We are being realistic, Sutton would be great as would Handsworth or Five Ways.

Thank you fir your advice must useful. Timings are so tight I agree. I think I need more of the breathing exercises than she does Lol

Are you in a location where QMHS is also possible? If so, it’s worth having a go as there’s always a chance one exam will go better than the other. Plus QM is slightly more weighted towards maths.

Ds took the test the year before last and confirmed that the worst section for time pressure is NVR. If you apply via Warks they give a breakdown between maths and NVR (Bham dont) and He did indeed do really badly in that section! So worth practising speed in that area particularly.

Yes, to the QM suggestion (if it's possible). Mine were always much stronger in maths and NVR and this showed in the difference between the Birmingham and Walsall results.

Comprehension especially was tougher due to time constraints and not knowing the meaning of some words or some of the subtext.

What I gleaned from this that while we did practice antonyms and synonyms, nothing could replace reading books - which I've always had to 'encourage' them to do. I also wish we'd done more skim reading and some of the official test centre tests.

Thank you both Ricky and crazycrofter I will consider your advice. Not keen on QM the distance would be a nightmare but I get your point. Role on September I’m tired of it already!

Which area are you in Inner?

Hi InnerChimp - I'm with you on the stressed with timings thing!
I like the stress ball and breathing approach Cecil & we're certainly going to leave the speed practice for a bit. We're also tring to get over her fear of mistakes issue. She's far too methodical and conscientious for the 11+ and likes to get everything right. The complete opposite of her brother who just wanted to do everything quickly, competitively and didn't care how many mistakes he made.
On the plus side - her attitude to work will stand her in good stead wherever she ends up!
Good luck with the prep everyone.

Halesowen which makes travelling to Walsall too far

So glad there a 2018 Group , and to learn it’s not just me that’s in a panic , DD has been making great progress we started working towards this in October but the last 2 weeks her marks have dropped by 30% when doing home tests has anyone else experienced this with their DC ,, any advice would be really appreciated

I’m letting her have a night off tonight, but she wants to practice Argghhh

How much are you doing each week and is it marks across all areas or just a specific one?

From reading the above it sounds like you do something everyday, but I may have misinterpreted? Many breaks will help, and also shorter sessions - maybe some days just do a 10 minute test, but at a weekend when there is more time do a couple of 1/2 hour sessions? Do different subjects each time, and I wouldn’t worry about full blown tests at this stage.

Read plenty instead of doing book work - it may seem like a break, but is so beneficial and will pay dividends.

Instead of book work play word games - word association, stick words on doors and when she enters that room she has to give the definition, opposite meaning, put it into a sentence etc. It sounds like she enjoys learning if she wants to do more so you may not need to find ‘fun’ ways of doing it, but it would be a change from the norm and focus the brain in a different way.

Have you just started timing the tests so the marks have dropped because there is less time? Are the incorrect ones ‘silly errors’ or just where she really doesn’t know the answer? Are the incorrect ones all related to the same area (eg. Fractions, rotations, word banks)? Go through the paper in detail after so she understands the answers, and then revisit them in a couple of months to see if it has improved.

I would imagine that you are right in that she just needs a break, and once you pick it up again the marks will improve.

All the best.