11 Plus Tricky Questions!

Posted on May 16, 2012 by pjweducation

One of the features of 11 Plus and entrance exams is that they often employ tricky or trickily worded questions. Some of these are not overly difficult to work out but they can consume time. Take the question below for example. If you don’t tackle it the best way you may well get it correct but find that it has taken more time than you wanted. Here it is.

Amit is 9 years old and his cousin Siraj is 37 years old. How old will each be when Siraj is exactly twice Amit’s age?

There are several ways of completing this. Many students employ a ‘guess and check’ technique whereby they keep adding the same number of years to each, then check to see when Siraj’s age is double that of Amit. This can take time so try this method…

First take the larger age (Siraj) at 37 years then subtract the smaller age (Amit) at 9 years.

37 – 9 = 28 The answer will be how old Amit will be!

Since 9 yrs to 28 yrs is an extra 19 yrs we now add that amount to Siraj.

37 + 19 = 56 yrs for Siraj and sure enough 56 is twice as large as 28!

And that’s how you do it quickly.

Hope that helps and keep practising!

Peter

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

11 Plus Practice, Mocks and Year 4 Assessments

Posted on May 11, 2012 by pjweducation

Wow, what a busy month May is already proving to be! Let’s get straight to business with where we are up to with my 11 Plus/entrance exam students.

At this stage we are close to completing all exercises in all four books from the Practise and Pass Series by Trotman. That is…Discover and Develop Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. People often ask me why I teach all these areas with students when typically they will only sit 3 subjects out of the four. The answer to that is pretty simple – it comes down to the schools. Some use verbal reasoning and some use English. Most will use a maths and non-verbal reasoning paper but not all! And I even know of some schools which use only non-verbal reasoning papers! So, to give parents and students the maximum amount of choice I prepare students in all areas – that way they shouldn’t experience any nasty surprises on the day.

In addition to these areas we have also looked at creative writing which tends to be used as a ‘tie-breaker’ by schools if a student scores close to the pass mark without actually achieving it. The writing sample will be looked at and could well be used to give the student a passing score if it is deemed of a good enough quality.  So it is well worth practising this and to help out I’ve posted a free story prompt along with suggested areas to check on the free resources page of my website – I hope it helps you with your practice.

What next? Now students are starting to use full practice papers including my level 3 test pack (that’s the purple one) and all those other packs written by GL Assessment. And when you’ve finished all of those there are even more practice tests and questions in the resources section of my website so there is no need to run out over the summer holidays!

‘What score will pass?’ is often a question thrown my way. This is a really tricky one as many books claim that 85% + is what is required. Of course we don’t know but every year, I meet students and parents who are worried because they only scored around 60% in a practice test. At this stage that is not a poor score at all. Don’t panic – instead analyse. Work out if any of the questions were missed out – this may be a timing issue. If it is, ask your child to point out the questions which slowed them down. Get them used to skipping this type and returning to them at the end. Although we practise this skill a lot, it’s still difficult for students to put it into practice immediately when faced with a full test paper so don’t be surprised if they forgot to do it.

Then look at questions which they normally get right but have made mistakes on. Have they done any working or have they tried to quickly solve it mentally and made a simple error? If so, encourage them to jot down simple working to avoid this. The questions are often written in such a way that those students using mental strategies may well be tripped up.

Finally look at any questions which they may not have seen before or may appear different to the way they looked when practising. Show them how to tackle these in the future. Then try another paper and hopefully improvements will come!

When my students have tried a few practice papers I start running full mock tests. Sadly these have to be only in the Greater Manchester area as I do not release the papers. Why not? Because the papers I have written I have collected data on for nearly five years now. Based upon these scores I can give quite accurate predictions on how students might fare in the exams in my area (last year 80% accurate on every school). If I gave the papers out I know some people would use them to practise with for other students and the results would be skewed! 

The mock exams this year will take place in Urmston and will run on the following dates…

Thursday July 26th

Thursday August 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th

Thursday September 6th

They take place from 9.15am – 12 midday and cost £35.

I have three different sets of papers so students can try different types and also I have sets of standard form papers for those students preparing for schools which either have no multiple choice or a mix of standard and multiple choice style questions. Contact me to book a date, direct on peter@pjweducation.co.uk

I am also running year 4 standardised assessments to ascertain capabilities of students for tutoring next year. The next two assessment dates will be:

Saturday June 9th and 16th

Assessments last from 9.30am-11.30am and cost £20

If you would like to book on one of these please also contact me directly on peter@pjweducation.co.uk

Hopefully all that will help – keep practising everyone!

Peter

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Key Stage 2 SATs

Posted on April 27, 2012 by pjweducation

The timetable for this year’s key stage 2 SATs is below. For those of you needing some extra practice materials, go to my free resources page and print them off! Good luck everyone.

