“Is my child smart enough to pass the 11+?’
“Dear Tutoress,
My child is currently in Year 4 and is in my opinion very bright. She attends a local state school and enjoys it there but they don’t provide me with much feedback on how she’s doing. I’ve only been told that she’s working at the expected standard for her age and that she’s doing well. With everything that has happened this year, I’ve realised how important education is and I really want her to have a great future which is why I’d like to send her to a good grammar school. How do I know if she has what it takes? Is there a way for me to know if she’s smart enough to pass the 11+?
I’d appreciate any advice.”
I was very grateful to have received this email from a parent who was obviously quite concerned about whether her child has the ability to pass the 11+ exam and I thought it would be wise to share some advice not just for this concerned mother but for other Mums and Dads in similar positions.
Whenever a parent asks me whether their child is smart enough to pass the 11-plus exam, the first thing I tell them is that it’s important to be subjective. That means that as a parent, you should look at your child’s academic ability, not through your own eyes, but someone else’s. As parents, we think our children are geniuses and whilst I do believe that every child has their own unique area of ingenuity, I also believe that it’s important for parents to look at their child from a completely separate perspective.
One of the best ways to do this is to simply look at the factual results that your child is getting rather than including any emotional factors in.
What do I mean by that?
Put simply, the only way to really gauge whether your child has the potential to pass the 11+ is to test them and then to see what sort of mark or score they get.
Once you do that, you’ll have tangible numbers to base your decision on whether to go through the process on.
Now, that’s not to say that a child that scores low marks can’t pass the real exam, quite the opposite in fact. However, it does allow you as a parent to have a clearer picture of your child’s strengths and weaknesses and then assess whether there is enough time to prepare them for the exam.
The 11+ isn’t easy and the process of going through it can be quite daunting for children and parents alike.
So how do you assess your child?
You can go the obvious route of booking an assessment with a tutor or tuition centre
OR
You can purchase 11+ practice assessments and papers on Amazon.
I’d recommend doing both.
Furthermore, I’d recommend only having your child assessed by a tutor or tuition centre if you’re considering potentially booking them onto a programme as some centres will try to push you into signing up for their services so bear this in mind.
Additionally, I would recommend giving your child a standard English and Maths test to start with as there is no point in giving them a Verbal or Non-Verbal test if they’ve never seen those types of questions before.
If however, they have started doing some NVR/VR then it’s absolutely fine to assess them in these areas as well.
Once you have a clear idea of your child’s results. Analyse them and make note of their strengths and weaknesses.
Where is there room for improvement?
Is there enough time to help them improve in these areas?
What kinds of mistakes are they making and why?
It’s important to ask yourself these questions and make notes so that you can figure out how to best prepare them for the exam.
Once you’ve done this, it’s time to create a revision routine that enables your child to work through exam-style questions and also build up their knowledge in key topics and areas.
Regularly monitor their progress and keep track of their scores. Our clients typically write their child’s scores down in their assessment books or in a notebook that is dedicated to tracking their scores.
Some of the other things you can work on between now and their exam are:
Spelling, punctuation and grammar
Vocabulary
Mental maths and arithmetic
Puzzles
Anagrams
These are all very important for helping children to develop the skills needed to solve problems that are typically assessed during the 11+ process.
If your child is preparing to sit an independent school exam then it’s also worth building their soft skills by encouraging them to take parts in mooting/debates, listen to radio debates, read speeches and stay up-to-date with local and international events.
Is your child smart enough to pass the 11+?
There is no simple direct answer. We’ve seen children who were textbook smart fail miserably and we’ve also seen children who were scoring 20% in practice papers, fly through the exams and receive multiple offers. The 11+ can in many ways be quite unpredictable but we recommend that all 11+ parents focus on building their child’s academic strength overall so that they stand a good chance of doing well. Finally, it’s important to remember that one of the benefits of going through the 11+ process is that your child will learn so much, far more than they would in a typical academic year so it’s usually worth it just for the knowledge, skills and discipline that they’ll gain from the process as a whole.
Here’s to your child’s success,
The Tutoress.