11+ Examination Preparation
Preparing to sit 11+ exams can be a difficult and overwhelming experience for many students. However, it is critical to securing a place at their desired school and can prove to be very rewarding at the end. We, at Merit Tutors, have provided our guidance and top tips to help parents in supporting their children stand out amongst other candidates.
Do your research:
The first point of call would be to settle on your child’s desired school and find out what their requirements are. What is their examination process like? What topics and skill sets will it include? What do they expect from their candidates? And from there you can come up with a plan that fits alongside the school’s conditions.
Subject Mastery:
Your child should feel confident in all subjects and the topics within them. Of course, the ability to remember and apply academic knowledge correctly is very important. So it’s necessary to ensure your child is able to retain what they have learnt in school, and any points of weakness should be identified and turned into strengths. This can be done by creating a regular but realistic revision timetable for the student, that is designed to cover all topics in their subjects by the time they will sit their exams. Especially allowing more time for areas that they may be struggling with. It is best to start revision early but in small amounts to avoid overwhelming them and making the experience unpleasant.
It’s also crucial not to overlook logical skills such as: verbal and non-verbal reasoning, as well as spatial and numerical reasoning; depending on what is required from that specific school. This is best carried out through trial and error, encouraging your child to complete test paper questions, marking them and revising them so they may learn from any mistakes.
Wider Reading Focus:
Pupils will be tested on a range of reading based skills such as: the extent of and ability to correctly use vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. All of these are greatly enhanced through regular and intentional reading. Setting your child a target of reading for at the very least, 20 minutes a day will expose them to everything they need to strengthen these skills. Additional benefits are: improved concentration and reading comprehension, a wider imagination, and many more.
Perfecting Exam Techniques:
Developing adequate exam techniques are helpful in many ways, as it allows your child to properly understand what the question is asking of them and how they can best answer it. Exposing them to exam questions early on (preferably several months), is ideal, as it allows the pupil to familiarise themselves with the various question types. And closer to sitting the actual exam they can be placed under timed conditions.
Consider tuition:
Understandably, as a parent this can be a lot of information to take in; and with busy schedules you may feel like it’s impossible to allocate adequate time, resources and academic support to help push your child to be their best. At Merit Tutors, we are committed to aiding parents that may be feeling like this. We are filled with skilled and experienced academics that are dedicated to helping children like yours reach their highest potential. Not to mention our numerous 11+ resources In English, Maths and Science as well as logical skills like verbal and non-verbal reasoning. We also provide weekly spelling tests and periodical mock exams.They are purposefully arranged to challenge students and consolidate prior knowledge so they can put their best foot forward with ease.
Top tips to remember:
- Early preparation and research of requirements.
- Subject mastery.
- Wider reading focus.
- Perfecting exam techniques.
For any further information visit our website click here. or give us a call at 0208 616 2526, 020 8478 9988