preparation for NVR

Advice on 11 Plus NVR papers and problems

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preparation for NVR

Post by 007 »

Has anyones child found NVR Paper easy without any preparation what so ever?my friend's child said she did!
jah

Post by jah »

My elder daughter (now year 10) has always found NVR easy. I did start her off with the papers for 8/9 year olds before moving her on to 11+ standard, but she usually got 100% from day 1. Now several years on, she is planning to do Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Music in the 6th form; which gives an indication of where her talents lie. On the other hand, she can't spell, doesn't like writing compositions, and has no particular aptitude for foreign languages.
hermanmunster
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Post by hermanmunster »

Sounds a bit like me -.... used to do NVR for fun!

Good at maths and problem solving and a vast store of useless facts - can even spell even though grammar is awful, absolutely useless at foreign languages.

Agree that some kids can do NVR without being taught - my two are like that as was I. Once ended up explaining (not so long ago) how to do some of the NVR to a head of a high achieving senior school who just couldn't get it.
Guest

Post by Guest »

I remember as a child being really excited about having to sit tests at the end of my last year of primary school to assess suitability for grammar school (back in 1977 when nobody ever considered any form of preparation). By the second day of tests when everyone else was groaning I was secretly saying yipee to myself....... and yes I did get the grammar school place. I even sometimes secretly do my sons NVR papers (how sad am I). However, like jahs daughter languages just freeked me out as did the years of French, German and Latin that I had to endure!!

My son also really enjoys doing NVR and usually gets most questions correct in a very short space of time. I think either you just see the answer immediately or you have to slog your way through working these things out. However, he struggles with English (therein lies my problem).

I guess all our children have different talents which doesn't always fit with an 11+ exam.

Loulou
guesty

Post by guesty »

hello

I also remember taking 11plus and passing in 1977, without any tuition and DID enjoy NVR. However, I have a bright child who does well in all other aspects of 11plus prep, but cannot do NVR consistently. I am struggling to explain aspects and techniques and we are not communicating very well at all. Any suggestions for helping child? Results in BOND papers vary from 10 wrong to 3 wrong to 20 wrong in each paper. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to achievement. Child does not have same problem with other papers and makes good progress. We have plenty of time as only in year 5 at moment, but just don't know where to go from here
SteveDH

Post by SteveDH »

I remember doing mine in 1975 and I found it quite fun, although I had no idea at the time that it was some sort of selection test, just thought it was something more interesting than the usual lessons, ie you got to do things in an interesting booklet. The first I knew it had been a test was when my parents were told I could have my pick of grammer schools.
And yes I'm awful at languages... maybe there's some sort of connection :-)
and primary school life seemed so much easier then.. no homework, no tests, no league tables...
jah

Post by jah »

Hi guesty

I found with some of the papers we used that the last ones on each paper were often only possible to solve by looking at the answer and working backwards. It can be disheartening if your child gets a lot wrong, as they are unlikely to want to sit down and go through them with you. I suggest just looking at no more than 5, and ask him how he chose the answer that he did. Then you can identify which piece of logic he has missed.

I tried to leave 11+ preparation until the holidays. Did your child perform worse because he was tired after a day at school, or a bit under the weather?

Sometimes, in NVR questions there are only very small differences; it is always worth having his eyesight checked if he doesn't spot things, because he could have something like astigmatism.

I told my second daughter, who is more of an English and language person than No. 1, not to worry about it if she couldn't manage the last few in the exam. If everyone could answer every question without a problem, then how would they split up the candidates? We are relying on her doing well in Verbal reasoning and comprehension!

Roll on March 1st so we can find out how she's done!
Karen

Post by Karen »

My son can do them with virtual total accuracy in a quarter to a third of the time allowed. The downside is in our area they only test verbal reasoning! He only gets average scores in VR I think some people just see the answers.
Joanne

Post by Joanne »

Yes, my 7 year old daughter is the same, while her older sister was preparing for this years 11+ she was going through the not needed NVR papers (we are also only tested in VR skills) At first i thought it was a fluke that she was getting the answers correct, so i had her explain the answers to me, and it was definitely no fluke. Though she is not great at English, and doesn't really enjoy reading either, her maths and NVR skills are brilliant for her age!
guesty

Post by guesty »

hello Jah and others

thanks for tips. we did do papers in holidays, but have arranged a tutor to assess child, which I hope will throw up any glaring problems. Bought Bond's "How to do NVR" which we will try and go through soon. Don't want to discourage child as we have masses of time ahead and would hate to make more of it than is necessary, it's just that my child seems to do the other papers with apparant ease..........

Guesty
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