Help with VR - Vocabulary

Advice on 11 Plus VR papers and problems

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sabz
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:55 pm

Help with VR - Vocabulary

Post by sabz »

Hi,

Can anybody point me in the right direction to improve my DC in his weak areas. After working through quite a bit of material these last few months (mainly IPS, The Tutors and S Daughtrey papers), I am fairly comfortable that of the 21 types identified, DS has grasped most of the 21 types. However, I have identified that my DS lets himself down in the areas, similar words, opposite words and related words (type 4 & 8 IPS and type 7 S Daughtrey). I purchased the vocabulary builder (by The Tutors) but have found this to be very difficult and more difficult than the actual 11+ will be. Is there any material that specifically targets these areas or is there anywhere I can acquire banks of practice questions of the type and difficulty he will face in his 11+.
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Re: Help with VR

Post by patricia »

Dear Sabz

Vocabulary will always be the biggest problem with Verbal Reasoning tests. Children are not walking dictionaries and cannot be expected to "know" all the words out of context. For this reason I expect 100% marks on certain question types in order to give the child that bit of leeway to get some word questions incorrect.

Take a look at the following links which contain some helpful hints.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =3&t=18206" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/free-1 ... ice-papers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Patricia
sabz
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: Help with VR - Vocabulary

Post by sabz »

Thanks Patricia,

Been out all day (a welcome break from 11+ related activities for DC and dad!) Will review the links later. I had previously added the list of important words and compound words and had earmarked to go through all during the summer holidays. As DC has already sat quite a few papers over recent months, I see little point in giving him too many more papers to sit and think our time working together will yield better results in concentrating on the word lists that you have made available and mastering as many of those as possible.

Thanks once again.

Sabz
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Re: Help with VR - Vocabulary

Post by patricia »

Dear Sabz

Personally I would not be teaching my children lists and lists of words. Children cannot be expected to learn every word, and I do not expect them to. Perhaps only a few words may appear from a list in the real test. Its more about becoming familar with words and recognising words that go together.

A variety of methods should be used lists are one of many.

Word of the day, pick a word and get your child and all the family to use it many times during the day, including school.

Scrabble and other games as shown in the above links.

Using better quality vocabulary in your everyday language. You stooped to pick up the pen instead of bent over.

I would not give up on practice papers either, its like riding a bike, you never forget but after some time of abstinence you become rusty and not as quick, time is needed to get back to full competence.

Which school/area are you applying for? When is the test?

Patricia
sabz
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: Help with VR - Vocabulary

Post by sabz »

Thanks Patricia,

Apologies for the delay in responding, been away recently so not had chance to look in. Appreciate the advice. We will definitely continue to give practice papers and have started to use better quality of vocab in our everyday conversations. We have also started playing some of the games suggested in the above links, in particular Freerice. I believe all of this is helping enormously. It might not be enough to get DC through but it will gradually have a marked improvement in DC's written and spoken language.

As DC has been working quite hard over recent months and made some good progress, we felt that DC could take it a little easier for a few weeks. However, given that the exams are in the first week of October, we will be picking up the pace again in the next week or two.
DC will be sitting Heckmondwike Grammar (in Yorkshire).

Sabz
menagerie
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 9:37 pm

Re: Help with VR - Vocabulary

Post by menagerie »

May help to do the vocab games on free rice. They have 60 levels!
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