11 Plus Made Simple

"My child won't read the right books."

I hear a version of this on almost every call I take. What parents usually mean is that their child is reading Wimpy Kid and Dog Man and graphic novels, when they had pictured something closer to Jane Eyre.

Those books are fine. A child who reads Dog Man for pleasure is building stamina, fluency and a reading habit that a reluctant reader does not have. That is worth protecting.

The gap usually sits elsewhere. When a child meets a word like reluctant or consequence in a story, they take the gist and read on. They recognise the word without ever being able to define it or use it.

Comprehension and verbal reasoning papers do not accept the gist. They ask for precise meaning, the exact synonym, the right word in the right place. A child can read widely for years and still arrive at that question with nothing firm to hold.

So before you change the book, look at what is happening to the words inside it.

Save this for the next time you are standing at the bookshelf wondering whether to swap it.

"Miss, I find measurement questions difficult."

I hear this often, and if you have heard it at home too, you are not alone. Measurement and conversion come up all the time in 11+ maths papers, and they catch out plenty of capable children.

More practice papers rarely fix this. What helps is a bag of flour and a measuring cup. So this holiday we're baking, and every packet and cup on the counter becomes a real question your child can work out while they help.

Try the flour question from the video with your child before you tell them the answer. Working it out with the bag in their hands is what makes it stick.

These are the real life questions the 11+ asks all the time.

Real places make 11+ maths stick.

Let me know in the comments how your child got on with the flour question.

"You can't make your mum force you to do it. You have to want it for yourself."
Those are the words of one of our students, spoken near the end of her time with us. She worked that out on her own.
The children who go furthest are the ones who decide, somewhere along the way, that the effort belongs to them. We can build the skill and hold the structure. Wanting it has to come from the child.
That shift is what we work towards in every small group. When a child starts talking like this, the exam takes care of itself.

Is your child falling behind in comprehension?

I have been working hard this morning putting together the final touches for my free live workshop taking place this Wednesday, 15 July at 8:00 PM.

If your child is in Year 3 or Year 4 and struggles to explain why something is happening in a text, this session is for you. We will break down exactly why good readers often lose marks and how you can start supporting them at home.

Click the link in my bio to register and save your place. I will see you on Wednesday!

comprehension

Why do money questions catch children out in the 11+?
We live in a tap-and-go world. Children never handle real cash. They've never had to work out whether they have enough in their hands to buy something.

So when they see this on a paper: "The oranges are 2 for £1.50. How much would 15 cost?" They freeze. The maths is fine. They've simply never lived the question.

Take them to the market this summer. Give them cash. Let them look around and work it out.
These are real 11+ questions. Children who've practised them in real life don't freeze on paper.

Save this for the school holidays. Real places make 11+ maths stick.