Hi One of the main things which I think helped was knowing how the test / pass mark worked and for us it was the overall mark that mattered and there wasn't for example a pass mark for each of Maths, English, verbal reasoning etc. separately. So once I figured that out he felt better about it as knew a lower mark in spelling would be compensated by say strong maths. If a pass was needed in each separate area then may have approached a bit differently. In the end though he actually got pretty good at spotting the spelling mistakes, he didn't necessarily know the right spelling but knew it look ..read more

Hi, I am facing same issue. Can you please let me know what did you do and what worked for your DC? And where can I find this as you mentioned - There are lists of commonly misspelled words recommended for 11+ and for KS2, you can practise recognising the mistakes in such words. Thanks in advance Statistics: Posted by firoz365 — Wed Mar 27, 2024 7:25 pm ..read more

Hi I'm working with my daughter focusing mainly on English and VR. She's great at VR and an excellent writer. She's always loved reading although has historically found comprehension surprisingly difficult, given her reading ability. We're making good progress on the MCQ for comprehension and getting better at 'mining' the text for evidence. My appeal for help is for the longer style comprehensions that require more independent thought. I totally struggle with these (and I have a very good English degree!). The answers always seem pretty arbitrary to me - I'm struggling with how to help her fi ..read more

Hi everyone, Would greatly appreciate if someone can recommend a book/ resource where I can see some examples of written stories at 11+ level, along with guidance. Statistics: Posted by Sangra — Sat Dec 10, 2022 2:48 pm ..read more

I would be interested in this too. I am aware that they sometimes/usually set 2 written stories for the English exam. But I am not sure if they sometimes switch to written comprehension. Anyone know if they can set comprehension too instead of the creative writing some years? Statistics: Posted by newbieCath — Mon Aug 28, 2023 9:54 pm ..read more

I’ve just been reading this article in the Guardian and the associated report by the National Literacy Trust. The report itself contains quite a few interesting quotes from children about their own views on reading (and the survey covers ages from 5-18). https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... f-ones-own" https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Reading_trends_2022_-_Final.pdf" >https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/ ... _Final.pdf" uncited"> The books teachers and parents tell us to read don’t interest us. Like 19th-century books, my mum is repeatedly telling me to read Pr ..read more

Thanks very much for the reply. He doesn't spell brilliantly in his writing either, it's not terrible but then he probably tends to stick to using easier words he can spell! I think spelling just isn't his strength so will try not to dwell on it and just be thankful he's doing okay with the rest! Will focus on learning some key rules and try improve it a bit without expecting the earth! I definitely like the sound of the misspelt word lists, I feel like that could help so I'll look at that, thanks very much for the suggestion. Statistics: Posted by Annie42 — Tue Jun 27, 2023 10:02 pm ..read more

Hi, Does you DC spell OK when he writes stories? He can try to write the sentences (without paying attention to the options' dividers) and then check if his spelling matches the given text. He can also learn different prefixes, suffixes and root words and see if he can spot these in texts. Otherwise it's just learning spelling rules and knowing which words are most likely to be misspelled. There are lists of commonly misspelled words recommended for 11+ and for KS2, you can practise recognising the mistakes in such words. Statistics: Posted by galentina — Tue Jun 20, 2023 3:40 pm ..read more

Any update on this? Statistics: Posted by Pinkwaterbottle — Tue Sep 20, 2022 2:06 pm ..read more

I would be interested in this too. I am aware that they sometimes/usually set 2 written stories for the English exam. But I am not sure if they sometimes switch to written comprehension. Anyone know if they can set comprehension too instead of the creative writing some years? Statistics: Posted by newbieCath — Mon Aug 28, 2023 9:54 pm ..read more