St Michaels Preparation guidance

[Lizhill]

Specifically looking for St Michaels for DD as we are catholics. It would be kind if anyone can guide on preparation to be done for this school. We will be writing 11+ this September and would be handy to know which all publishers books should be covered.

[Daogroupie]

Seven months to go. Use Athey for VR as it is Moray House. Use First Past the Post and GL for Maths and English and use past papers like Habs and Manchester Grammar. Timing will be vital with five different papers in one day. DG

[2Girlsmum]

NOOOOOO!
If you search the forum you will find out quite a lot about the tests, which haven't changed in years (since the Moray House debacle). Your daughter needs to have a certificate of baptism, a certificate of confirmation and a priest's reference. The tests are all GL style (according to a number of current students). They all happen on the same day, starting with (if I recall) English, then Maths, NVR and VR in the afternoon. It's a tough day, so you need to practice back-to back tests for stamina nearer the time, and timed tests which should be done with time to spare by late summer. Most people I know who are at the school were home-tutored. The tutored ones didn't cope with the exams well for whatever reason (timing was one issue), though 2 walked into Independent schools, so I guess that some tutors didn't filly understand what was required. Your daughter should be predicted level 5 at least, and needs to move away from Bond tests as they are too easy. She should be scoring in the high 80% - mid 90% range by late summer. Also have her sit the Sutton PA Grammar Mock, if there are still places, as it's great to overcome nerves and see how she is doing!

[Lizhill]

Thank you so much Daogroupie. We have started with Athey papers and was not sure what would be next. Will take your advice and would go for GL next

[Daogroupie]

First Past the post do all four topics and are next day delivery from the forum shop

[Lizhill]

Thank you 2girlsmum. That was some good advice. Back to back test seems very daunting considering the children are still young. I have booked Sutton mock exam so that's one work done.
The comment about tutored children not getting through is something that needs to be looked into.
Dd takes English lesson once a week. I handle the maths part. Her tutor is making her practise private school type of papers more as she thinks this will make grammar school paper much easier to handle.
Doing Athey papers now with Dd scoring from 75% - 90% depending on her mood and time of day.
Not sure about level in English but might achieve level 6 in maths though.

[gulat]

Ditto to everything that 2GirlsMum stated. Pls do practice a variety forms of creative writing such as stories, letter writing, reports. DD who appeared for St Michael this year stated there was a 15 - 20 minutes writing challenge. Papers more akin to GL/NFER. This year the order was English (Comprehension and SPAG), English Writing Assignment, Maths, NVR and VR if I remember correctly. The challenge is one of stamina doing 4 papers in a day made worse this year by breaks confined to a hall. All the best with the prep

[Nlmum]

In addition to the above we found IPS verbal reasoning papers and Susan Daughtrey multiple choice vr papers useful.

The creative writing task caught us out last September - dd had prepared for an essay situation but it was a persuasive writing task. Information was provided and the girls had to write a letter with their for and against arguments. DD thought she'd tackled it ok but it was clear from the results that she'd messed up a bit with her English paper compared to the others.

Good luck

[Lizhill]

Thank you gulat and nlmum for all you suggestions and guidance. Would surely follow them.

[Nic]

Hi, A bit late to be asking but does anyone know whether the VR and NVR for St Michael's is GL or Moray House please? I have just read through the thread and it is still unclear. Many thanks.