preparing for Kent 11+ maths

Eleven Plus (11+) in Kent

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
abracadabra

preparing for Kent 11+ maths

Post by abracadabra »

Does anyone know how the difficulty and content of the NFER Nelson mock test papers compares with the real maths paper used in the Kent Age 11 assessment?

NFER sets the Kent assessment so I have bought the NFER Nelson
practice test papers from this website. I am saving them until later this term as there are only four of them, and test is in January.

A tutor has told me that the best practice material to use in the meantime is the Bond Maths Assessment papers age 9`-10 ( she says the 10-11 ones are unnecessarily difficult).

But the thing that is confusing me is that the level of difficulty and topics covered in the practice test papers are much harder than the Bond Age 9-10 material. Have I been misinformed by the tutor, is the real test easier than the practice papers, or is it not necessary to get that many right to pass?

My son can get 100% on the Bond 9-10 papers on a good day, but I would guess that on the hardest of the practice papers his mark would be more likely in the 40% -70% range. There are topics on the practice papers such as algebra which he is unlikely to have covered at KS2 at his state primary school by the time of the exam. What do you all think?
Emmyhoward

11+ Maths in Kent

Post by Emmyhoward »

Hi

As a specialist 11+ tutor in Kent I would suggest that your son always tries the msot difficult papers- that why he will not be shocked on the day. Bond papers are difficult but contain questions that NFER have surprised us with in the past. Your son needs to get to grips with algebra- this is where nearly all children will fall down.

I would suggest buying more than 4 papers. He needs to be doing a little extra day. Save some papers for timed exams before the real thing. At the moment, don't time him. It will be too stressful. Introduce the difficult questions to him and go though them with him, writing the worked solutions on the paper- this way he can keep reading back over them and realising how the answer needs to be set out.

Hope this helps

Emmy Howard
abracadabra

kent 11+ maths papers

Post by abracadabra »

Thank you Emmy. That was very helpful.

Hope you don't mind if I ask you a few more questions:

1. are you saying that he should practice on the Bond age 10-11 papers as well as 9-10?

2. You suggest that he does more than four of the "mock" exam papers. NFER Nelson only sells four maths papers and I understand that these should be closest to the Kent assessment. What would you suggest as additional ones?

3. Do you think he can realistically do algebra from scratch at home this term and be ready to do the standard of questions they have in the 11+ by January?

4. What areas of Kent do you tutor in, and do you have any availability this term?

Thanks
sleepless

11+ maths

Post by sleepless »

I wanted to mention a series of books:

11+ Maths for SATs 11+ and Common Entrance by S. C. Curran
Accelerated Education Publications.

There are a series of 6 books, I think. They are not really practice papers. They are lessons with practices at the end of each lesson. Mathematical steps are explained fully and in considerable detail. One of these books, and I think it may well be book 6, contains algebra to quite a reasonable level and would probably be very suitable for you to look at with your son.

If you get the whole series, it can be somewhat daunting though because the set covers a huge range of topics. Some of it is a bit long winded but I found a lot of it very helpful, particularly re algebra and fractions, etc.

However, I am not a teacher (unfortunately) and if there are any teachers/tutors reading, who feel that these books would not be suitable then please advise.

Incidentally, I do think that one of the most useful things you can ensure your child can do is to be able to divide and multiply by 10 and 100. Sounds simple but it can help with many things.

Good luck.
abracadabra

Post by abracadabra »

Thank you. I shall certainly take a look at that book.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Sleepless you say that you are unfortunately not a teacher - I would just like to say that I am very unfortunately a teacher!
sleepless

response to guest

Post by sleepless »

I do sympathise with you. I am a regular reader of the TES website so I know the grievances of those in your profession. It is just something I would love to have done. Guess if I had been a teacher, I would have felt the same!
James
Posts: 182
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2005 11:30 am

Post by James »

Hi,

There's no doubt in my mind I'd go for the Bond 10-11+ (ie Book 5). The others are too easy. In fact Book 5 still not too hard. For what it's worth, I also recommend doing the NFER series more than once. Very likely he'll get some of the same q's wrong the second time around. Work on these weaknesses!
Not sure about Kent, but my son (and everyone else) found the Maths paper set by the Grammar he now goes to significantly harder than the NFER books available. Many schools ask NFER to set tough exams so they may well be tougher than the ones you have.
James
Posts: 182
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2005 11:30 am

Post by James »

Hi,

There's no doubt in my mind I'd go for the Bond 10-11+ (ie Book 5). The others are too easy. In fact Book 5 still not too hard. For what it's worth, I also recommend doing the NFER series more than once. Very likely he'll get some of the same q's wrong the second time around. Work on these weaknesses!
Not sure about Kent, but my son (and everyone else) found the Maths paper set by the Grammar he now goes to significantly harder than the NFER books available. Many schools ask NFER to set tough exams so they may well be tougher than the ones you have.
abracadabra

Post by abracadabra »

Thank you James. I will get the age 10-11 NFER Nelson assessment papers in maths.
Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now