Hello

Wondering if someone who has been through this can help me gain some perspective. We're IC and trying for DS for grammar. At present, we're doing timed papers, both multiple choice and written papers. With the multiple choice, he's only scoring mid 60s - early 70s. Both English and Maths are similar with scores. Also booked further mocks with the schools (he's only done one so far and didn't make the 214 score).
Is there still hope? We're almost into June and feeling really defeated.

Thank you!

Stop doing papers and start working through the topics that he is getting wrong.

There is no point just keep repeating mistakes over and over again.

You need to go through the papers question by question that he got wrong and make sure he knows how to do it right next time.

The point of doing papers is to identify areas of weakness and work on them.

The forum shop sells a great Maths dictionary that would really help you teach him some concepts that he may not be grasping. DG

Thanks, DG.

We go through every answer he gets wrong with each paper, so we are putting the time in.
The questions he gets wrong aren't from a specific topic either, hence hard to pin down what's going wrong. He's bright when we sit together and prompted, but on his own, it's just not working. :/

Sit next to him while he does a paper and watch his approach so you can find out where he is going wrong.

Is he writing down all his workings out?

What things is he getting wrong?

Have you tried talking through the comprehensions with him? DG

That's a good idea, DG. We'll sit next to him and watch where he's going wrong.

Yes, for the comprehensions - he's actually not too bad with his. With English it's more vocab we need to work on.

God, this process is so draining. Still, whatever happens, the end is within sight.

Thanks for your input.

Although my daughter's English scores were good her maths scores really weren't v high at this point (similar - 60s), and was not looking great in the mocks with english/maths combined. As previous posters say, we spent time working through each area of maths to see which bits were the problem and then spent time getting them secure. It took us through the summer hols to get all areas of maths secure by which time she was scoring in 80s-90s, but was then not fast enough. She passed for the Sutton girls grammars and first stage tiffin, and got an offer from nonsuch so she definitely raised her scores significantly from the June time.

Hi,

I have 3 children, all now in Grammar school and doing fine. None of them passed a single mock prior to sitting their 11+. My advice would be to make an honest assessment of whether you think your child has a chance of being of the required standard by the time of the 11+. if so then spend time on a combination of the material and mock tests, looking for areas of weakness and focusing on these.

Remember, it's a long road......and it's only the real things that count !

Good luck.

I could not say it better. I also have three kids who had made it to local grammar schools. The last one also started his mocks at local schools with average results. We have identified what caused most problems and concentrated on those areas - plus improving speed. It is possible with a bright child that he or she needs to take time to think over the task - and time is severely limited. My son had improved the speed sufficiently to pass and got the school that had been his first choice. It is possible, do not give up.

Sorry, haven’t been online and just saw the responses. Thank you so much for the kindness and positive words, it means a lot! Funnily enough, he’s already showing signs of improvement in maths so I think it’s just a question of going over stuff continually.
And likewise for English.

Good luck to everyone else in the same position. X