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We moved to a grammar school area a year ago. Thinking we were in the catchment for lots of schools but it hasn’t really been the case.

We weren’t familiar with the grammar school, 11 Plus route, so we didn’t realise the amount of preparation needed to do this with less stress and to have a successful result.

So what’s our advice? Should you be tutoring a year in advance? I know people starting this preparation in Year 3. I don’t think you need to go that far but we definitely would have started earlier if we’d known.

Most children start tutoring or some sort of formal 11 Plus studying a year in advance. Even beginning in Year 4 would help if you feel your child needs extra time to study at their own pace.

It may seem excessive but it’s advisable to begin at least a year before. This gives your child time to get to know a completely different way of learning. Apart from the maths modules which we found not too surprising, not easy but more expected content. There are other topics which children are not used to studying, see below our experience of these, which highlights why 11 Plus learning is so different.

when to prepare for the 11 Plus exam? Atom Learning. Boy with headphones and a laptop and pencil studying. — Credit: Unsplash.

Word choice

The vocabulary they will learn is extensive and they will need to understand the meaning of these words so they can answer questions where they need to give their opposites as an answer.

This is more complex than just knowing a new word and even children who are quite articulate can struggle with identifying the opposite word to the one they are presented with.

Non-verbal reasoning

The non-verbal reasoning section which in some papers is called ‘Pictures’ is a series of different drawings or shapes. The aim is to check the ability of the child to understand and analyse visual information and solve problems using visual reasoning or their interpretation of the data.

For my son, this was the easiest part but I don’t learn in the same way as him and I found it the most difficult. So it’s very hard to know whether your child will sail through parts of the exam unless they are continuously exposed to the different elements. Having a year of getting used to interpreting data and knowing what is being asked of you is paramount.

Verbal reasoning

There is an impression that this is just ‘English’ but this doesn’t give a full account of what topics are involved. There are questions on sentence structure and grammar, familiar elements of English. However, it’s very unlikely that a child would pass this section if they haven’t studied for it specifically.

Much of the verbal reasoning modules are noticing how words change in their structure and what patterns you can spot. For example, if you took two letters from one word and created two more with the same letters, how could you create a fourth word with that two words and what would it be?

These take time to understand what is being asked. To start practising and seeing how you can create things yourself. Noticing when you have it very wrong and where you made a mistake. Getting used to doing them so you can work quickly. The exam is around 2 hours but you don’t have long to spare on each question.

It amazed me how well my child started to pick up on these patterns and alternative ways of thinking. However, it takes time to build this knowledge and the longer children have to get used to it the less overwhelming it will be.

Do you need to pay for a tutor?

If you’re now aware you need to start at least a year before your child takes the exam, the thought of paying for a tutor for that amount of time is a little disconcerting!

We used a tutor for part of the time and for the rest we used Atom Learning’s Exam Prep Plus package for the 11 Plus Exam. We have always used Atom’s Core Curriculum and upgraded whilst we were studying for the 11 Plus. Now we have completed the exam we have moved our subscription back to just the Core package.

Included in the Exam Prep Plus Package for 11 Plus are:

Unlimited mock tests and practice papers for your child's exam
English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning & Non-Verbal Reasoning
Progress data on your child's strengths and areas for improvement

Children learn in the platform through modules on each topic. The teachings are based in ‘worlds’ with colourful graphics and fun elements to keep them interested.

They get little rewards when they complete a certain amount of topics.

We found it really useful to have the information at our fingertips. If there was a part we didn’t understand it is explained to you easily. There are also live lessons recorded with a teacher going through the different topics.

Mock exams for each area of the country were very valuable. We needed the Bexley and Kent test and could access these. All the different area tests are available in the platform.

I hope that’s given you some information from a mother who has just lived through the process! Please add any questions below…