Levels needed for 11 plus?

Eleven Plus (11+) in Kent

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
rumple08
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 6:32 pm

Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by rumple08 »

Hi. DD is hopefully going to sit her 11 plus this September so am just after a bit of advice really.
She has just had her progress results back for the end of the Easter term and has a 5c for reading, 4b for writing and a 4b+ for maths.
I have been told by the school that there is no reason that she shouldn't pass and is currently on track too. It's just looking for info online I'm not so sure if these results will be enough? Just hoping that someone can tell me which way it is likely to go, i.e either likely to pass or not.

At the moment we are doing the bond 11+ papers at home, she is scoring around 90% with both the verbal and non verbal reasoning and around 80% for the maths and English. Is there any papers that would be better? I'm new to all this and TBH the school haven't been a great help at all.

We are hoping that she gets into the folkestone grammar if this makes a difference, I also believe that they have a seperate paper which maybe a little 'easier', although I could be wrong there.

Any advice would be great and very much appreciated. Thanks.
rumple08
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 6:32 pm

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by rumple08 »

Has anyone any experience with their children working at levels of around 4b in year 5 and passing the 11 plus, or if your child is working at that level now and planning on sitting the 11 plus this September?

I've tried speaking to the HT but have been told that she isn't taking appointments concerning grammar for another couple of weeks?
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by scarlett »

When my oldest son took the test in 2010, his school didn't really give out levels and when I asked the head in Jan of year 5 she screwed up her nose said ds was around 4b and then came out with the "he'd be better top of his class at his local school ". However, ds was and is so incredibly lazy I knew he needed the push of a grammar and with months of one to one of course his levels increased dramatically and he passed with a super selective pass. He now is at the beginning of his Gcse courses and usually gets A's. I think you know your own child and things can change in a short period of time. Now I am on my third child I have learnt not to discuss the 11plus with the school. They really don't know much about it. You would be better off discussing it on here. Does your dd have a tutor? Have you highlighted any weak spots yourself? What work is she doing? It's unsettling with the new test, but I'm guessing the pass mark will still be more or less the same and that has always been just over 50 %. Please pm me if you want any info..I'm really happy to help!
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by yoyo123 »

Those levels put her above "average". I would say go for it, as Scarlett says, people on here will be more than happy to help. Have you looked at the schools? That can be an incentive for a child to try hard to get into teh school they want.
rumple08
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 6:32 pm

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by rumple08 »

Thank you so much for your reply. She hasn't got a tutor but we are doing a lot of the work at home ourselves.
I have asked the school now numerous times for extra work but so far haven't had anything.

At the moment we are working on GL papers although we only got them through yesterday, before this we had been working on the bond tests were she was 75-90% depending on the paper. She did have a go at a non verbal last night as this is usually her favourite subject and the one in which she was scoring the highest, last night she only scored 48%, I'm not sure if this is where she hasn't done a non verbal for a few weeks or whether the GL papers are just a lot harder?

We had to change schools summer time last year because of a move and I really don't think it has helped, her other school was so much better and I would have been confident that she could have passed if we had been able to stay, this one I'm really not so sure though. I know she's more than capable of doing it at home with me, it just seems so much to do within the space of four months.
rumple08
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 6:32 pm

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by rumple08 »

Thank you. She does really want to go to grammar and will work really hard at home, it just seems at school their not really pushing her. When we swapped over schools her grades seemed to drop a considerable amount over one term and have now gone back up to where I would have imagined they would have been maybe a term ago if we had kept her in the other school. I have tried talking to them about extra work, 11 plus, scores etc but haven't got nothing back from them.
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by scarlett »

Both my boys said they felt the real thing was easier then the GL papers. I wouldn't stress too much over the school. Many of us have found this and the bottom line is that only we can provide the extra work. I tutored both my boys and now my daughter and I think if she is scoring well in the Bond books, that sounds promising. What about any other books for variety and different question structure ? I found the letts 11 plus books good and also the Schofield and Sims maths . I do have their English ones but haven't used them much yet. I know what you mean about time ticking on. I found the summer holidays really helped and they came on leaps and bounds in those 6 weeks. Just keep working through the books/ papers and see if you can highlight any sticking points . Also, if you have a few spare hours look through the Kent forum, there are a lot of similar posts over the years..which are always comforting !!
rumple08
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 6:32 pm

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by rumple08 »

Thank you, I will look at the other books too. Am going to order nonverbal explained later aswell and see if that helps.
I've also got a couple of workbooks that we was going to use too just to work on her weaker points.
Thank you again.
dartmum2
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2013 3:57 pm

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by dartmum2 »

Hi rumple08

The GL paper 1s are very hard and they tended to be the ones that the schools used as mocks under the old test format I believe (there was some discussion about it in the Kent forum after the mocks in Sept 2013). With regard to the GL papers, there are some anecdotal comparisons between actual Kent scores and children's scores achieved on GL practice papers in this forum - if you search for Kent raw scores 2012 and look somewhere around page 7...

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 5&start=60

I am saving some of the GL papers for the summer hols as I am guessing that the content is still going to be a fairly accurate representation of the new Kent test questions (but just not in the new format). (I could be completely wrong)

Have a look at the Peter Williams, Schofield and Simms and CGP stuff available (I'm not a fan of the Bond stuff, but other people like it). You could run through the GL 'explained' too... (but maybe only work through the sections of the 'explained' books that your DC is having problems with, rather than the whole books from start to finish (I made that mistake with my first DD and wasted lots of time on stuff that she found easy - I'm only running through the bits my second DD has difficulty with this time.))
rumple08
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 6:32 pm

Re: Levels needed for 11 plus?

Post by rumple08 »

Thank you for your reply.

I did manage to talk to her head teacher today, although very briefly. She said that we should be aiming for 4a's before the end of term which makes me feel a lot better as her teacher has said she should be on these levels by then. Also with a bit of extra work put in over the summer holidays it feels a little more possible.
She did say that she would defiently give her ago at it and that she has the attitude for grammar so am hoping that that is a promising g sign.

I have ordered a couple if sims books and also a few cgp workbook one for level 5 so that hopefully we can at least cover some bits in it over the next few months.

Thanks again :)
Post Reply
11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now