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How to... Improve Your Child's Chances at the 11+
11+ Successes
Leaders are Readers Success Rate 2011
Percentage who succeeded in the Stage 1 exams of their first choice school: 100%
Percentage who succeeded in the Stage 2 exams of their first choice school: 80%
Students attending the LaR 11+ programme performed very well in assessments for the following highly regarded schools:
- Latymer School
- Queen Elizabeth School for Boys
- Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
- Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
Top tips for parents - arising from recent years' 11+ entrance procedure: Vocabulary! Vocabulary! Vocabulary!
English papers included questions on grammar, spelling and understanding the precise meaning of words. Spelling involved words which are frequently confused even by adults, such as 'practice/practise', 'except/accept'. The comprehension passages were extracts from classics and required a good understanding of idioms. The lesson here is: use precise vocabulary and terminology when conversing with your children from as early as possible; get them reading fluently early on in life so that they are able to teach themselves good vocabulary through reading well-written books. Do not ignore the classics. If your child refuses to read the classics, read them to her. She is more likely to develop a love for classics after you have made them 'come alive' for her.
Without a strong, wide-ranging vocabulary, a candidate also has little chance of doing well on a Verbal Reasoning paper.
Successful candidates were of course fluent, habitual readers. Boys who were not into fiction were nevertheless regular readers of such items as newspaper football commentaries, magazines such as 'Top Gear' and footballers' biographies. All were competent writers who could write persuasively.
Maths papers continue to demand that the candidate uses knowledge of basic algebra to solve puzzle-type problems methodically and quickly.
All candidates had completed all or at least one of the following: the 11+ Maths and 11+ English, which all included Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Most had consolidated their learning at Summer School.
Latymer School:
100% of LaR candidates succeeded on the Stage 1 Non-Verbal Reasoning paper.
66% of LaR candidates succeeded at Stage 2 Maths and English papers.
Analysis: Those whose parents had English as a foreign language AND who, despite being born in the UK, use vocabulary and grammar comparable to their parents’ standard, did not get through Stage 2. These candidates also were not the first-born children of the family. First-borns of immigrant families tended to have an excellent command of English because their parents had to rely on their oldest child, even from a young age, to interpret for them and to assist in reading and completing official documentation.
QE Boys:
66% of LaR candidates succeeded on the Stage 1 Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning papers.
100% of LaR candidates succeeded on Stage 2 Maths and English multiple choice papers.
Analysis: Same as Latymer School, candidates whose parents had English as a second language AND who, despite being born in the UK, use vocabulary and grammar comparable to their parents’ standard, did not get through Stage 1. These candidates also were not the first-born children of the family. First-borns of immigrant families tended to have an excellent command of English because their parents had to rely on their oldest child, even from a young age, to interpret for them and to assist in reading and completing official documentation.
What can EFL parents do?
If your command of the English language is fluent and you tend to use accurate vocabulary and correct grammar when speaking, then there is nothing to do over and above what other English speaking parents do. If, on the other hand, after several years of living in the UK, you find that you still tend to speak and write in ‘broken English’, listeners frequently misunderstand you, and you often have to be corrected by your children or others when you speak, then consider speaking in only your first language to your children, eg, Turkish, rather than English.
(1) This will enable your children to regularly hear your language from a native speaker (you) and give them the opportunity to become fluent in it, in addition to what other help they are receiving in learning that language.
(2) It allows your children to only hear English from other native speakers, giving your children an opportunity to be influenced by those speakers, rather than by EFL speakers. Hopefully, those native English speakers do speak the language well!
Updated: 18/03/11
Maths English 11 + Exams
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