Queen Elizabeth Boys School

[Guest]

Thanks James and Kushie for that excellent advice. I really appreciate it.

[James]

I fully agree with Kush's advice! The 11+ Parents guide is also useful for punctuation practice

[LEEDS100]

Great advice as usual from Kush and James. I was wondering how long will my son be at the school doing the tests.

My son's attention span usually starts to wane after an hour of doing the practice tests at home.

This shows in the marking of the tests, as he gets about 90% of the questions right in the first 30 mins. It drops off dramaitcally in the latter half, when he only manages around 50%.

[Kush @QE Boys]

Practice of back to back papers will improve stamina. It is a good idea to aim for higher than 90% for QE exams - quite apart from standardisation and nerves on the day, he will have back to back examinations in two subjects so cannot afford any lapse in concentration if he is serious in getting in.

[Jane]

Dear Kush and James,

Is the 11+ Parent Guide called 11+ English, A Parent's Toolkit by Lucas Publications? I'm looking for books to help my daughter in English for the 11+ exams. Your help will be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[James]

That's the one!

Good luck!

[j]

My son is also sitting for this school (and Mill Hill County, independents ) and the advice given has been very useful - thanks. My son and I both think that Athey (12+) NVR is more challenging (at first, quite scary looking) followed by NFER. We've been using Bond for the past year and still think they're the best for maths and english prep. The "11+ ...Parents Toolkit" is indeed a very good book to consult.

[James]

Good luck J!

My only concern about Athey is how closely the question style reflects what is used in the tests. However, given the unpredictability of QE I think it's sensible to do a couple if only to be flexible and not be thrown if unexpected formats turn up.

[j]

My thoughts exactly James. We prefer the NFER tests.

My son managed to score 92% on a NFER NVR test (within time) after we went through what was required and the best way to tackle each question/category quickly and accurately. 24hrs before, without offering him any such advice, he scored 75% on a similar paper (I like to see what my son can achieve on his own first).

VR is fine except for two types of questions: anagrams, and the ones that require you to find the missing letters that also form a word. I don't think there's a quick fix in this case.

[James]

Incidentally, my son claimed that for the QE VR there was no handy (essential!) alphabet above the letter sequence questions. In the heat of it he didn't think to scribble his own! Can't guarantee he just didn't see it, but well worth telling your son!