Plan the year ahead with a little help from KSOL!

With just over 6 months to go until your child sits their 11 plus entrance exam, KSOL’s team of tutors have highlighted some key points within the year to help you stay on track with their 11+ preparation.

Set a starting point: We recommend that your child sits at least one KSOL 11+ mock exam, so that you can benchmark progress for the next few months. As each KSOL mock exam gets progressively harder, this will allow you and/or your tutor the chance to assess your child’s ability at each stage and plan the year ahead according to your child’s individual needs. KSOL 11+ Mock Exams will also help to familiarise your child with the format and content of the 11 plus exam and help alleviate any anxiety. From here you can look at our Year 5 Online Graduate Course, suitable for all types of 11+ entrance exams and completed by children across the country, to help them prepare. Whatever their needs, we will tailor your child’s course to tackle weaker areas head on!

Plan your school visits: Now is a great time to begin looking into the schools that you and your child are interested in. Visit the school websites and find out when open days/evenings are taking place and whether you need to reserve a place. The majority of Grammar and Independent School Open Days/Evenings take place from July. If you have missed any Open Events, you can often phone the school to request an independent visit. Find out how far your child will need to travel each day and whether the schools specialise in subjects that your child has an interest in.

Take stock of progress: Evaluate how far your child has come since the first exam. Have they progressed or resolved issues identified at the beginning of the year? What’s the next step?

It may be a good idea to enrol your child onto a topic specific KSOL workshop or 1-2-1 Tuition Session to consolidate any areas of concern. We also have a 12 Week Creative Writing course for Year 5 students commencing in April. This is designed to develop writing skills and techniques for a variety of different genres and improve application of vocabulary, sentence openers and punctuation.

 

Send off entrance exam application forms! Registration for the 11 plus entrance exams can open from the start of May onwards and most areas give you until the end of June to complete these forms. If you do not complete and return this form before the deadline, your child may not be able to sit the exam.

Remember to check your local education authority or preferred grammar school/s directly for specific information regarding application dates and admission criteria.

 

Consolidation and revision: At this point in the year, the main focus in your child’s preparation should be to consolidate any weak areas and to revise! Short bursts of revision is key as you do not want to overload them so late in the year.

Practise! Again, they should have covered the majority of the 11+ curriculum at this point in the year, but this knowledge now needs to be put into practice. Practising under timed conditions is a necessity and sitting mock exams will provide numerous benefits. For more information on why your child should sit a KSOL 11+ Mock Exam, click this link.

Plan the big day: By now you should have received all of the necessary details about the event such as the exam venue, registration times and exam duration. You should also keep in mind that there may be hundreds of other students turning up on the day so you may want to plan various locations to park. The key is to remain calm and allow the last few months of preparation to run their course.

For some of our most effective 11+ exam techniques, check out our latest blog!

Results: Results are usually issued within the first two weeks of October. Whatever the outcome, you need to fill out a Local Authority Preference form and list the schools you wish to apply for; always include more than one school (including a state school) so that you have a back up. The national closing date for Local Authority forms is 31st October.

For a list of the essential things to consider when filling out this form, click this link.