1: Know your route
Check the Admissions page for your chosen school (or schools) to make sure you know which test provider they will be using. Most schools use GL, but some use CEM, FSCE, or maybe a test specifically written for that one school or consortium.
At this point, you also need to check the website to find out which papers your child will be sitting, as not all schools test all subjects. Read this information very carefully - for example, some schools might state that children will only sit papers in maths, verbal reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning, but when you delve a little deeper, you might find out that the verbal reasoning paper includes an English comprehension, so effectively, your child will be sitting an English test as well.
At this point, you also need to check the website to find out which papers your child will be sitting, as not all schools test all subjects. Read this information very carefully - for example, some schools might state that children will only sit papers in maths, verbal reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning, but when you delve a little deeper, you might find out that the verbal reasoning paper includes an English comprehension, so effectively, your child will be sitting an English test as well.
Make a note on your calendar of the key dates, such as registration, and the exam day for each school. In many areas, you will only have to make one application, even if you want to apply to multiple schools.
2: Begin with a baseline test
If you subscribe to Club 11 Plus, our baseline tests are ideal for finding a starting point in each subject, but treat the results as a compass, not as a verdict.
Using this initial information, set 2 or 3 priority topics to cover during the next few weeks.
Using this initial information, set 2 or 3 priority topics to cover during the next few weeks.
3: Create a sensible study schedule
Choose a study schedule that works for both you and your child: maybe 30 minutes each week day, an hour on Saturdays, and Sundays off; or 3 school-night sessions of 45 minutes, plus one weekend session of an hour.
Be realistic about the extent to which children of this age can study unsupervised. At Club 11 Plus, we’ve become experts at spotting how, given half a chance, children skip through the bits they find a little dull, however important they might be, only to find themselves struggling a little further down the road.
If you subscribe to Club 11 Plus, you might choose to sit with your child while they work their way through the lessons at the beginning of each module, then encourage them work by themselves to figure out the answers to the quiz questions.
If you subscribe to Club 11 Plus, you might choose to sit with your child while they work their way through the lessons at the beginning of each module, then encourage them work by themselves to figure out the answers to the quiz questions.
Rotate the subjects, maybe Mondays: English, Wednesdays: maths, Fridays: verbal reasoning, Saturdays: non-verbal reasoning; or maybe 1 week in 4 for each subject.
Keep study sessions short and focused, and always praise your child if they complete a session without too much drama!
4: Track your child’s progress
If you subscribe to Club 11 Plus, you’ll get an email each time your child has completed a quiz, letting you know how long they took to complete it, and how many mistakes they made. You’ll also be able to check a log of their entire quiz history, giving you an overview of their progress so far.
Make sure your child is aware that you’re keeping an eye on their progress, and praise them for their successes along the way. When they do make mistakes, focus on why they happened – maybe they misunderstood the question, or perhaps there’s a gap in their knowledge.
There’s no harm in repeating lessons and quizzes – in fact, it’s incredibly useful to do so. At the end of a module, if your child still isn’t scoring at least 80% the first time they tackle a quiz, encourage them to repeat all the lessons and quizzes in that module, until their knowledge and confidence have grown.
Make sure your child is aware that you’re keeping an eye on their progress, and praise them for their successes along the way. When they do make mistakes, focus on why they happened – maybe they misunderstood the question, or perhaps there’s a gap in their knowledge.
There’s no harm in repeating lessons and quizzes – in fact, it’s incredibly useful to do so. At the end of a module, if your child still isn’t scoring at least 80% the first time they tackle a quiz, encourage them to repeat all the lessons and quizzes in that module, until their knowledge and confidence have grown.
5: Keep them motivated
Use variety: a lesson today, a couple of quizzes tomorrow, a comprehension passage on Friday, and a trip to the library at the weekend.
Praise effort, strategy and honesty, not just scores. Developing a love of learning is the real goal.
And there’s no harm in giving your child rewards for consistent, focused study – it’s great for them to understand that their hard work is being recognised. At Club 11 Plus, your child will earn a certificate every time they complete a module, as long as they’ve scored at least 80% in every quiz (and if they don't score 80% on their first attempt, they can repeat the quiz as many times as they need to until they do make the grade).
6: Holiday mode
In the school holidays, keep practice short and regular, for example maybe 30 minutes a day, 5 to 6 times a week.
Mix lessons and quizzes with reading for pleasure, word games, and mental-maths games - dice and card games are great for this!
7: When to use mock tests
Mock tests are best introduced in the summer holidays, at the end of Year 5, by which time your child should have already completed all the topics they need to cover. Many parents are tempted to get their children to do mock tests far sooner, but this can lead to children becoming stressed and demoralised.
Always follow a mock test with a review, working through all the questions your child got wrong, with the aim of finding out why they made each mistake, and identifying topics that might need to be revisited.
8: Common pitfalls to avoid
Overuse of mock tests: mock tests are great for learning exam technique, but they really aren’t a lot of use for anything else. Weighing yourself every day doesn’t make you lose weight – in fact, it can be very demoralising!
Long study sessions: 30 minutes every day is far better than 4 hours, once a week.
Preparing with the wrong materials: make sure you know what type of test your child will be sitting, eg. GL or FSCE, and which subjects they will be taking, and try to use quality study materials that are aimed at that specific type of test. At Club 11 Plus, our learning materials are all targeted at GL tests.
Believing everything you read in online forums: we’ve often seen posts in online forums saying that children need to score over 90% to pass the 11 Plus. While there are a handful of highly selective grammar schools for which that really is the case, in general, the pass mark is closer to 75%, though this does vary a lot, depending on the school.
9: A gentle note on expectations
Grammar schools are highly competitive, and no tutor or tuition programme can promise that your child will pass (if they do, you’ve got to be very suspicious of their claims!). But 11 Plus tuition can undoubtedly help your child to perform to the best of their ability, so your aim should be simple: to help your child do their very best, feel proud of themselves whatever the result, and develop a healthy attitude towards learning, that will stay with them for years to come, whatever their future holds.
10: How Club 11 Plus can help
Club 11 Plus offers a GL-aligned online tuition programme, with over a thousand lessons and quizzes, baseline and mock tests, available both on desktop pc, and as an app.
Our mission is to make top-quality 11 Plus tuition affordable for everyone, so a subscription costs just £19.99 per month, with a 7-day free trial, no registration fee, and no minimum term.
Our mission is to make top-quality 11 Plus tuition affordable for everyone, so a subscription costs just £19.99 per month, with a 7-day free trial, no registration fee, and no minimum term.
We also offer a free email advice service to everyone, and a free 30-minute phone call or Zoom chat to all our subscribed users.
Club 11 Plus has been designed to be fun, flexible and effective, so it can fit around busy family life, while keeping your child’s journey towards 11 Plus calm and consistent.
To start your 7-day free trial today, click here.
Club 11 Plus has been designed to be fun, flexible and effective, so it can fit around busy family life, while keeping your child’s journey towards 11 Plus calm and consistent.
To start your 7-day free trial today, click here.