Now, while your child is studying from home, is a great opportunity to assess where your child is in their 11+ journey. Assessing their progress allows you to take the right practical steps to ensure your child has the best possible chance of success in September (should the exams not be delayed). Here, we provide our round up of how to tackle 11 Plus Exam revision with your child.
Find out exactly what you need to revise.
Whether you’ve been following a formal 11+ revision schedule for some time, or are planning to use the next few months to focus on 11+ skills specifically, now is the perfect time to identify what your childs strengths and weakness are.
Create a revision schedule
Work with your child to develop a revision schedule. Put it up somewhere visible and praise your child for every day of revision completed. Don’t forget to include days off.
Develop exam technique
With only a few months to go until the exams, now is the time to develop your child’s exam technique. Key things to focus on:
- CEM vs GL exam technique – the two major 11+ exam boards demand different things of your child.
- Timed exam practice –regular practice papers should now be a key feature of your child’s 11+ preparation. Children must get used to working in silence to a strict time limit. If they’re still having trouble working at speed, do some timed general practice. A kitchen timer can help children speed up by motivating them to ‘beat the buzzer’.
- Exam mindset – for many children, the 11+ will be their first ever formal exam, so it’s really important to help them understand how to deal with any nerves that may arise. A big part of this is how you talk about the 11+ at home. Make sure you talk about it positively and try not to talk about it in terms of ‘passing’ or ‘failing’. Instead, focus on the 11+ being a chance for your child to show off their skills and knowledge. Practically, if your child starts to feel nervous get them to breathe slowly in and out and repeat this 5 times. If they do this regularly, they’ll know how to calm themselves down if they start to feel nervous on their own in the exam.
Consider a tutor.
If you’re concerned about your child’s progress or there’s a certain a topic that you just can’t seem to make any progress on, don’t forget that tutoring is an option – and an area where we can help. Find out more about our tutoring service here.
Take a break
Whatever stage your child is at in their 11+ preparation, make sure you still get a break this summer. If your child’s results start to dip or their concentration starts to wane, it’s far better to take a week or two off to let your child regroup than to carry on regardless – you’ll reap the rewards in the long run.
We hope that you have found this blog post on how to tackle 11 Plus Exam revision with your child useful.
11 Plus Success offers a new online course created by experienced tutors with a proven track record of getting kids into grammar schools. Our course is made to engage students and help them discover answers by themselves.
If you are a remote working parent and want a way to help your child prepare for the 11 plus exam on their own, consider our course!