Were you the kid in school who rocked up on the day unprepared and aced everything? Or were you the one who bit their nails with worry? Perhaps you were the one with colour-coded revision charts and a strict schedule. Your own experience with exams can shape your attitude as a parent. And that’s probably why you landed here – because you now face, for the first time, the prospect of your (still young) child taking their first exam – the 11+ entrance exam. The big question is: are 11+ prep materials crucial for your child’s success? Or can that intelligent child rock up on the day and excel?
We’re here to answer all your questions. We’ll delve into the types of study material available, how to get a solution tailored to your child, and also give you a definitive answer on whether 11+ prep material is mandatory for a child doing well in the exam.
Prep Materials: an 11+ Staple
Grammar school competition is fierce, and many parents have realised that the key to success is building a solid academic foundation in English and maths. Many exams also have a nonverbal element akin to an IQ assessment. Strictly speaking, the latter is a paper you can’t prep for. Nevertheless, familiarity with the question formats can help.
Prep materials are a popular way for parents and private tutors to help children prepare for the 11+ exam. Many choices are available, including mock papers, online assessments, study guides, and workbooks. Some help familiarise kids with the questions they’ll get in the exam. Others strengthen knowledge in key curriculum areas. Some allow parents to assess a child’s progress and help them understand whether they are ready for an 11+ exam.
Exploring the Types of Prep Material Available
Let’s explore the types of prep material available a bit deeper now. There are four main types.
Mock Papers / Online Assessments
Some parents buy mock papers before the 11+. You can also buy these as online assessments. The purpose is relatively simple. It’s a practice session before the big day. There is good reason to believe these are beneficial. Mock exams are heavily used in GCSE, A level and even – more informally – in KS2 SATS. It’s helpful to ease nerves, familiarise your child with the content, and help improve time management.
Study Guides
Study guides are closer to having a tutorial to help your child prepare for the 11+. Your child will get tips, strategies, practice questions, and methods to help understand key content, such as tackling worded maths questions. They help strengthen knowledge of an existing topic your child has covered in school or introduce new issues to children who want to learn more advanced topics than they may have learned so far in their age group at school.
Workbooks
Workbooks are all about practice, and practising academic work is essential to mastering a subject. Rather than teaching new ideas, workbooks allow children to fine-tune what they know. Smarty Panthers books fall into this category. We designed them as a way of helping kids practice and improve their English and Maths, but in a non-pressured setting via our story-based approach, which is why they look very different to many other 11+ books on the market.
Diagnostic Tools
Many online 11+ prep tools fall into this category. These are similar to online assessments but tend to be more focused rather than comprehensive mock exam-style questions. Diagnostic tools help you measure where your child currently is and how far away they are from 11+ readiness. They are a valuable way of identifying strengths and weaknesses so that you can refine exam practice to fit what that child needs.
11+ Prep Material: Tailoring It to Your Child’s Learning Style
When you understand the content and approach of 11+ material, you can start to see why parents and tutors use it. But here is the thing. All children are different. They absorb information differently and have various learning styles and enthusiasm for the academic world. So, it’s essential to tailor your 11+ approach to your child’s uniqueness instead of simply following parenting friends’ recommendations at school or on forums. When you tailor learning to your child, you’ll get better results. Or, to put it another way, 11+ material isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation.
Some children are visual learners. They enjoy diagrams and videos. Auditory learners work best when discussing a problem with a parent, tutor, or teacher. Kinesthetic learners love doing or moving, which can sound hard with 11+ prep. Still, you can figure this out by creating activities around the house, like treasure hunts. Then you have the readers and writers. They excel via the written word and will stay absorbed if you give them engaging material like stories.
Some children have a mix of learning styles, so you can try different types of material and benefit from the variety to help them stay engaged. What’s essential is knowing a bit about your child. Study them and see what activity keeps them absorbed (or in “the zone”) for hours. That’s a clue to their learning style.
Parents and their Role in 11+ Prep: Investing in the Right Materials
Investing in helping your kids with the 11+ has obvious advantages. But that doesn’t necessarily mean investing money in fancy online courses or expensive tutors. You can invest in cheaper material like novels or workbooks, and, of course, you can invest your time. The fact you are reading this article right now means you have already invested some time into understanding what support materials can help your child. You can also make other changes without cost, like creating a dedicated space at home or introducing a weekly study routine.
Investing in materials isn’t about giving your child an unfair exam advantage. Good practical material can help instil confidence in your child before they enter that exam hall. Having confidence with formal exams will help them manage stress and life challenges later in life.
Do You Really Need 11+ Material?
Parents often believe 11+ prep work is unnecessary if the child is exceptionally bright and/or they are at a school where they are thriving. Why repeat topics your child is already covering in school?
That viewpoint is logical. However, this presupposes that 11+ material is about cramming more knowledge into your child. But that doesn’t have to be the case. With some sensible material choices, you can approach this from a different angle – helping your child gain confidence and familiarity with the questions they’ll see on the exam day.
When you take that stance, you’re helping your kid go into the exam confident, ready, and without feeling a sense of stress or pressure. It’s all about choosing material your child enjoys and aligning with their learning style. As we like to say at Smarty Panthers, if you can make learning fun, the rest will take care of itself. Discover our workbooks now to find the perfect match for your child.
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