How best to prepare for the 11+

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Beccy
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:11 pm

How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Beccy »

My son is going into year 4 I don't want him being tutored for another year yet, although I will put his name down on the waiting list for one ASAP, he is doing Kumon and he is fairly bright, just wondered what is the best way I can help him now and what other parents wished they had done sooner, thanks for any advice, it's all rather new to me and I just want to give my son the best chance possible.
Ladymuck
Posts: 1240
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:04 pm

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Ladymuck »

Find out as much as you can about the style and content of the tests he will be sitting, and how the allocation of places works. Is it all on ranked place (so he has to score in the top 120/150/whatever), or does he need to pass a certain mark in order to qualify and then it comes down to distance or catchment. And don't expect a tutor to sort this out for you. Exams can change from year to year. This is a good website to start with, but you need to start in the right location - have a look at the section covering your area. Not all 11+ exams and procedures are comparable!
Beccy
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:11 pm

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Beccy »

Thank you.
Tolstoy
Posts: 2755
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:25 pm

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Tolstoy »

At this stage I would ensure my DC was reading a wide range of books. Both non- fiction and fiction and encourage them to find out the meaning of any words they don't know. With maths it is important they do plenty of problem solving type questions so they know how to apply their knowledge not sure if Kumon does this and speed is of essence so lots of mental arithmatic. I notice you are in Gloucestershire and the joy of CEM is the preperation will help them with their school work anyway.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Daogroupie »

For CEM a wide range of vocabulary is essential. I work with students preparing for the 11 plus and and there is a vast difference in their ability to cope with cloze and antonyms and synonyms. I notice that boys who spend a lot of time playing computer games have not encountered the same range of words as those who are spending their time reading and just talking to each other. Get both your boys to read to you and ask them to stop on words they do not understand and have a go at working them out in the context of the passage. Then make a list of those words and encourage them to include them in their daily conversation and make sentences from them so they learn to understand them thoroughly. This will help them enormously with the CEM paper. DG
Rosy Pippin
Posts: 295
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:13 pm

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Rosy Pippin »

It's a bit off the wall but we play "cinnamons and antelopes" on long car journeys with DS (year 2 so a long time to go for us). EG what is a synonym for "happy"? what is an antonym for "happy"? Beats red car yellow lorry.
It takes a village to raise a child
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Manana »

Rosy Pippin wrote:It's a bit off the wall but we play "cinnamons and antelopes" on long car journeys with DS (year 2 so a long time to go for us). EG what is a synonym for "happy"? what is an antonym for "happy"? Beats red car yellow lorry.
This if probably a really stupid question, but why is it called, cinnamons and antelopes??
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by southbucks3 »

Rosy Pippin wrote:It's a bit off the wall but we play "cinnamons and antelopes" on long car journeys with DS (year 2 so a long time to go for us). EG what is a synonym for "happy"? what is an antonym for "happy"? Beats red car yellow lorry.
Ha....but do they get to thump one another (with no returns) if they get the cinnamon or antelope before their siblings! :lol:
Rosy Pippin
Posts: 295
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:13 pm

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Rosy Pippin »

Sorry for being cryptic - poor DS couldn't quite get his tongue around "synonym" and "antonym"
so it has been re-christened to cinnamons and antelopes. And yes plenty of back seat jousting going on...cinnamon/synonym for "simmer down" anyone?
It takes a village to raise a child
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: How best to prepare for the 11+

Post by Guest55 »

Stop the kumon ... it's a waste of money and does not help with problem solving.
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