Feeling Sick

Eleven Plus (11+) in Buckinghamshire (Bucks)

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FeelingSick
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 1:14 pm

Feeling Sick

Post by FeelingSick »

Hi, I've been following these forums and am clearly under prepared for this test coming in Oct 2012.

I've been home tutoring my daughter since April but have only done a few full tests which she isn't anywhere near completing, only doing 50 out of 80 questions in 50 mins and geting about 5-7 of these wrong.

Am I on to a loser or is it possible we can get speed up in time for Oct? What's the best way to do this? Her CAT scores indicated she should go for 11+ and she's generally a bright kid.

Would she do better to skip the whole set of Qs she struggles with and complete the paper before coming back to them? I thought I read this was a no no.
faitaccompli
Posts: 357
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by faitaccompli »

You can improve loads in a few weeks (trust me!)

Everyone has different methods - ours was to make sure that the questions my DS found easy HAD to be completed on each paper - so this sometimes meant leaving the vocab ones until the end as well as the question z.

He speeded up a lot with some intensive work over the final 2 weeks and went from just finishing in time, to finishing with 10 minutes to spare. Have you done ALL the tips and techniques that can be found on here. Using those makes it much quicker to get the paper completed within the time.

Good luck!
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi, and welcome!

Firstly, well done for home tutoring her.
FeelingSick wrote:Am I on to a loser or is it possible we can get speed up in time for Oct?
Yes, but you need to be very focussed. Do you have a Method & Technique guide? There are several available in our bookshop; the red IPS book is probably best because it allows you to identify questions types by the lettering system we use most commonly on here.

Also, which practice materials have you been using?
Her CAT scores indicated she should go for 11+
If you don't mind posting the 3 scores then they may be helpful in identifying why she isn't performing as well as she might at present.
Would she do better to skip the whole set of Qs she struggles with and complete the paper before coming back to them? I thought I read this was a no no.
I would say it is a no no, apart from the Type Z logic problems - the waffly ones. (Sorry to disagree with you faitaccompli!),

What is more important is to work out which question types she struggles with, both with accuracy and speed, and home in on those. Let us know what they are and we will help if we can.

Sally-Anne
FeelingSick
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 1:14 pm

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by FeelingSick »

Thanks both of you.

Can't remember her scores, but much higher than older siblings who have gone on to As and A*s at GCSE and AS levels

We've been through all the types using IPS red book and she can do them albeit slooooooowly.

Her maths is strong but vocab is her weak spot. The lists given by Patricia were terrifying as DD knew very few words from it.

Home tutoring is both good and bad. It's hard to get quiet time and it can lead to conflict, but I have had some success in helping other kids through exams to better grades than expected. see above. They didn't do 11+ as used to live out of catchment but now live in catchment.
faitaccompli
Posts: 357
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by faitaccompli »

The dreaded vocab - that was why we used to leave those until the end as he could get 100% on everything that was non vocab and nowhere NEAR 100% on the vocab only ones ...

But he/we :roll: did work really hard in the final few weeks on vocab - literally all the time - and some of it definitely sank in and (fortunately) even came up in the 11+ paper. He could take several minutes to decide on the answer to a vocab question (and invariably get it wrong) and then didn't always get to finish the codes etc that he found easy.

But each child is different and some would be completely thrown by chopping and changing during a paper - have to say, practice papers on a timer definitely meant he got faster - just doing the 10 minute papers were good for revision but didn't help the speed.

I can still remember the feeling of waking up in the morning and groping for the next batch of antonyms and synonyms ...
scary mum
Posts: 8841
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by scary mum »

Even a couple weeks before both my DSs were not completing the papers. Both finished the real thing with time to spare (DS2claims to have finished one paper in half an hour which had me biting my nails or a while, as Sally Anne may remember :D ), and achieved very respectable scores, so, yes, there is still time but practice makes perfect and speeds things up.

Good luck.
scary mum
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by Sally-Anne »

scary mum wrote:(DS2claims to have finished one paper in half an hour which had me biting my nails or a while, as Sally Anne may remember :D )
Vividly, scary! Did I ever submit my bill for hand-holding services in the ensuing few weeks? :lol:

Vocabulary - a few random tips:

- Golden rule: If there is a word you don't know, work with the ones that you do know.

- For example, in opposite/closest meanings, put a diagonal line through the word (s) you don't recognise. That blanks it out mentally and helps to stop the panic.

- Now compare the remainder in a ruthlessly methodical fashion - A1 vs B1, A1 vs B2, A1 vs. B3 (where A is set one of words, and B is set two), A2 vs. B1, etc.

- If you can rule out all the ones you do know from that, the "unknown word" must be one of the answers. Now look at parts of speech - verbs, nouns, adjectives. Does anything look similar or likely? If so, make your best possible guess.

- For synonyms (one word matches all four) pick the most familiar word. Check the answers and that will usually get it down to a couple of options. Now pick a word from the other set of brackets and try that. It will usually solve the problem.

- Compound words. Once you think you have the answer, write it out very quickly to check it. That will stop the silly spelling mistakes that are set as traps.

- Missing word. Read the sentence and think what the word could be from the context. Work on understanding where a word can or cannot fit - some letters can never go together, so the missing word must fit there.

Ruthless method is the key to vocab questions. Don't flit between options, try each option methodically. You can halve the speed of answering just by doing that.

Also, buy her a digital dictionary/thesaurus (ca. £20 on Amazon) and insist that she plays with it non-stop for the next few weeks. She won't need your encouragement though!

S-A
FeelingSick
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 1:14 pm

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by FeelingSick »

Aaaw, thanks so much. Will get that dictionary in for sure.

We went through an unfinished paper yesterday and her problem areas were
H, M and F - all vocab.

She actually has already sussed a few good methods of her own on a few types i.e. find the hidden word where she just looks at possible answers rather than trying to see the word which can be quite slow.

She likes it when I make up puzzles (we call it all puzzles to make it sound less daunting). In a famalam with 4 kids she revels in exclusive time with Mum, that's if I can keep it light but I am stressed by this, I won't lie.

Good luck to all other Mums, Dads etc.
scary mum
Posts: 8841
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by scary mum »

Vividly, scary! Did I ever submit my bill for hand-holding services in the ensuing few weeks?
No, but I owe you a few glasses of something if our paths ever cross in real life :D

Good luck to all, I remember this time last year so clearly with all the roller coaster emotions.
scary mum
SUpple
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:56 pm

Re: Feeling Sick

Post by SUpple »

scary mum wrote:
Good luck to all, I remember this time last year so clearly with all the roller coaster emotions.
I can't believe I have been on these forums for a year, it has all been one big (very helpful) blur!

Good luck to all those parents and children doing their 11+ exams. My stomach still feels a bit knotted everytime I read a post from this year's anxious parents. :shock:
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