Successful TOGS applicants

Eleven Plus (11+) in Kent

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mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Successful TOGS applicants

Post by mystery »

Hoping against all odds here to get TOGS type scores in the future. Any good tips from those of you who have succeeded?
franticmum
Posts: 139
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:16 pm

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by franticmum »

Aah yes, I remember this time period was how I got my name!!

We did some mock tests in Aylesford which showed us the base line from which we had to improve. I'm a strong believer in the fact that yes the kids need to be bright but tutoring or coaching at home is for exam technique. No child deals with multiple choice answer papers at school, nor the fact that they have to work at 100 mph hour to get to the end of the paper, preferably without many mistakes, nor the quick short cuts of process of elimination (especially for verbal and non-verbal reasoning). (These can be found in the tips/advice section on this forum).

Anyway, we spent the last 3 weeks of the summer holidays doing test papers every day and then going over their mistakes so they knew for next time. We bought some back copies of tests from amazon so we had a decent resource.The most my daughter did was 3 a day and we repeated the early ones at the end of the hols. We also threw in a couple of story writings.

Our daughter wasn't so good at the beginning of the hols at the tests but by the end she was doing really well. We rewarded her on a sliding scale if she got 70%, 80%, etc, as an incentive as it was hard going at times.

However, keep going, despite the roller coaster and it will hopefully be worth it for you. My daughter is in Y7 and absolutely loves it. As an out of area and a leave the house time of 7.10 am, it was a big gamble and worry but totally worth it from our point of view. Good luck.
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by fatbananas »

Sorry, I'm confused: what is TOGS?
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
neurotic kent mum
Posts: 970
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:40 am

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by neurotic kent mum »

TGS
Tonbridge Grammar School
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by mystery »

Ah thank you. And sorry Fatbananas, I hate initials on here too, so sorry for using them. It is Tonbridge Grammar school - it's for girls only and it's in Tonbridge, and it takes girls by score - most years the cut-off score is pretty high in the Kent 11plus to get a place there.
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by fatbananas »

Ah, right, got it! When you said 'TOGS-type scores' I thought it was some new marker of grammar-school ability! :lol: I'm getting obsessed :roll:

Where we are, it's all people are talking about now as DC come to the end of year 3. It suddenly doesn't feel that far off when one begins to realize how many gaps need to be filled, let alone the new stuff they need to learn ...
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by mystery »

Where are you Fatbananas? No-one's talking about it at our school so far as I'm aware even though we are towards the end of year 3 ..... can I move to yours? We are at a village school in West Kent at which some years no-one passes the 11plus or gets level 5.

I've been reading "GL assessment 11+ explained NVR" ... it all seemed quite fun and straightforward so I'm going to leave that on one side for a while and get on with maths and English gaps. English is a bit beyond me though so I'm going to be relying more heavily on Bond and the practice test papers there than for maths.
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by fatbananas »

We are West London/ Surrey (depending on who you talk to :wink: ). The Tiffin Schools are the holy grail here, closely followed by the 3 Sutton grammars for boys and, I think, 2 sutton grammars for girls. The 11+ is the hot topic here once DC are in nursery; I kid you not. I suppose it's because they're all superselectives, no catchment areas etc. and there's nothing in between :? All the private schools are also very academic.
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
WesterhamMum
Posts: 134
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:08 pm
Location: Westerham, Kent

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by WesterhamMum »

Hi Mystery

Both my daughters go to TOGS and love it too. I started with both of them the Easter before they were due to take the test with 10 minute bonds and the odd paper and slowly increase this until they were doing 3 full papers a week (one of each type) during the summer holidays (although we were away for 3 weeks of the holidays during which time they did not practice).

For me, the main thing was to keep the pressure off and remind them that it would not be the end of the world if they were not successful, that is why I kept the practice quite low key. Make sure you have plenty of practice under timed conditions and that they know how to quickly eliminate some of the wrong answers to improve the chances if they need to guess. It is also said that if guessing a whole section becomes necessary, they are better off selecting the same letter for all answers. The theory is that if they choose randomly they could manage to avoid all the correct answers plus in the event that you need to appeal, it makes life easier to prove that it was a time shortage rather than lack of ability. I do not know how true or effective these tips are as luckily I never had to test it!

I taught my daughters to mark and go back to any questions or sections that looked very time consuming such as codes or maths questions where it is necessary to work out various elements of the question to find the right answer. I also told them to IGNORE the invigilator when they were told not to write on the question papers (I checked with KCC and they told me that although they would be asked not to mark the papers, there would be no adverse consequences if they did) because mistakes are more easily made when transferring information from a scrap bit of paper and it is so much easier for codes and on the NVR to be able to cross off the incorrect ones as you eliminate them. I also taught them check the question number against the answer sheet each time they put a mark down rather than just fill in the next box and risk getting out of sync.

My final piece of advice was to quickly fill in any answer for the practice questions on the NVR sections and then start working out the answers to the actual questions. The practice questions do not even get marked and although they cannot start filling in the boxes for the rest of the questions during the practice time, they can have already worked out the answers to 3 or 4 of them saving them valuable time.

I also told them to make sure they shout if necessary to attract attention should they have a problem. They are both quite shy and I could just see them sitting un-noticed, patiently with their hands up, if they broke the lead on both pencils or something!

Good Luck to you and your daughter.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Successful TOGS applicants

Post by mystery »

Thank you WM - great tips there. Mine are like yours - I will have great difficulty persuading them they are allowed to write on the question paper. Why do the invigilators say they can't? Also, even when they put their hands up they don't get spotted ... I'll have to train them in quiet but attention grabbing ahems.

Which level Bond did you work your way up to in the different subjects?

And what is the homework level like now you are TOGS?
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