Hi,

We went to see the school on Tuesday. We liked it more than we thought we would! Our son is reasonably bright - Secure + across the board on his end of year report. Got the feeling, however, that we may have left it a bit late considering the exam is in October! Please can you advise how best to prepare for Stage 1?? I know it's multiple choice maths and English As they don't publich exam papers, I'm completely in the dark about resources etc.

Thanks very much!

This page should help you.

Thank you, Scary Mum! Is anyone running mock exams this summer / September?

Hi there,

depending on how dedicated you are in the next 2 months and how much your child wants it, you can still make huge progress before the actual 11plus exam in September/October time.

For maths, I would list all the topics which are part of KS2 curriculum and make sure that you go through all of them with your son. Give him questions covering as many topics as possible to see what his weaker areas are. Once you know those, make sure that you focus on them more thoroughly. Give him tests to practice the speed and time him so he is aware of what he needs to do in the time he is given. When going through his answers - make sure that you take time in explaining mistakes and that he understands how to get to a correct answer. At the very end of the summer go through exam techniques with him.

For English, again, list all the topics and go through as many as you can. Do lots of tests to uncover weaker areas. Comprehension texts are a must - make sure (if you are buying them) to buy tests with answers. Go through the answers together with your son and check for mistakes and what could be improved. Also, let him read every day as that will help with his writing.

I took the whole summer off last year and this is what I did with my son. We did start preparing sometime in February/March but summer was when we consolidated all knowledge and practised one to two hours per day in the morning. The rest of the day we went out and had fun.

It is doable. Remember, not all the parents use tutors and their children still make it to top grammar schools.

Good luck.

PP

If your child has ability and both parents and the child have enough determination, it is possible to do it in the time that remains.

It's been some considerable time ago when my daughter went through the preparation to her 11+ starting at the end of July. The test was in September, we had 6 to 8 weeks to do it all. Fortunately one of the parents could stay at home full time and concentrate on this process with her. We had the advantage of only having to prepare for multiple choice tests - the exams structure has changed. On the other hand, there had been verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers. I would not wish the latter on anyone.

She went to Wallington Girls, her first choice.