Dear Beatrice

In this week’s lesson we started off with a selection of four different Verbal Reasoning tasks. These test vocabulary recognition, reading ability and to a lesser extent spelling, all key skills in the exam.

Eueun gave a consistent and good performance on all of the sheets, with an overall average of close to 74%. The target mark would be around 65% (indicating a pass mark for Stroud High School) on these 4 sheets so he did well, and the reading test was particularly impressive. 

He was quick too, completing work in a faster than average time, important in the real test. His birthday, being in June, would also improve this mark by about 2%, making it close to what we would see for a Pates pass.  No marks were lost to spelling mistakes.

Key points I tried to reinforce (hints are also written on the four sheets), is the importance that children guess if they are stuck, and then move on quickly; most marks are lost by overthinking the difficult questions for too long and as a result not finishing the test. Be aware also that this is a one-off mark and should be viewed in that light, giving only an indication as to her ability.

Eueun was relaxed, composed and quite chatty during the session; a pleasure to teach.

Thanks

Mr B

Note: English skills underlie at least half of the 11+ exam. As such reading, discussing words, using new words, playing games with words and maybe creating a word bank (on cards or in a notebook perhaps)  are the most useful things you can do for the 11+ examination.  I attach a file which could help; it is set up in Office Word to use but if you like you can just use normal cards or blank postcards to do this too.

Good Websites also http://www.thesaurus.com and for where words come from www.etymonline.com.

Dear Chris

In this week’s lesson I looked at several of the key maths skills that most children will have come across by this stage in year 5. I am looking at understanding and potential to some extent rather than lots of correct answers as work not covered recently will likely have been forgotten.

The first sheet dealt with number fluency, more mental calculation than real mathematical understanding, but a key area, as without this children tend to be rather slow which often markedly affects the 11+ result. Al’s mark of 26/52 (in 4 minutes) for the first 4 sections showed a need for practise as the target is 34. This can often be improved in a relatively short time in most children.  The final mental maths section was not attempted by Alice as she was unsure how to tackle them.  

The other 2 sheets showed weakness whenever a topic got a little unfamiliar: decimals, x or ÷ by 10 or 100, percentages, and she found it hard to apply what she knows to new situations. She was however quick to grasp new procedures once shown how to do it. On these sheets, with 65% as the target mark then Al would be about 58-60% at present. Remember Maths is easier to improve than English in limited time with most children.

In summary Al does need to practise basic multiples/calculations and need reinforcement of work already covered at school. She would cope with some harder, and more varied  questions; I think she would likely enjoy the challenge. 

Al was relaxed and concentrated very well.

Mr B

Note:

Maths skills underlie about a quarter of the 11+ exam. Playing with numbers, mental sum challenges, playing any number games would be useful for the 11+ examination.  I attach a file which produces a new 4 rules calculation question sheet each time you print it. Done routinely it can improve results quite quickly. It uses office Excel but any spreadsheet program will open it.

Also practising the more unfamiliar wordy type of questions is important as they are closer to real 11+ questions and involve interpretation as well as calculation. Underlining the numbers and deciding what to do (x ,÷,+,-) after a careful read is the key. These do take practise.

(new report to be uploaded  December)