have the most difficulty sorting out what the question actually wants him to do and once I've rephrased it for him, he's fine. Hopefully, once he gets used to the way they're worded, he should be fine :)
coolmum123
Posts: 271
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:18 pm

Post by coolmum123 »

Hi Doghouse135,

My DS was exactly the same! He had a real problem figuring out what the questions were asking him to do, we gave him some reall simple worded questions at the beginning and then slowly introduced variations to the questions - we also explained that there really are only so many ways a question can be asked!! He had a go at a Habs paper today (which are really wordy) first time we've shown one to him and I let him get on with it no time pressure and taking that into consideration he did really well! So I guess what I'm saying is that they do get there eventually! although it does take a lot of time and practice and it really is a labour of love!!

REgards
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