Tools for the Job

Khan Academy

These people are fantastic. They has made a LOT of videos walking through all Maths and English topics. He starts with basics and builds up slowly. If there was a topic we struggled with then we would slow down, go back to basics and go to Khan Academy. We also found it useful to interleave media – so if we have just made a crib or done a mock then we would do a Khan Academy next time – just to keep things different and so interesting.

It is a nonprofit organisation, there is no need to sign up or donate but by the time you have finished using the site you will probably be grateful enough to want to.

https://www.khanacademy.org/

Atom Learning

This is online practice and explanations. It is adaptive: you enter the child’s age, their target schools and the exam dates and it creates a personalized path for them – increasing difficulty as the exam approached.

There are two types of package. One aimed at schools where the there would be teacher involvement; the other is aimed at students without the aid of teachers. More and more prep schools are using this in the run-up to exam season so if your child is not using it they may be at a disadvantage. We took the individual package as the school was in the process of switching to it because we wanted to start early. The student earns points and badges as they progress and my son took to it very well. They cover Maths, English and Verbal/Non-verbal reasoning.

Atom has various charging options which change according to how long you use it for – we had it for 6 months leading up to the exam.

https://atomlearning.co.uk/

Past Papers

The schools you are applying to will have past exam papers and the web is full of links to repositories of previous exams. this is pretty good set: https://www.schoolentrancetests.com/11-plus-maths-papers/

Practice Exam Books

These are books of exams designed to start easy and increase in difficulty as you progress. There are two main competitors – CPG and Bond. First time round we used Bond, second time we used CPG. CPG seemed to be better at Maths and English but Bond had a slight lead on Verbal and Non-verbal Reasoning. I’d suggest that you try a mix of both as you progress through books – so that it keeps things fresh. We would some times go to a library with a practice exam or past paper so that they were in a different environment – as they will be during the actual exams.

A good way to start is to not care about timing the exams until they have done a few and their scores are starting to improve, then introduce a loose timing and tighten it up as they progress.

Verbal Reasoning and Non-verbal Reasoning

We were struggling to find any guidance for VR/NVR – there were plenty of practice books but very little showing how to get better at them. Then we discovered a couple of books published by Schofield and Sims that actually showed techniques for the different question types. These books are great – my sons took to them and their scores improved a lot. Here are the links:

• https://www.schofieldandsims.co.uk/product/558/understanding-reasoning-non-verbal-reasoning
• https://www.schofieldandsims.co.uk/product/558/understanding-reasoning-non-verbal-reasoning

Crib Sheets

You will need plenty of crib sheets and the best ones are those that you make with you child. You will usually need to be around while they make them for guidance but if they do most of the work them selves then the act of creating the crib will be 70% of the path to remembering them. Here are some examples:

Maths

Non-verbal Reasoning

Cultural Experiences

In preparation for the interviews you should schedule a liberal scattering of museum visits, galleries, sporting events and theater throughout the year. You will be the best judge, but we found that modern art was the most approachable for the boys. Theater-wise we aimed for shows that were a little ahead of their age – so, for example, we saw “Witness for the Prosecution” and “Call of the Wild”. Trips to the Science Museum are great preparation for interviews. Rugby is a lot cheaper and easier to get tickets for then football. I also tried some quirky things – spoken word slams and graffiti walks. For me the cultural experiences were the most fun part of the journey as it was a chance for me to have some father-son time and I really got to know each of them a lot better.