Tutors vs DIY and success rate
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Mumof4_2023
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Tutors vs DIY and success rate
Hi
Just curious to know about people who use tutors for 11 plus. Do you leave it all to the tutor and your child or do you chip in and help out.
I’ve spent a good year DIY preparation with my daughter and it is stressful because it’s all on you. I spent a lot of the year learning and researching myself.
We did prepare really well but I was a complete novice and still don’t know if I was too hard on her or too easy. Will know when results are out in a couple weeks.
I’m onto daughter two now this year again doing it all myself. I’m a bit more prepared this year.
Anyone taught there kids themselves and had success? Question really is that does tutor mean they will pass the exam
Just curious to know about people who use tutors for 11 plus. Do you leave it all to the tutor and your child or do you chip in and help out.
I’ve spent a good year DIY preparation with my daughter and it is stressful because it’s all on you. I spent a lot of the year learning and researching myself.
We did prepare really well but I was a complete novice and still don’t know if I was too hard on her or too easy. Will know when results are out in a couple weeks.
I’m onto daughter two now this year again doing it all myself. I’m a bit more prepared this year.
Anyone taught there kids themselves and had success? Question really is that does tutor mean they will pass the exam
Re: Tutors vs DIY and success rate
We did DIY as did a friend and both our DS got their first choice. Just starting the whole process again with DD.
All the best for your DD.
All the best for your DD.
Re: Tutors vs DIY and success rate
Good luck for Dd1 (and next year for Dd2!)
the honest answer is…. too many variables!
Depends on which school, whether it’s superselective, whether it’s very very oversubscribed, and more importantly, if it’s score based for the places or distance based.
If it’s cohort marked (most are) then the % of other folk who tutor and HOW they tutor will also have an effect
The style of test may favour or penalise certain types of children, especially those with SEN (for example dyslexics have a disadvantage for the exams with very time pressured long comprehensions, or a higher weighting given to English than Maths. the bright but extremely careful
child may struggle with CEM style papers where there are huge numbers of questions in a very tight timed section. If a child aces NVR and that’s a large proportion of the question types they will do better , etc,etc.
Some areas the poor kids sitting it will have had two or even three years tutoring, and some parents drill them for 2 hours a night all through year 5 (really). And some parents take the scattergun approach and put their DC for three or even 4 or 5 sets of exams “to of course move to where DC clears”….
So can DIY work? Yes! But as long as you go into it for the reason that
a) you and child are both happy to try it (some kids need not-mum-or-dad when it comes to preparation)
b) you have the time and the mental energy to learn how to help them get the speed, the exam technique, and the practice in (sounds like you did)
c) you have made the decision as a family that for whatever reason this works better for you than the tutoring route (I had multiple DC and we felt that making it less formal by DIYing was actually less pressurising, and more affordable for us.
We DIY’d, but to answer the other bit of your question, all the differnt tutor systems have different approaches and all the different parents will have their own take on what works for them. Also bear in mind a lot of tutors claim
high pass rates by dropping the less well perfoming children along the way “because they’re not working out”. Uneffical, but effective (for the tutor’s pass rate).
the honest answer is…. too many variables!
Depends on which school, whether it’s superselective, whether it’s very very oversubscribed, and more importantly, if it’s score based for the places or distance based.
If it’s cohort marked (most are) then the % of other folk who tutor and HOW they tutor will also have an effect
The style of test may favour or penalise certain types of children, especially those with SEN (for example dyslexics have a disadvantage for the exams with very time pressured long comprehensions, or a higher weighting given to English than Maths. the bright but extremely careful
child may struggle with CEM style papers where there are huge numbers of questions in a very tight timed section. If a child aces NVR and that’s a large proportion of the question types they will do better , etc,etc.
Some areas the poor kids sitting it will have had two or even three years tutoring, and some parents drill them for 2 hours a night all through year 5 (really). And some parents take the scattergun approach and put their DC for three or even 4 or 5 sets of exams “to of course move to where DC clears”….
So can DIY work? Yes! But as long as you go into it for the reason that
a) you and child are both happy to try it (some kids need not-mum-or-dad when it comes to preparation)
b) you have the time and the mental energy to learn how to help them get the speed, the exam technique, and the practice in (sounds like you did)
c) you have made the decision as a family that for whatever reason this works better for you than the tutoring route (I had multiple DC and we felt that making it less formal by DIYing was actually less pressurising, and more affordable for us.
We DIY’d, but to answer the other bit of your question, all the differnt tutor systems have different approaches and all the different parents will have their own take on what works for them. Also bear in mind a lot of tutors claim
high pass rates by dropping the less well perfoming children along the way “because they’re not working out”. Uneffical, but effective (for the tutor’s pass rate).
