Weakness in one area

[menagerie]

Just wondered if people had any experience of children passing the 11+ when the child is weaker in one academic area. One of my children is top in spelling and literacy but only in the middle group for maths. His verbal and non-verbal reasoning are pretty strong. He will have a tutor for about 6 months but I'm wondering - does he need to be top of the top set in maths to be confidently in with a chance? (In our area - Surrey - places are highly sought after and massively over-subscribed.)

[mystery]

Oh you will have to ask about the specific schools and test papers in the Surrey section. But, the maths group a child is in at school does not necessarily reflect their native ability at the subject; it could be that his teaching, or confidence to date has meant that his performance does not match his ability. Or it could be that a middle set in your son's class is above the middle nationally.

If he has always been middle set and they differentiate the work quite significantly you might find that you have more "curriculum" to cover than if he was top set - it all depends how your school works. It's best not to assume anything either way, be prepared for all results, and know that the maths tuition will really boost his maths whatever school he finally goes to.

There are lots of aspects to maths - particularly the higher you take it. He might have particular strengths that are not recognised in the overall "middle" grouping. Some schools do not teach and group like this; they accept that individual children might be great at spatial stuff, poor at rapid mental recall, great at concepts, poor at rote learning of number facts etc etc.

[menagerie]

Thanks Mystery. I hadn't thought of it that way. In fact the top set in his class are exceptionally gifted (doing cube roots for fun in Yr 3.) So the group he is in is probably not hugely behind what it needs to be to pass the 11+. But pass rate isn't enough in Surrey - you have to be well above the pass rate to secure a place. We're working on his times tables at home. His mental arithmetic is pretty quick and strong.

[mystery]

So far so good then - don't be put off by the top group doing cube roots for fun in year 3!! They won't find that one fun for much longer!! Keeps them busy though.

Is there a tutor you can visit who can give you a clear idea whether his maths ability will place him as a likely contender in the exams for the schools you are considering?

P.S. They might all be rubbish at literacy ......... only joking

[scarlett]

I might be wrong but I always thought with maths as long as they don't struggle with the concepts then it's just practice, practice , practice. My DS1 scored highly in the maths part of his 11 plus but definitely wasn't in the top set at school ( it's a tiny school so a bit hard to tell ) and I think was just nudging level 4 when he went into year 5....he really enjoyed the maths though and liked doing online tests which he would do every day and in the summer before he took the 11 plus, my friend who's a secondary school maths teacher did a little bit every other day... it made such a difference....now he's a 5b/a ( about to leave yr6 ).

[fatbananas]

Which online tests did your DS do, Scarlett? Think that format would appeal to my DS too.

[scarlett]

Hi Fat bananas.....have sent you a pm but the maths section on here do have some great online maths ideas. I find the best thing to do is trawl through them yourself and find those you think suitable as well as interesting. Then make sure it's all set up ready to go !There's nothing worse then finding a boring website which doesn't load properly or which you and DS don't understand ! Usually there'll be a huge cloud of dust and you have to drag them back kicking and screaming!