DAO - English and VR

[Clevereagle]

Hi mine is only Year 3 but considering setting the exam for DAO in the future. I heard that DAO cares a lot more about VR and English than Maths. My worry with my son is English rather than Maths. We want to improve his English. But there is a very slim chance with DAO compared to Kent or Bucks, so Bond materials are not suitable. We have been using Bond and CGP and he does ok thiugh makes a couple mistake. Do we need harder materials?

What are the workbooks for English comprehension and VR especially that you found helpful and suitable for preparing for DAO?

[scary mum]

I'm going to move your post to the relevant geographical section where you may get more responses.

[Daogroupie]

Where did you hear this from? It is not true. Your score is made up of your total from the three subjects. It does not matter which subject you gain your marks from, it is the total score that allocates your unique rank out of the 325 students in the second round. The first round is VR only and only 1 in 3 applicants go through to the second round so it is crucial to be in the top third of first round scores. In the English and Maths second round your VR score will be added to your English and Maths scores to make a single total. Then all 325 students will be allocated unique ranks based on their total score. The breakdown of the three scores is not taken into account, only the total score. Strong Maths scores can compensate for weak English and VR scores. I know of a student last year with 139 out of 141 in Maths but a very low score in English. However the Maths score was enough to score highly enough to gain a place. And the year before another student with just 107 in VR but a strong score in Maths who secured a place. In these two cases it was the strong Maths score that got them in. It is true to say that many students find the Maths paper more straightforward than the English paper. This seems to be a disconnect between what primary school teaches in English and what DAO is expecting. But this is also evident in the Latymer English scores that have now been released. Some students have plummeted out of the ranks that were high enough for a place last year because of a very low English result. DG

[Clevereagle]

I read somewhere on this forum that for DAO Bond VR materials are too easy to pratice, you need something harder. I cannot find the thread now but glad you replied with differenr information. Thank you! Good to know some kids with good maths get in even when they score lower in English. Mine is strong in maths, he’s good at English and is given top grades at school, but compared to Maths it’s not as good, and as you said DAO English is harder than the NC, that means getting top grades for English at a state primary won’t predict his chance at getting into DAO. So I thought he needs harder materials to work on English.

[Sunnydaffs]

Hi, my DD got a good mark in DAO English this year 124, just at home DIY, we used the Free CSSE comprehension paper questions and then, I asked her to continue the passage for 3 paragraphs for 25 minutes. Seemed like good practice. She was stronger at maths all through getting 83 to 95% on practice papers but ended up doing much better in the English. Also English was sat first then the maths (back to back), I think despite doing the back to back practice on the day she was tired when it came to the maths, i really think she would have scored much higher on whichever papers was sat first.

[Clevereagle]

@sunnydaffs oh I see. Yeah so maybe he won’t be able to do well in maths if he is too tired… I didn’t think about that!

Thank you for the valuable advice! I didn’t think about extra writing practice that way. That’s a great idea we can incorporate for sure. I never heard of the workbook brand, so I will check it out. Thank you so much!

[Sunnydaffs]

Hi, they are past papers from here, not a worbook.


https://csse.org.uk/practice-material/

[Clevereagle]

@sunnydaffs thank you! This is really great!

[NightPanther]

Hi Clevereagle

I had a copy of a great comprehension book by Kate Heap to work on English generally in Year 5, but that was as much because it was over lockdown and DS was bored at school. She did a series (poetry, non-fiction, classics, contemporary) but the one we had was based on excerpts from classic children's novels so a bit more like the kind of texts you might find on 11+ papers. It was a good starting point before we looked at the DAO past papers in the run up, and bridged the gap between what he did at school and what he needed to know for the exam. The book explained the type of questions and how to answer them as well which gave DS confidence that he knew what to do.

DS also found RSL/Robert Lomax 11+ videos on YouTube really useful - win-win as he thought he was getting to watch more YouTube and I could see he was picking up hints and tips about how to answer the questions on the exam papers!

Good luck!

[Clevereagle]

@nightpanther The comprehension book sounds perfect for DAO! Thank you. I think he is too young at the moment but I’ll order one and see how difficult they are and prepare him toward it.

Haha youtube always works with kids! Thank you for the recommendation!