Bond Papers 8-9 Years

Advice on 11 Plus VR papers and problems

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Post Reply
jessmum
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:19 am

Bond Papers 8-9 Years

Post by jessmum »

Hi all I wonder if you can help. New to all this malarkey! Just starting to light prep my Yr 4 child.

Here in Essex, Verbal Reasoning equates to 50% of the mark and as its not taught in our primary (we do not have 11+ booster classes or any other help available) Ive made an early start with my 8 year old DD using the Bond Papers for her age group 8-9.

We did the first paper together, explaining to her what each question required and gave her any help she needed. Tonight she asked to do paper 2 on her own. I did need to explain one or two points, but in the main she had a fair crack on her own. She only struggled with one section failing to answer any questions in this section- this was the replace the letters to make the first and middle word lead into the far word i.e Cold BLANK Gild answer being Gold. Her overall mark was 74% which I thought was decent enough for a first attempt.

My question is, with sections she struggles with like the question above, how do I proceed? Can I obtain sample questions of this type somewhere so we can focus on that, or do I carry her on with the next paper and see if my explanation "sticks" - Im still not sure she has grasped that at all yet!

Is the idea of the papers to highlight problem areas and work on those before trying paper 3?

Any help GREATLY appreciated! Thank you.
Mum007
Posts: 81
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:56 pm

Post by Mum007 »

Hi! If this is the only sticking point, then well done!!

It's early to start and it's possible that you may run out of resources so use them regularly but sparingly. What I do know is that there are puzzle books with that kind of puzzle in them. Playing about with words and letters like that in a fun way might be good in Year 4.

What about making your own up? There was just one section in VR that my son just could NOT do - these were the ones where you had to find a four letter word which bridged two other words - the end of one and the beginning of another. No matter how many tricks we tried, and how many I made up myself, he couldn't see them. In the end I said to him, "Do the first two in that section (the easier ones), then just put any answer for the rest and move on." My son is on the dyslexic spectrum and I believe this is why he couldn't see the words like that. Very strange.
jessmum
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:19 am

Post by jessmum »

Thanks - its sounds like your sons problems area is the same as my DD - I dont think I explained it very well, but it IS what you described, the bridging the word problems!

Puzzle books sound like a good idea. I think she needs to learn that she can "play" with words to make new ones. The Bond papers have 20 papers in each age section - Im assuming the one 8-9 is aimed at her Yr4 group which she has obviously only just begun and I did think we would run out quick even if we did 1 a week! I think I will heed your advice, use the papers sparingly to highlight problems and fill in with puzzles and word games.

My only aim this year is to set a good foundation for the work ahead. I think she will have an advantage is she is familiar with the question type early on, even if the actual content will get progressively harder, Im hoping having the "tools" to solve them will make things a bit easier. Thats the plan anyway! Ive already run screaming from the 10-11 Maths paper LOL!
Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now