Monday 14 May English reading test
Tuesday 15 May  For schools administering the externally marked English writing test and schools selected in the sample:English writing test (shorter task) and spelling testEnglish writing (longer task)
Wednesday 16 May Mental mathematics testMathematics Test A
Thursday 17 May Mathematics Test B
Friday 18 May Science sampling tests (selected schools only)
Monday 21 May Level 6 test in English reading
Tuesday 22 May Level 6 tests in mathematics
Posted in Key Stage 2 | Leave a comment

11 Plus Tuition – spring update

Posted on April 18, 2012 by pjweducation

‘Time is marching on, and so too, are the students that I teach each week. Here at PJW Education, I’m pleased to say that they are all working extremely hard and trying their utmost to get through an awful lot of extra work – credit to them all!

So where are we up to? Well the first few groups of students are nearing the last two lessons of the second set of books from the Practise and Pass series and next week they will be attempting their first full test paper. An important note to make here is that when practice papers are undertaken, do insist on sticking to the times – don’t give them an extra couple of minutes if they are near the end – they need to know what it’s like to sit through a full paper for 50 minutes. Equally, don’t allow them to finish early and then skip off to watch television! If they finish early – make them sit there for the time and check their work.

So in the next few months we will have finished both levels of books and the level 3 test papers but we can’t stop practising there! The next step is to practise more papers, and until my next batch are out – 4 each of English, Maths, VR and NVR – I’ll let you know when they are due for publication, I would suggest using the GL Assessment mixed packs. These are the people who will write most tests around the country so it makes sense to look at their practice papers.

When each paper is taken, set aside a time to go through it thoroughly, looking at questions and seeing why your child got them right/wrong. Then refer once more to my books and see if there are any examples which can be used to remind students of methods/techniques. In maths, you may have to point out that several skills need to be used to solve some questions and there may be some like one or two of the algebra that you’ll need to sit down and work through together – but the vast majority are covered in the books. Do remember though that questions may take many forms so students will really need to think about which skills to use to solve them correctly.

For those of you living in the Manchester area, I will be running mock tests throughout summer – watch this space or sign up to my free newsletter to get more information in the next few weeks.

Keep practising

Peter

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A New Grammar School for Sevenoaks?

Posted on March 30, 2012 by pjweducation

Over the past few months I have watched with interest, albeit from afar, at the developments of those campaigning for a grammar school for Sevenoaks in Kent.  I am sure that this story is far from over, but I must confess that I was both surprised and relieved when Kent County Council agreed to an expansion of grammar school places in order to accommodate those in and around the Sevenoaks area.

I was shocked to learn of a number of children – some, I believe, from my old primary school, Amherst – who had passed the selection tests but there were no places for them. In an era when ‘fairness’ is a word touted by many, I find it hard to see the fairness in students passing an exam and then being told several months later that there is no grammar school place for them. My heart goes out to those students. As someone who now writes 11 Plus materials, I know how hard they will have worked to gain that pass.

Neither can it be fair that students are transported miles away. I feel particularly strongly about this one as I was one of those students who lived in Sevenoaks and had to travel to my grammar school in Tunbridge Wells. And just so you know quite how long the day was, I’ve recorded it below for you.

6.00 am – wake up

6.30 am – breakfast

7.00 am – leave the house for Sevenoaks train station (bless my parents for driving us each day for seven years)

7.27 am – catch train to Tonbridge (the train was pretty reliable to be fair but sometimes there were no seats if it had picked up a lot of people from Orpington)

7.50 am – catch the bus from near Tonbridge station which would then wend its way through Southborough until arriving outside Skinners’ – my grammar school.

8.30 am – arrive at school

8.50 am – school starts.

And the same journey was repeated in reverse at the end of each day. The school day ended at 4.10pm and if I was involved in school clubs, there would be several days each week when I was back home at 7pm. Unfortunately, even back then in the 80s, bus and train timetables were rarely coordinated. And as my brother and sister were also travelling often we would walk the mile and a half back home from the station. In the days pre-dating mobile phones, I dread to think how my mother felt that first morning I embarked on this trek. And on days when trains were delayed and connections missed it meant even more travelling time.

Without a shadow of a doubt they were (and remain to this day) the longest hours I have ever worked. I would not wish this journey on anyone. I know not if students today have to follow these footsteps or whether they have a dedicated bus laid on for them; nonetheless this cannot be a productive way to get the best from our students.

I’m not looking for sympathy, I’m very proud of the school I attended and privileged to have gained a place there but enough is enough. Sevenoaks has needed one of these schools for too long now. I hope it really does go ahead.

Peter Williams lived in Riverhead, Sevenoaks and attended The Skinners’ School, Tunbridge Wells from 1982-1988

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

11 Plus Important Dates

Posted on March 27, 2012 by pjweducation

What a busy year!

We’ve already had independent schools examinations in January and February, followed by the results and then the allocation of students to schools at the beginning of March!

If that wasn’t enough, now would be a good time to start checking the websites of the grammar schools, not just in Trafford, but other areas of the country too and seeing if they have posted their application forms for entry to autumn 2012 examinations. Some schools may have this ready and some may not. And whilst you’re at it, you may aswell get some passport photographs taken of your child as increasingly more schools expect these to be attached with the application form these days. Getting things like this done nice and early can help reduce the stress as we enter the summer!

