Advice for a newbie

Eleven Plus (11+) in South West Hertfordshire

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Long Journey
Posts: 160
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:43 am

Advice for a newbie

Post by Long Journey »

Hi everyone, this is my first post here. We have just started the 11+ journey (so my user name isn't very apt, we don't have that long I suppose!) so would appreciate some tips. I've lurked around for awhile and read the advice given on this site wrt preparation but still have a very basic question.

Is there a definitive list of the actual study materials to use for the Herts Consortium exam? I am helping my DD prepare, but looking through the posts on other sections of this forum I feel an impending sense of doom, because people seem to be talking about VR questions in terms of Type X, Y, Z etc. I thought just working through practice papers on a regular basis would help, but it looks like some actual tutoring, and learning of theory/techniques is expected. I feel nervous just reading the posts and realising in what detail other parents seem to know the minutiae of the test. Can someone point me in the direction of a full list of preparation materials please? For both VR and Maths. This is for Herts consortium only.
Hera
Posts: 856
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:50 pm

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by Hera »

Are you doing the Herts exams for entry in 2013? We are. There are really good sections on this site in the preparation section and in the sticky at the top of this section which are extremely useful. There are books that offer technique and practice sections which I find helpful and my DS does when I can get him to read them! From what I can work out the maths is mainly what you would learn in key stage 2, although I stand to be corrected?
Long Journey
Posts: 160
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:43 am

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by Long Journey »

Hello. Yes it's for entry in 2013. I saw the section you mention but isn't that for all of Herts? Or is it the same even if you're sitting for only the Consortium?
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by Daogroupie »

Hello, both my dd's did the Consortium for Music and Academic. The VR is Moray House so it is important to do a range of papers to get used to different styles. The timing is really important to get right so do everything with a timer so you get used to how long you have. The Maths is KS2 but this year you will not have finished KS2 at school because the exam will be earlier, so important to do some extra work at home. DAO and St Albans girls indy also both do Moray House VR so anything you read about VR for those two schools will also apply to the Consortium. I would start with Athey and Alpha and move onto Walsh and Bright Sparks and the Tutors when you have gained some experience. DG
Long Journey
Posts: 160
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:43 am

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by Long Journey »

Thank you, that was very helpful Daogroupie. She seems to have done all the Maths she needs judging by the papers (although I've seen only Bond papers, haven't seen any others so will get them for her). I will get those materials you mention. I've seen a Tutors 11+ VR app for Android, I suppose there is time to consider if to buy that, as it seems the hardest according to your list.
herty
Posts: 332
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:23 pm

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by herty »

Re the question types, you don't need to divide them into qu types unless your dd is struggling in some types - if so, then it can be useful. For example, my dd found all the word ones easy, but found the codes types qus harder, so we looked at a couple of examples to see how to approach those. The Susan Daughtrey books are good on this, or there are videos online.

I think the stickies have stuff on which papers to look at - I think for maths we tried Bond, Letts and DAO's own ones (just because we had them; my dd didn't apply there). All good just to try different types of questions.

Maths is hard not because it goes beyond year 6 maths but because of the level of accuracy required - my dd was used to being a bit slapdash, so that was a big challenge for us!
mangomum
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:33 pm

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by mangomum »

Long Journey wrote:Hi everyone, this is my first post here. We have just started the 11+ journey (so my user name isn't very apt, we don't have that long I suppose!) so would appreciate some tips. I've lurked around for awhile and read the advice given on this site wrt preparation but still have a very basic question.

Is there a definitive list of the actual study materials to use for the Herts Consortium exam? I am helping my DD prepare, but looking through the posts on other sections of this forum I feel an impending sense of doom, because people seem to be talking about VR questions in terms of Type X, Y, Z etc. I thought just working through practice papers on a regular basis would help, but it looks like some actual tutoring, and learning of theory/techniques is expected. I feel nervous just reading the posts and realising in what detail other parents seem to know the minutiae of the test. Can someone point me in the direction of a full list of preparation materials please? For both VR and Maths. This is for Herts consortium only.
Good Luck Newbie!

I think it's worth reading a post by akpanto - My journey through the 11 plus. I found it very useful.
MangoMum
2GirlsDad
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:33 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by 2GirlsDad »

mangomum wrote: I think it's worth reading a post by akpanto - My journey through the 11 plus. I found it very useful.
Do you mean http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 18&t=21392" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ?
It looks really good!
From our experience the important is to get started early with something like Bond (we used some Athey), then start timing, learn more about the exact types of exams, eventually broaden the types of books and before the last couple of months start introducing real tests from similar schools - plenty of them are online. One hour a day will probably be enough if over a long time. :)
Depending on how busy you are, what you can and cannot help with etc, you may want to take the time to select a suitable tutor early on.
Doing a mock test day is also very useful to get all the logistics right well before the day and train simple but often important stuff like not getting distracted by noises or other children and making sure there are no avoidable toilet runs during tests. Depending if you will try indies, some interview practice is useful. And generally paying more attention to what DC is reading (any newspapers?) and specially watching on TV helps. :lol:
The other thing is to decide early how you will handle the social pressure and jealousy that will start to build specially if you are in a school where most children will go to the local comp. We decided to only let people trying the same type of schools know, it kept everybody happier. 8)
herty
Posts: 332
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:23 pm

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by herty »

An hour a day! Every day? For a long time?Far too much, in my opinion.

We did about 3 hours/week for about 5 months. That was plenty - and if my dd's class had not beeen so behind in maths it would have been much less as nearly all of that was maths (dd2 in year 5 has already covered all of what dd1 didn't cover till a year later) - so I'd guess 1 VR, 1 Maths paper and some feedback per week is plenty.

I feel v v sorry for the kids one reads of on here doing several papers per night! - it seems waaay too much.
Hera
Posts: 856
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:50 pm

Re: Advice for a newbie

Post by Hera »

herty wrote:An hour a day! Every day? For a long time?Far too much, in my opinion.

We did about 3 hours/week for about 5 months. That was plenty - and if my dd's class had not beeen so behind in maths it would have been much less as nearly all of that was maths (dd2 in year 5 has already covered all of what dd1 didn't cover till a year later) - so I'd guess 1 VR, 1 Maths paper and some feedback per week is plenty.

I feel v v sorry for the kids one reads of on here doing several papers per night! - it seems waaay too much.
Thank you herty. I feel a lot calmer after reading your post as already feeling we are starting too late and we are doing a lot less that many people seem to be suggesting.
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