Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Eleven Plus (11+) in Essex

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Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by Manana »

We are prepping DS for this year's Essex paper and we are working through the Bond 4th Maths and English papers; we're about half way through each at the moment. We haven't really started on any paast papers yet though-can I ask what others with children currently in Year 5 are doing? This is my first time and I don't know if I'm doing the right thing!

We're doing other bits for VR-not Bond ;)
moved
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Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by moved »

I am using old papers from independent schools with mine for maths and homemade resources for English. Both of my pupils still do Bond at home.
seriousmum
Posts: 390
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:19 pm

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by seriousmum »

Hi Mañana, we are using bond for maths and English (10-11) and 11-12 respectively.
GL assessment VR papers and Susan Daughtery bright spark papers.

We have spent this week working through Louise Staple's maths papers which are very similar to the Essex format and nicely presented (nice graphic illustrations in colour!!).

Also, we are working hard on vocabulary and spend the evenings playing word games.

I am planning to start utilising the past questions in earnest from June / July ??? Not sure what's best as its my it time too and we are the guinea pigs this year (September sitting).

Any other useful tips please?
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by Manana »

Thank you for the replies. I have some Louise Staples papers so will go through those as well as working through the indie papers. The friends of DS that have *real* tutors seem to get Bond papers as homework, but I don't know what they are doing in the actual tutoring sessions-I just hope I'm doing the right things!!
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by Manana »

seriousmum wrote:Hi Mañana, we are using bond for maths and English (10-11) and 11-12 respectively.
GL assessment VR papers and Susan Daughtery bright spark papers.

We have spent this week working through Louise Staple's maths papers which are very similar to the Essex format and nicely presented (nice graphic illustrations in colour!!).

Also, we are working hard on vocabulary and spend the evenings playing word games.

I am planning to start utilising the past questions in earnest from June / July ??? Not sure what's best as its my it time too and we are the guinea pigs this year (September sitting).

Any other useful tips please?

Are you doing the 11-12 English or Comprehension, can I ask? Do you find the 11-12 much harder than the 10-11? We're only on the 10-11 for both English/Maths!
MrsB
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:02 pm

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by MrsB »

Manana, if the Bond 11-12 English is the one I am thinking of, the comprehension is very hard - a big leap from 10-11. Our DC who qualified for KEGS found it hard and even just before the 11 plus was only getting about 50% compared with in the 80s on past Essex papers. There is also a review of it on Amazon with similar comments about it being disheartening. So I would not worry about being on 10-11 at this stage. If I had the time again I would not do the 11-12
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by Manana »

MrsB wrote:Manana, if the Bond 11-12 English is the one I am thinking of, the comprehension is very hard - a big leap from 10-11. Our DC who qualified for KEGS found it hard and even just before the 11 plus was only getting about 50% compared with in the 80s on past Essex papers. There is also a review of it on Amazon with similar comments about it being disheartening. So I would not worry about being on 10-11 at this stage. If I had the time again I would not do the 11-12
That is extremely reassuring, MrsB-thank you! He's doing well on the 10-11 English (usually scores about 80-85 %), though we do find some of the answers rather subjective and it's not entirely clear what they are looking for, so maybe we will still with the 10-11 ones and do some other bits as well. Do you mind me asking if you did anything else for Maths/English other than Bond? We are looking at the Southend schools!
MrsB
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:02 pm

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by MrsB »

We started with bond for English, maths and VR, then used the Essex materials from the Visuteach website mixed in with past CSSE papers, starting with the easiest and working up to the horrendous :roll: We aimed to do 2 English papers (bond, CSSE or visuteach) and 1 maths and 1 VR per weekend for about 3 months but didn't always achieve that for one reason or another. We also did some home invented maths questions focussed on things that he found more difficult. English was the most challenging which was why we aimed for 2 English a week.

The percentages you mention sound good at this stage - on bond 10-11 our DC was typically in the 80s for English and the late 80s or 90s for maths and the 90s for VR.
seriousmum
Posts: 390
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:19 pm

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by seriousmum »

Manana wrote:
seriousmum wrote:Hi Mañana, we are using bond for maths and English (10-11) and 11-12 respectively.
GL assessment VR papers and Susan Daughtery bright spark papers.

We have spent this week working through Louise Staple's maths papers which are very similar to the Essex format and nicely presented (nice graphic illustrations in colour!!).

Also, we are working hard on vocabulary and spend the evenings playing word games.

I am planning to start utilising the past questions in earnest from June / July ??? Not sure what's best as its my it time too and we are the guinea pigs this year (September sitting).

Any other useful tips please?
Hi Manana, we are doing English 11-12. Just started it and on paper 3. It's really hard but DS hasnt complained yet! Shocking!!!


Are you doing the 11-12 English or Comprehension, can I ask? Do you find the 11-12 much harder than the 10-11? We're only on the 10-11 for both English/Maths!
ivory
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2011 6:30 pm

Re: Are you all still using Bond for this year's 11+?

Post by ivory »

I felt I had to leave a reply on this post. Ds has passed for KEGS Sept 2012 intake and found English the hardest. We used Bond but gave in on the 10-11 year books (and mainly scored around 75% on the 9-10,)and didn't finished more than about 4 of these! It's ok to have a weaker subject and far more important to stay relaxed about the whole thing. Ds did ok in last years English paper, but still scored less than 70 percent.
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