concerned
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Guest
concerned
I have felt reasonably confident that my child would pass as he has always been quite academic.He achieved 130 in verbal reasoning score and level fives in school.
However he is not passing any of the tests I am doing with him at home.He seems far too slow.He is getting 55 to 63 out of 80 but is guessing a lot.
Any ideas how I can speed him up?
He is also born at the beginning of the year will any marks be taken off?
However he is not passing any of the tests I am doing with him at home.He seems far too slow.He is getting 55 to 63 out of 80 but is guessing a lot.
Any ideas how I can speed him up?
He is also born at the beginning of the year will any marks be taken off?
Dear Guest
What papers are you using, are they the correct type for Bucks?
Is there a particular type of question that is slowing him down?
Have you bought a technique book to help you explain to your son the quickest and easiest way to approach each type of question?
Come back with these answers and perhaps I can help you.
Patricia
What papers are you using, are they the correct type for Bucks?
Is there a particular type of question that is slowing him down?
Have you bought a technique book to help you explain to your son the quickest and easiest way to approach each type of question?
Come back with these answers and perhaps I can help you.
Patricia
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Guest
If the tests in your area are standardised, which I believe they are, then yes he will be penalised for being older than most so he needs to perform proportionally better.
In Bucks you should first go through the "syllabus" - by this I mean the types of questions that your son will be facing. You would have been sent some by the LEA if outside the catchment area or done some at school if in the catchment. If you are practicing just on the NFER verbal reasoning familiarisation practice papers then you are not covering the syllabus as they contain only 15 types of questions.
Bucks does 21 types of verbal reasoning questions. The best method and technique book for these is by IPS:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/books/list.php?ex=85
The next best book for method and techniques is by AFN:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/books/list.php?ex=159
Once you have been through either of these, go through Verbal Reasoning CD Volume 1 which gives you 50 practice questions in all 21 types of questions - automatically marked and timed. This will improve his speed, confidence and increase his vocabularly.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/cd/
Now that he knows the best techniques and has practiced over 1050 questions (13 papers worth) on the CD, he should try some actual practice papers, starting with Bright Sparks Series by Susan Daughtery:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/books/list.php?ex=120
If he has problems concentrating then there are 10 and 30 minute papers by IPS But the final exam is 50 minutes so at this stage, two months before your exams, he needs to concentrate on longer time periods.
The Bucks papers are set in pairs, not each paper contains all 21 types but between the two they do. So the next set of 50 minute papers will help too, which mirror the actual test and question distribution, so do in pairs e.g. paper 1 & 2, paper 3 & 4 etc:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/books/ ... p?g=f&p=21
Finally leading up to the exams go back to the NFER papers, mainly for familiarisation of the question layout and answer sheets.
Good luck
P.S. Do not forget to pick up and go through the two really useful vocabularly lists that are free on this website:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/pdf/11 ... d-list.pdf
and
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/pdf/11 ... tricia.pdf
In Bucks you should first go through the "syllabus" - by this I mean the types of questions that your son will be facing. You would have been sent some by the LEA if outside the catchment area or done some at school if in the catchment. If you are practicing just on the NFER verbal reasoning familiarisation practice papers then you are not covering the syllabus as they contain only 15 types of questions.
Bucks does 21 types of verbal reasoning questions. The best method and technique book for these is by IPS:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/books/list.php?ex=85
The next best book for method and techniques is by AFN:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/books/list.php?ex=159
Once you have been through either of these, go through Verbal Reasoning CD Volume 1 which gives you 50 practice questions in all 21 types of questions - automatically marked and timed. This will improve his speed, confidence and increase his vocabularly.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/cd/
Now that he knows the best techniques and has practiced over 1050 questions (13 papers worth) on the CD, he should try some actual practice papers, starting with Bright Sparks Series by Susan Daughtery:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/books/list.php?ex=120
If he has problems concentrating then there are 10 and 30 minute papers by IPS But the final exam is 50 minutes so at this stage, two months before your exams, he needs to concentrate on longer time periods.
The Bucks papers are set in pairs, not each paper contains all 21 types but between the two they do. So the next set of 50 minute papers will help too, which mirror the actual test and question distribution, so do in pairs e.g. paper 1 & 2, paper 3 & 4 etc:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/books/ ... p?g=f&p=21
Finally leading up to the exams go back to the NFER papers, mainly for familiarisation of the question layout and answer sheets.
Good luck
P.S. Do not forget to pick up and go through the two really useful vocabularly lists that are free on this website:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/pdf/11 ... d-list.pdf
and
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/pdf/11 ... tricia.pdf
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Guest
Thank you very much for your replies.
He has been taking the Bright Sparks papers and has scored,55,57 and 63 out of 80.He has also done an AFN paper scoring 75 out of 100.
He doesn't like the code questions or the alphabet ones and sometimes has left the whole section out on these.
Any tips on how I can get him faster on these would be much appreciated.(He does know how to do them).
He has been taking the Bright Sparks papers and has scored,55,57 and 63 out of 80.He has also done an AFN paper scoring 75 out of 100.
He doesn't like the code questions or the alphabet ones and sometimes has left the whole section out on these.
Any tips on how I can get him faster on these would be much appreciated.(He does know how to do them).
Dear Second Guest
Agree in the main with your advice. Would add, as NFER are left until last, to achieve exact format familiarisation, the child should practice, alongside these papers, question types HIKNOS [as identified by IPS] as these types are missing from the shop bought NFER papers.
Patricia
Agree in the main with your advice. Would add, as NFER are left until last, to achieve exact format familiarisation, the child should practice, alongside these papers, question types HIKNOS [as identified by IPS] as these types are missing from the shop bought NFER papers.
Patricia
Dear First Guest
AFN have 100 questions, Bucks only have 80 in the same time, I tend to only use AFN as daily practice a section at a time, or 50 questions in 25 minutes.
Most children seem to enjoy codes in the beginning, but they then become a chore. The child has to remember that the codes WILL take a long time, BUT are easy marks, because ALL the information is there for them.
I NEVER encourage children to miss out whole sections at a time, for two reasons, one its even more of a chore going back to something they are dreading and two, they can fall into a false sense of security, getting near the end, thinking they have nearly finished, then its panic, have they left enough time to complete the 'dreaded' ones.
I CERTAINLY would NOT leave out codes, they are easy marks.
Patricia
AFN have 100 questions, Bucks only have 80 in the same time, I tend to only use AFN as daily practice a section at a time, or 50 questions in 25 minutes.
Most children seem to enjoy codes in the beginning, but they then become a chore. The child has to remember that the codes WILL take a long time, BUT are easy marks, because ALL the information is there for them.
I NEVER encourage children to miss out whole sections at a time, for two reasons, one its even more of a chore going back to something they are dreading and two, they can fall into a false sense of security, getting near the end, thinking they have nearly finished, then its panic, have they left enough time to complete the 'dreaded' ones.
I CERTAINLY would NOT leave out codes, they are easy marks.
Patricia
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Guest
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Guest
My advise would be never to leave a question out. Even if he guessed he has a one in five chance of getting it right and this could make the difference in the final analysis. If he can on the alphabet ones eliminate the 'obvious' wrong ones he stands a 50/50 chance to get it right. Thus by 'educated guesses' alone he will alot closer to the finish line. My experience is that once they are doing an educated guess they may as well do the whole question (which they will realise themselves), so take it in stages.
