help please !

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Mark2
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:11 pm

help please !

Post by Mark2 »

can anyone please suggest strategies for improving time taken to complete a paper - my son seems to be stuck around the mid 60's. We have covered all the things on this site such as answering questions straight on the answer sheet and he dosnt read the instructions anymore.
he is also very familiar with all the techniques.
is it just a case of more and more practice ? we have completed about 6 full papers - this morning he did tutors number 6 and only got to question 61 (and 56 right).

any advice much appreciated,
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

It is still quite early as the tests are 7 months away - try not timing him and see how long it takes.

It's better to do 70 and get them all right than do all 80 and only get 58 right!
Mark2
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:11 pm

timing

Post by Mark2 »

thanks guest55 - we have tried not timing in our prep work -from memory he will do 80 in 60/65 mins with pretty good accurancy (really only getting those wrong if he dosnt recognise the word)

isnt the challenge of the 11 plus to do the 80 questions within the 50 mins !
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

No - the challenge is to get enough completed correctly to qualify.
Hence the advice to leave the two Z questions until last!
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear Mark

You seem quite ahead of the game. My tutored children have only just started on the IPS 30 minute papers. You have plenty of time to increase speed.

Timing, off the top of my head..

1] Speed writing, get your child to write out their name as quick as possible 10 times. Keep timing until they get quicker and quicker.

2] Do NOT write neatly, I tell my children, this is one itme they can write as scruffy as they want, as long as THEY can read it [because no one else will look at it]

3] Work directly from the answer sheet for types D H Q and E [ as identified by IPS]

4] When marking the answer sheet use one line from left to right [right handed children] I tell my children if you do one line then go back over it again, that second line takes approx half a second. 80 times half a second, thats 40 seconds wasted just drawing a line! 40 seconds thats a code answered or perhaps 5 easy questions...

5] Type Z MUST be left till last.

6] Child must not panic, thinking that they must complete 40 questions in 25 minutes. Its NOT 30 seconds per question. If 2 types of codes and the bracket maths appear in the first half of the paper, then they are probably not going to be anywhere near question 40.

7] Make notes! Some children [particulary boys] think that they have to keep everything in their head. Its actually quicker to make notes, particulary all the maths and code questions. When working quickly a child trying to keep figures and sequences in their head often either makes mistakes or forgets where they are and then have start again [wasting time]

8] Practice, Practice, Practice. There is no doubt about it, practice does make perfect.

9] 10 x 10 times table squares every week. [numbers mixed up, not in order] The answer 7 x 8 is 56 now not 5/10 seconds later. Eventually add the 15 then 13 times table.

10] Guest55 close your ears and eyes now. Teach multiplication and division the old fashioned way. Not chunking and grids. I tell my children they do it my way for the 11 plus, they do as their teacher says for school.

11] Use, perhaps AFN papers during session time. Time each individual section. Say I am going to give you 5 minutes to answer this section of 7/8 codes. I am going to give you 2 minutes to complete this section of 7 bracket maths.

12] Photocopy papers [your own personal use, so its OK] have competitions with your child, can they beat you answering a section of finding the hidden 4 letter word or a section of codes etc etc.

13] .......

Patricia
Mark2
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:11 pm

timing !

Post by Mark2 »

thanks Patricia

yes we are a little ahead of the game but he is enjoying it ! which helps alot !

I take on board ALL the suggestions you make . Just a question , why do you suggest AFN papers for session time ? They are the only papers I havnt looked at !

many thanks
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear Mark

AFN are a tad easier, they use 100 questions per paper, types N and G are displayed slightly differently etc etc. I therefore do not like to use them as tests.

Glad he is enjoying the challenge, however take care that he does not become thoroughly bored with VR. Keep up momentum but include other activities such as the Xtable grids and most importantly, reading out loud for that infamous vocabulary...

Patricia
andyb
Posts: 645
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:27 am
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by andyb »

Hi Mark

My DS took the 11+ last October. He understood the question types really quickly but just couldn't do the time - it was the same at school, as soon as he knew he was being timed he froze. We tried several techniques - how fast could he do 10 questions (and then add up the times at the end), how many question could he get right in 10 minutes, I gave him papers to do "in his own time" but secretly timed him and showed him afterwards how much spare time he had. It all came down to his confidence in his ability. After the summer holidays (i.e. just weeks before the tests) he went completely off the boil. We both knew he could do the question types but he needed some kind of incentive to work quickly. The method that worked for us was basically a race between the two of us - we took one question at a time and we just shouted out the answer. It became a matter of pride for him to beat me. Obviously he would always win overall but I did make sure that he didn't win at each question :wink: . We also the 11+ Exams CDRom which gives timings for each question - again the incentive was to beat his personal best.
Mark2
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:11 pm

timing

Post by Mark2 »

Andyb - many thanks for your suggestion (I think Patricia offered something similar) - I think its a great idea ! I have already spoken to my son who was keen on the idea .... and very interested about his prize/s for beating me (he was very quick to provide a list of DS games, Wii games , Lego etc) !

I will give it a go and report back to the Forum - I am sure there are many other candidates out there with similar issues ,
rachelmary
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:05 pm

Post by rachelmary »

You still have plenty of time, my son got quicker the more he practised. What helped him most was me sitting the practice tests with him. We would sit down at the table and time it just like in the real thing. He was really motivated by this and enjoyed the challenge (especially when I got better at it!)

GOOD LUCK!
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