Important Year 4 dates; here at PJW Education we have some important dates for those students in year 4. We will be holding assessments on Thursday 5th, 12th, 19th April from 9.30am and also Saturday May 12th and 19th also at 9.30am. If you would like to book a place, please contact me directly on peter@pjweducation.co.uk

Finally – a question. Does anyone have any information on dates for Loreto Grammar and Ambrose exams yet? When last we looked, we couldn’t find one for Ambrose and Loreto had theirs scheduled at the same time as Stretford Grammar. Any information would be useful to know!

Keep practising!

Peter

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Non-Verbal Reasoning for 11 Plus Entrance Exams

Posted on March 21, 2012 by pjweducation

Right,

Practice is going well with all the students I see on a weekly basis. We’ve completed most fo the level 1 Discover books in the Practise and Pass series and we’re tackling the questions in the second book, paying strong attention to time and scores! We’re tackling the non-verbal reasoning questions in the second book – ‘Develop’ – under exam conditions. What does that mean ? Well, for the second set of questions of each type, you should allow just 10 minutes to complete all 20 questions so students really have to get their heads down and go for it. Remind them that if a question is causing problems, they must move on and come back to it, rather than lose time for other questions.

And for those of you who are not making use of tutors but still working through the books, each week for the next 6 weeks, I’ll be posting videos on my PJWEducation facebook page showing how best to tackle these questions. The first type – Shape Analogies commonly appears in Trafford entrance exams for Urmston, Stretford, Sale and Altrincham Grammar schools so make sure you know how to do them. Click here to see the free video.

Keep practising everyone!

Peter

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Word of Warning – Reading Questions Carefully in 11 Plus tests

Posted on March 15, 2012 by pjweducation

Once again this week the students I teach have been working diligently on a variety of subjects. As I stated in earlier 11 plus blogs, we are now working our way through all the part 1 sections of the Develop books in my series ‘Practise and Pass’. Indeed, several of my groups have reached the end of the part 1 sections and are on the final part 2 sections of the books.

And it’s this that leads me to spell out once more how important it is for students to read questions carefully and give answers to what they are asked.

OK – time for an example – and once again mathematics seems to cause the most problems. Look at this question…

In a class of 24 children one third forgot their homework. How many remembered it?

The question above is a simple case of working out a fraction of a whole number but the key is in the question at the end – ‘remembered’ – this asks students to actually find two thirds of 24 since one third forgot their homework. The correct answer then is 16 but many students will put the answer 8 – which as you know, will also be among the multiple choice options.

It is vital that students read questions carefully so if you find your child is getting the calculation part of the question correct but getting the answer wrong, try to see if they are misreading the question.

Good luck everyone and keep practising!

Peter

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Showing Working in Maths – 11 Plus Blog

Posted on March 13, 2012 by pjweducation

As more and more areas which use the 11 Plus entrance examination move to employing multiple choice answer grids, so too more people question me as to why it is important for students to show their working when solving problems on a mathematics paper.

The reason it’s so important is that when we write questions for maths, we know the most common errors that students are likely to make. How do I know what they might be ? Over 15 years’ teaching experience of watching students try the same ’short cuts’ and make the same errors!

Take, for example, a seemingly innocuous question which asks students to take 37 pence from £1.86  Many students consider this ‘easy’ and quickly calculate it in their head. Typically they will take 30 pence from 80 giving them one pound fifty and then take 7 pence from 6. They know that they can’t do this and realise that the final digit in their answer will be 9 BUT forget to take an extra ten away, leaving the answer at £1.59  Of course, had they set the calculation out quickly in columns they would have realised their mistake and quickly come to the correct answer at £1.49

But there is a final sting in the tail of question like this. Knowing this to be a common error, you can bet that the answer £1.59 will be one of the five on the multiple choice sheet so unwittingly students continue, believing that they have the correct answer and that the test is ‘easy’

To avoid this, make them work out even the simplest calculations – get all of these correct and they will be well on their way to a decent score.

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Importance Of Timing in Non-Verbal Reasoning

Posted on March 9, 2012 by pjweducation

This week and over the next 5 weeks too, I will be getting my groups of students to start to feel what it is like to complete non-verbal reasoning exercises under time pressure. For most entrance exams this means 30 seconds for each question – no ifs, no buts, no maybes!

Additionally, many schools/areas these days do not tell students how long they have remaining during these test papers, due to the fact that they are usually shorter than others. So if you are going to practise them too I would suggest you set either a clock/mobile phone or some other sort of timer to ten minutes and get your child to attempt 20 questions of one type during this time.

The Practise and Pass series of books – Develop Non-Verbal Reasoning is perfect for this as I have written all the second parts with 20 questions of a single type to help students improve their timings. At the end, if your child hasn’t finished, get them to draw a line where the time ran out then to look at the other questions anyway. This way they will be able to see that there may have been easier questions later on and that sometimes it is worthing skipping a tricky question so that the rest of the test can be finished.

Good luck with your practice and get those timings right!

Peter

Posted in 11 Plus Entrance Exams | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment