Holiday prep

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elizabethswan
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:10 pm

Holiday prep

Post by elizabethswan »

What is everyone doing over the summer holidays?? The people I speak to seem to go from one extreme to the other; either 1 hour of prep per week or several hours a day(way too much!), for my son anyway, I struggle enough to get him to do his usual homework. I can't seem to motivate him at all, although he really wants to go to either Alty boys or Sale, he seems too immature to realise that the next few weeks is the last chance to prepare, I want him to do as much as possible but also I have to be realistic about the amount of time I can get him to do it!! Any thoughts, advice etc would be welcome.
cleo
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:45 am

Re: Holiday prep

Post by cleo »

I was about to start a holiday thread but you beat me to it :D :D .

My DS and has arranged a holiday timetable with me and thus far we have stuck to it. Keeping in mind it is only day 3. Our arrangement is we work until 12 every weekday (although today we didn't finish till 12:30) and the rest of the day is his to spend as he wishes. He is normally up and about by 8/8.30 and by the time has eaten breakfast we are normally ready to start by 9.30.

He does two papers/ exercises a day. I mark them after he has completed them and go over mistakes the following day before giving him that days work. Once a week I am going to give him the GL Assessment papers (Maths, NVR and VR) as a practice mock - probably on a Saturday and on Sunday he his having a break.

We are not going away this year but have planned a few day trips in between with friends and family. Hopefully he will still be as wiling by the end as he is now :wink: :wink:

Depending how he does in the GL assessment papers over the next couple of weeks will depend if we change the above schedule or not.

Its hard to get the balance right knowing we are heading into the home stretch. Good Luck.
elizabethswan
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:10 pm

Re: Holiday prep

Post by elizabethswan »

Hi cleo, that sounds very organised ! I may have to copy you! I was thinking of going over the GL assessment papers although we have nearly done them all to give him confidence and maybe some mental maths exercises every day which would hopefully help with speed. He is doing a mock exam the weekend before alty boys test so I hope this will make the experience fresh in his memory without putting him off!
cleo
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:45 am

Re: Holiday prep

Post by cleo »

Hi Elizabethswan,

I have also booked him in for a mock last week in August.

DS has completed packs 1-4 Gl Assessment previously but I am going to give them to complete altogether like he will have to when doing the real thing. I will let him complete them but ask him to mark which question he had reached when the allocated time has finished. To be honest he quite good at completing these papers and similar once to the GL on time but has struggled to complete the CEM papers in the allocated time. Which is a concern for the Sale entrance exam.

We had a day off yesterday as we went to Southport for the day. But were back on track today and he will do pack 1 GL tomorrow. Let see how he does second time round, hopefully we will see an improvement from March. :roll:
cleo
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:45 am

Re: Holiday prep

Post by cleo »

Nearly a month left before AGSB entrance exam. How is everyone getting on with their DS. Getting worried as DS has not been consistent in his practice papers - especially in maths. Keeps making silly mistakes aaaaahhhhhhh!! Just need to vent out frustration before I calmly tell him what he has got. He completed GL assessment pack 6 this morning.
ManYou
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:34 pm

Re: Holiday prep

Post by ManYou »

We are varying from 65%-85% on a good day. He knows what to do just keeps making
Silly mistakes !
cleo
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:45 am

Re: Holiday prep

Post by cleo »

Thats very similar to DS ManYou. Overall he is getting high 60s low 70s. The frustrating thing is he will do well in two of papers but then in the third he will get a low 60% bringing the overall percentage down. Its not the same paper each time he has done a GL pack or any other pack.

Going away to the Lakes for a long weekend hopefully the break will do him good and freshen him up.
ManYou
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:34 pm

Re: Holiday prep

Post by ManYou »

..... and we're off to the South coast for a week :) - Not much studying going to happen there!

Oh, well. We will catch up when we get back - Hopefully :roll:
Brainfreeze
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:07 am

Re: Holiday prep

Post by Brainfreeze »

Our holidays are a bit erratic in terms of exam prep!

One day we do a lot and another we do very little or nothing.

It all depends on what is happening at the time. We went away for a week where DS did half an hour a day on Bond online. Some days off and recently 2 days of working really hard. I'm busy with work next week and DS has a few leisure things on so we thought we'd try to get ahead.

Today I am working on it but not him IYSWIM. Having worked out where he loses marks on GL Ass NVR, I'm painstakingly photocopying those sections from the practise papers so we can concentrate on those areas for a day.

It's 'Find the Diagram like the first 2' and 'Find the Diagram like the first 3' that he loses most points on.

I have a feeling that if the exam were tomorrow he would do as well as he would in 4 weeks. He has a mock in a couple of weeks so that will be good experience for him.

I think both of us want it over with now. Keep planning lots of treats for Autumn when we will finally be free one way or the other!
elizabethswan
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:10 pm

Re: Holiday prep

Post by elizabethswan »

we did a few full papers on our holiday but we're back now, but he is so bored from doing 50 min papers that I don't think it's productive any more; he keeps asking for help without thinking things through first, and takes about 1 and a half hours to finish!!! So we've been doing Bond 11+ 10 minute tests and he gets very good results from those and we can practise all of the topics every day . He has a mock exam on Saturday and another one at the beginning of September, I am hoping this will be enough as I feel like, now, we are both running out of gas....
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