Hello summer!
Aside from juicy slices of watermelon, sun-kissed skin and warm sand, 11 plus revision rarely springs to mind when we picture summer.
However, with the 11+ entrance exam in less than three months time and SATs right around the corner, it is essential that your child does not lose momentum in this vital stage of their preparations.
Adding some sunshine to the monotony of 11+ studies, KSOL have come up with engaging activities and tips which make learning the core 11+ subjects a creative and enjoyable process…
1 – Maths
Maths is often considered one of the hardest subjects to revise as topics are difficult to translate into everyday problem solving. However, the usefulness of Mathematics underpins a
significant chunk of real life contexts.
Handling money – When asking for the bill at a restaurant or purchasing the weekly shopping, get your child involved. Calculate how much each person at the table owes or how much a specific ingredient would cost if you needed triple the portions. These quick and easy activities all help improve speed and efficiency when attempting problem solving questions in the entrance exam.
Tip: When out for the day, allocate your child a small spending budget to manage. Ask them to calculate how much money they have remaining at each stage. Not only does budgeting teach children the value of money, it also encourages independence and the importance of mathematics in everyday life. Give it a go. No calculators allowed!
Weights and Length – With more than one metric system for mass and length, converting between each can be difficult to get your head around. Whether you’re calculating how many units are needed for your favourite recipe or working out how far away you are from your destination, we regularly rely on metric conversions. A required skill in the 11+ exam is that children know how to confidently convert metrics. For example, how many grams are in a kilogram, how many millilitres are in a litre and how many centre metres are in a metre?
Tip: Does your child know their height in centimetres? Do they know the walking distance to their local school? Ask your child questions such as these to ensure they are confident with conversions of common metrics.
2 – English
It is often easier to incorporate English skills into your child’s everyday life as we are confronted with words everywhere we go. In order to pass the 11plus, children need to have a confident grasp of the English language and ambitious vocabulary beyond their school year. Two useful tips to encourage regular English revision this summer are:
Read, Read, Read – Due to apps and modern auto-correct technology, children are relying less on spelling, sound awareness and contextual analysis. However, regular reading provides plenty of fantastic benefits to your child, just a few include: mental stimulation, analytical thinking, memory retention, spelling and vocabulary expansion. According to new cognitive research, reading can also reduce stress levels by almost two thirds!
Tip: Encourage your child to read for ten minutes before bed. As the last thing before sleep, children will store this information the most. Encourage your child to write down any words or phrases that they don’t understand in a word diary. Switching from a bright TV screen to a book before bed is also a great way for your body to unwind from a busy day.
Word Games – Not only are word games a great opportunity to bring the whole family together, they also help build key skills in spelling, word pattern recognition and punctuation. Word association games in specific are a great game to play when out and about this summer. Point out an object and encourage friends and family to find words that match the topic within 5 seconds! This game helps children think outside the box and approach problems in new, innovative ways.
Tip: Allocate your child an ambitious ‘Word of the Week’ to use as many times as possible. Ask your child to find the definition of the word, the type of word (e.g. adjective, noun, verb) and also synonyms and antonyms. The word of the week could be taken from your child’s word diary!
3 – Non-Verbal Reasoning
Most children will not have been taught Non-verbal Reasoning at school and therefore it is often a tricky skill to master. Unlike verbal reasoning, these questions are not reliant on the English language. The skills required to answer these types of questions include: identifying relationships between objects; spotting similarities and differences between shapes, patterns and recognising visual sequences.
Tip: Interpretation and attention to detail are extremely important when answering NVR questions. If you do not have problem-solving based diagrams to hand, advanced spot the difference puzzles, jigsaws and drawing a shapes mirror image are all great activities to practise at home.
4 – Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning is a form of problem-solving based around words. The skills required involve: critically analysing texts; solving word problems; spotting letter sequences and deciphering letter and number-based codes.
Tip: Stagger two alphabets on top of each other and rearrange the bottom set to align with a different letter. Your child can now create a unique code. With this code, children can write out secret messages that only they can read!
We hope that you have found the information in this guide useful.
For helpful KSOL revision products that cover key topic areas across the four core 11+ subjects, follow the link: https://www.ksol.co.uk/contents/11plus-preparation/11plus-products
