Best Preparation Material - Bexley (& Kent)
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
-
littlemissfavored
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 10:24 pm
Best Preparation Material - Bexley (& Kent)
Here's first saying a BIG Thank you to all that have answered my questions, I appreciate all your support for my DS taking his Bexley & Kent 11+ next Sept.
Another question
Maths: We have been practising the Bonds Maths, We are currently on the Third Papers, they have been very, very helpful, he disliked Maths but its now his best subject!
I am considering THE TUTORS - MATHEMATICS - VOLUME 1 or PETER ROBSON - MATHEMATICS - VOLUME 1- Has anyone used any of these?
VR: I am going to use THE TUTORS - VERBAL REASONING - VOLUME 1 as recommended on this site.
I will use the Nfer/GL Assessment Variety Packs A-D from about after Xmas.
He also has First Aid English and Susan Daughtery VR Exercises as well.
Please advise on any other good material we could use. Many Thanks in advance.
Another question
Maths: We have been practising the Bonds Maths, We are currently on the Third Papers, they have been very, very helpful, he disliked Maths but its now his best subject!
I am considering THE TUTORS - MATHEMATICS - VOLUME 1 or PETER ROBSON - MATHEMATICS - VOLUME 1- Has anyone used any of these?
VR: I am going to use THE TUTORS - VERBAL REASONING - VOLUME 1 as recommended on this site.
I will use the Nfer/GL Assessment Variety Packs A-D from about after Xmas.
He also has First Aid English and Susan Daughtery VR Exercises as well.
Please advise on any other good material we could use. Many Thanks in advance.
Hi
I agree this site is fantastic
I'd be interested to see what the opinion is on the math's cd's or any of the cd's actually.
Sorry I can't give an opinion but I hope someone will answer you soon.
Someone on an earlier thread advised me to stick to the Bond papers for now but it would be nice to use something different - I was looking at the vocabulary builder cd - looks like it could be a useful tool.
Have you tried any of the cd's yet?
We've been playing word games, scrabble and I noticed the set game recommended on here - we love that !!
The nintendo ds maths 100 cell calculation method is a good one too!
I agree this site is fantastic
I'd be interested to see what the opinion is on the math's cd's or any of the cd's actually.
Sorry I can't give an opinion but I hope someone will answer you soon.
Someone on an earlier thread advised me to stick to the Bond papers for now but it would be nice to use something different - I was looking at the vocabulary builder cd - looks like it could be a useful tool.
Have you tried any of the cd's yet?
We've been playing word games, scrabble and I noticed the set game recommended on here - we love that !!
The nintendo ds maths 100 cell calculation method is a good one too!
-
Bexley Mum 2
- Posts: 851
- Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:55 pm
- Location: Bexley
I understand why you are both so keen, but please remember you have almost a year to go!
Bexley tests are set by Nfer and I wouldn't even think about doing the 4 VR and 4 Maths tests that are available until early summer.
I've never found it necessary to do a great deal of practice for the Bexley maths paper. Bexley claims that it doesn't include any maths that isn't covered in KS2. Many parents will say that, as the tests are in September, this means that children are being tested on subjects not yet covered in school. However, I firmly believe that the KS2 syllabus is pretty much covered by the end of Y5 and that Y6 is just going over stuff already learnt. Of course individual children may not have grasped all aspects of the syllabus, but that's not the same as everything not having been covered. I think the Bond 10 minute tests are good to keep your child ticking over and highlight any weaknesses. Make sure they understand all the terminology (mode, mean, median, product, shapes, types of triangle and their properties etc). Also good to practice is wordy problem type maths questions. Lots of kids are good at the simple maths, but get confused when faced with the same sum in a wordy format. I think the Kent maths paper threw a lot of kids this year because it included a lot of this type of question. Nfer maths practice papers include algebra but I've not known algebra to feature in the Bexley tests in the last 4 years.
VR - Bond practice material uses a lot of VR types that don't appear in Nfer tests (lots of threads on this in the VR section). This year I used some Susan Daughtrey papers which are very similar to Nfer but I think a little harder. Walsh are also similar, but are considered to be quite a bit harder.
Best advice I can give is to play it cool. Please don't make a big thing about the 11+. Just do a bit of practice now and then for 'some tests you'll have to do in year 6 - no big deal etc etc'.
Bexley tests are set by Nfer and I wouldn't even think about doing the 4 VR and 4 Maths tests that are available until early summer.
I've never found it necessary to do a great deal of practice for the Bexley maths paper. Bexley claims that it doesn't include any maths that isn't covered in KS2. Many parents will say that, as the tests are in September, this means that children are being tested on subjects not yet covered in school. However, I firmly believe that the KS2 syllabus is pretty much covered by the end of Y5 and that Y6 is just going over stuff already learnt. Of course individual children may not have grasped all aspects of the syllabus, but that's not the same as everything not having been covered. I think the Bond 10 minute tests are good to keep your child ticking over and highlight any weaknesses. Make sure they understand all the terminology (mode, mean, median, product, shapes, types of triangle and their properties etc). Also good to practice is wordy problem type maths questions. Lots of kids are good at the simple maths, but get confused when faced with the same sum in a wordy format. I think the Kent maths paper threw a lot of kids this year because it included a lot of this type of question. Nfer maths practice papers include algebra but I've not known algebra to feature in the Bexley tests in the last 4 years.
VR - Bond practice material uses a lot of VR types that don't appear in Nfer tests (lots of threads on this in the VR section). This year I used some Susan Daughtrey papers which are very similar to Nfer but I think a little harder. Walsh are also similar, but are considered to be quite a bit harder.
Best advice I can give is to play it cool. Please don't make a big thing about the 11+. Just do a bit of practice now and then for 'some tests you'll have to do in year 6 - no big deal etc etc'.
-
littlemissfavored
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 10:24 pm
Thanks for responses and advice I appreciate all the support and for you sharing experiences with us- all taken on board- the last thing I would want is DS to get anxious.
We are out of borough, in Greenwich so I am not sure if we will cover all the topics required, our schools here dont even mention it at all and certainly dont prepare the child for it.
I will leave the Nfer Packs till later as recommended- I can now see the sense in that, I will stick to the Bonds and reading which he likes.
We have just started using the the Tutors VR CD Vol 1. It is a really good resource, though I wish each Type had more than one test.
I particularly like the timer feature and you measure his improvements, kids tend to like computers and gadgest so it was a welcome change.
We are out of borough, in Greenwich so I am not sure if we will cover all the topics required, our schools here dont even mention it at all and certainly dont prepare the child for it.
I will leave the Nfer Packs till later as recommended- I can now see the sense in that, I will stick to the Bonds and reading which he likes.
We have just started using the the Tutors VR CD Vol 1. It is a really good resource, though I wish each Type had more than one test.
I particularly like the timer feature and you measure his improvements, kids tend to like computers and gadgest so it was a welcome change.
