We would like our son to do 11+ he is 10 in May this year. When would be the test date, would it be at the end of this year and have I left it too late I am prepared to put in the hard work with him to prepare for it. Also does he have to be at a certain level at school to qualify to be put forward for 11+ he is in the average group for lessons at school but is getting level 5 b's in assessments he is predicted to be in the high 5's - 6's for his sats next year we would really like him to do the 11+ though and go to grammer school if we haven't left it too late. I do not want to ask these questions at school as when i go to see them i want to be prepared and able to say that we have started the work and show them that we are serious. Also what would be the best books to get our local book store sells Bonds Books for English, Maths, VR and NVR would these be ok? Sorry for all the questions. (We are in the Essex Area). Thank you.

Essex is not my area at all but the initial questions will be the same.

You need to find out exactly what test (tests) your son will need to do by speaking to your son's current school, the local education authority or maybe the local secondary / grammar schools.

The LEA should be able to tell you exactly when the exams are, how many there are and what subjects they actually are. (VR-NVR-English or Maths or all of them). Although they might learn something it would be silly to concentrate on a subject that isn't going to be on the test.

Once you've established that.......workout a plan of how you can attack each relevant topic every week leading up to the big day.

If you need help with a plan - give us a shout.

.....and get him to put down his xbox and read a challenging book.

thank you for your advice I will get in touch with the essex lea and ask. We are lucky in that although our son loves his XBox he loves reading a good book just as much but I know what you mean. Thank you

Dear Karma

Hi. I am a tutor who (amongst other things) helps students prepare for 11+. I'm in the Greater Manchester area though, not Essex, so I don't know so much about the specifics of your exams but this is what I would say generally.

Firstly - don't panic! From what you have said about your son's predicted SATs grades he would certainly fall in the category of being suitable for 11+. In Trafford (near me) children should be predicted level 5s in the Year 6 SATs as a rough guide as to whether they might pass 11+.

Secondly - I don't think you have left it too late, but you should certainly be getting some preparation done as soon as possible now.

From the things you say about his SATs grades it seems as if your son is very able and should be able to tackle the 11+ well. Be aware though that the National Curriculum covered in state schools, does not cover everything that may come up in 11+ exams, so some kind of extra practice/teaching is recommended.

You don't say whether your son is at a state or independent primary school and whether the school does any specific 11+ preparation. I have a friend whose son is in year 5 at an independent primary school in Essex and he has just started doing extra classes before school for 11+. If the school doesn't provide extra help (and sometimes even if it does, -it depends on the quality and appropriateness of the help given) you will need to do it yourself or get some private tuition.

In my experience, one problem with 11+ preparation can be that children are presented with whole 11+ papers too quickly without enough practice of individual question types and they can panic and feel that they can't do it! My advice would be to take it slowly to begin with and then build up to whole papers later.

The Essex council website will give details of what types of paper are in the 11+ (they vary from place to place), so you can know what to practice. It should also give details of the exam dates for 2010. It will also tell you if the papers will be multiple choice or "write in the answer" types

When teaching I tend to use a mixture of free papers from sites like these, NFER packs (can be bought from W H Smiths - they do both multiple choice and "write the answer" versions) plus some "how to" books. I would particularly recommend Bond "How to do 11+ maths" and Nelson Thornes "11+ personal tutor verbal reasoning course".

Games are a great way of breaking up the routine of answering paper-based questions. Have a look at the stuff here. I also like using Boggle as this helps with the anagram-type questions in verbal reasoning. Try being creative and making up your own games too(adapt a commercial board game to include having to answer questions about maths facts for example). Pairs games can be made with cards featuring two halves of compound words (beloved by verbal reasoning examiners) eg "fat" and "her" (father) "bar" and "row" (barrow) etc

I understand that Essex have a particularly tricky English comprehension paper with extracts from books by Dickens, Thomas Hardy, the Brontes etc. I've not actually used these, but I'd suggest checking out the "real reads" series as a helpful way into this type of book.

I hope all this helps! best wishes
Sarah

Hi, I tutor for the Essex 11+ and can hopefully alleviate your worries. If you have further questions, and I'm sure you will, feel free to post. I also wrote a wiki that is on the site, but I am struggling with the link.

1. There is still plenty of time.

2. Anyone can enter their child for the Essex 11+, which area are you specifically. Southend also has grammar schools that use the same entrance test. Redbridge has a different system.

3. The subjects covered are maths, English comprehension and VR. VR is covered very well on this site, but the exam is time critical so I would recommend watching the videos before you start tutoring your son. In this way you will be able to use all the hints and techniques that experienced tutors have mastered. The maths and English papers are written by the grammar schools and you can buy the papers from the last two years from the CSSE www.csse.org.uk/ VR is set by GL Assessment (NFER Nelson). There are 21 types and 12 of these types will be examined on the day. Regarding suitable material; Bond Assessment work books are very good for English, concentrating on the comprehension sections. The grammar section is not examined in the 11+ anymore. For maths Bond are OK, but there is a lack of problem solving. I would recommend looking at the primary maths challenge book www.m-a.org.uk/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=250 The QCA gifted and talented problems are also useful nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/85260

4. It is very difficult to get in to the Chelmsford and Colchester grammar schools. Many children do not manage. The Southend schools are significantly easier. The Chelmsford and Colchester schools do not have a catchment area, which means they take the highest scorers in the exam; 75% is a borderline candidate (top 2%). Southend, within borough, take children with an average score of approximately 55% (top 25%). Out of catchment children can also enter for the Southend schools but their scores generally need to be around 65%. There is no passmark for any of the schools as such, but Southend has a minimum cutoff of 303 from a complicated standardisation process.

5. On the plus side your son is already scoring 5s. Although the SATs are very different from the 11+ the indication of 5s in year 5 is always positive.

6. For your application you will need to complete a CAF/SAF, which is the general secondary application form. There is also a SIF for the grammar schools. Both forms must be completed.

7. Vocabulary can often be a problem, the comprehension text is often a 19th century novel by authors such as Dickens or Hardy.

You can read the wiki article by Louise here...

www.11plus.co.uk/wiki/11_Plus_Exams_in_Essex