11 Plus Guides

How To Do Your Own 11 Plus (11+) Mock Exam At Home

Preparing for an 11 Plus exam can be a daunting task for both parents and students alike. This single key examination determines entry into selective secondary schools across the country, shaping the academic future of your child. When preparing for the 11 Plus, especially as exam day approaches, mock exams serve as indispensable tools, offering a glimpse into the format and procedure of the actual test.

But here's the twist: mock exams need not be confined to expensive test centres or costly tuition companies. With the right approach, you can seamlessly integrate mock testing into your child's 11+ preparation from the comfort of your home. By familiarizing your child with the examination format and providing a conducive environment for practice, you can instil confidence and exam familiarity at home. Conducting mock exams at home offers you the flexibility to tailor the experience to your child's specific needs and your schedule.

In this guide, we aim to take you through the process of conducting your very own 11 Plus mock exams at home, ensuring that your child is well-prepared to tackle the challenges that lie ahead, without the (often large) fees. Whether you need tips on setting up an exam-like environment, selecting the appropriate practice papers, or marking your child’s work, we've got you covered every step of the way.

Join us as we delve into the intricacies of home-based mock exams, empowering you to take charge of your child's preparation journey and pave the way for their success in the 11 Plus exam and beyond.

Contents 

  1. Benefits of Mock Exams

  2. Setting up Your Mock Exam

  3. Selecting Exam Papers

  4. Simulating Exam Conditions

  5. Marking and Reviewing

  6. Seek Feedback and Assistance if Needed

Benefits of Mock Exams

Mock exams offer plenty of benefits to both students and parents embarking on the journey towards 11 Plus examinations. Firstly, a mock test allows your child to become familiar with the exam, including the structure, timings, and types of questions featured in their actual 11 Plus exams. By simulating the exam environment at home, students can become accustomed to the pressure and time constraints they will encounter on exam day. This familiarity not only boosts confidence but also helps alleviate exam anxiety, ensuring that students can perform at their best when it matters most, without any surprises.

Conducting mock exams at home serves as an excellent stepping stone towards the actual exam day. It allows students to gradually acclimatise to exam conditions and refine their test-taking strategies in a familiar environment. This gradual progression helps build confidence and minimises the likelihood of being overwhelmed by the exam setting on the big day.

With careful planning and preparation, mock exams can be conducted in exam-like conditions right in the comfort of your own home. Ensuring a quiet, distraction-free environment and adhering to strict timing guidelines mirror the conditions students will face in the official exam hall. (We’ll look at this in more detail later on.) This enables students to practice under realistic circumstances and enhances their ability to perform under pressure.

Finally, a mock exam offers you a valuable insight into your child's performance and readiness for the 11 Plus exam. By reviewing their performance and answers, parents can gauge their child's strengths and weaknesses across different subjects and question types. Additionally, marking your child's work provides a deeper understanding of their progress over time, allowing for targeted interventions and focused revision efforts.

In essence, mock testing is an indispensable part of the 11 Plus preparation journey. So how do you do them at home? 

Setting Up Your Mock Exam

Preparing for a mock exam at home is probably a lot easier to do than you realise. Testing at home offers a cost-effective and convenient alternative to formal test centres or tutoring services.

Conducting a mock exam at home doesn't require a lot of resources or specialized knowledge. With access to practice papers, a printer and a quiet space, you can recreate the exam experience. Here's how to create the ideal environment for your child's mock examinations.

  1. To start off, select a suitable time and date for your child's mock exam. Ensure they can work throughout this time without interruption, allowing them to focus fully on the task at hand. Minimise distractions from siblings, household chores, screens or other commitments to create an optimal testing environment.

  2. Choose a quiet and well-lit space for the mock exam. This could be a designated study area or any room free from distractions. The goal is to create a comfortable setting that promotes concentration and enables your child to immerse themselves fully in the exam experience.

  3. Equip your child with the necessary materials for the mock exam, including the exam paper or/and answering booklet, pencils, erasers, and a clock/timer to track the time. To replicate exam conditions fully, put the clock or timer in their eye-line. When your child looks up from their paper, they should be able to see the clock. Limit access to just the essential materials to mimic the conditions of the actual exam and foster a focused mindset.

  4. While you have the option to supervise your child during the mock exam, it's also acceptable to allow them to work independently. Regardless of your choice, enforce certain restrictions, such as prohibiting the use of mobile phones or computers, to maintain the integrity of the exam conditions. If in doubt, just remove anything distracting from the workspace. They must work in silence.

By following these straightforward steps, you can create a conducive and authentic testing environment for your child's mock exam at home. This approach not only saves time and money but also provides a setting for invaluable practice in a familiar and comfortable setting. This style of mock test can then be repeated as many times as you feel is needed for full familiarisation.

Selecting Exam Papers

Choosing the right practice papers for your child's mock exam is crucial for effective preparation. Using reputable 11 Plus style practice papers ensures your child is exposed to high-quality questions that closely resemble those found in their actual 11 Plus exam. These papers are carefully curated to cover the breadth and depth of topics tested, providing comprehensive preparation for all sections of the exam. These papers will also closely replicate the format and style of the actual examination paper, often providing an answering booklet as will occur in the exam.

For free and regular practice papers, we highly recommend using our own free weekly practice papers for English, maths, and verbal reasoning. These papers are designed by our experienced team of tutors and align closely with the format and content of the 11 Plus exam. They offer a valuable resource for students and parents for general preparation but they are also designed to be used as mock exams at home. 

We send out one free English or mathematics practice paper, exam-style answering booklet and answers every single week! Sign up to our mailing list to receive your first paper today!

In addition to free resources, we also offer paid exam paper packs tailored to specific exam boards and formats. Whether your child is preparing for the GL, CEM, ISEB, Kent Test, or independent-style exam boards, our paper packs provide targeted practice materials to supplement their preparation efforts. These packs are designed to streamline the preparation process, particularly for families with limited time or specific exam requirements.

By selecting official or reputable practice papers, such as the Exam Coach's papers, you can ensure that your child receives the highest quality preparation for the 11 Plus exam. These resources not only enhance your child's understanding of exam content but also build their confidence and readiness to tackle the challenges of the actual exam.

Simulating Exam Conditions

Replicating real exam conditions during mock exams at home is essential for providing an authentic testing experience and preparing students for the real 11 Plus exam. Here's how to ensure your mock exams closely resemble the actual testing environment.

We provide exam answering booklets designed to mimic the format and layout of official exam papers. Encourage your child to use these booklets to familiarize themselves with the exam style and structure, including the arrangement of questions and answer spaces.

Before beginning the mock exam, take a moment to review the information page on the practice paper. This page typically includes important details, such as the time limit for each section and the allowed resources, such as pencils and paper. Familiarizing your child with this information helps them understand what to expect and how to manage their time effectively during the exam. Exam invigilators will often read out the instructions section to the entire group before the exam begins.

Make sure your child always has a clock within sight when completing a mock exam. And ensure they adhere to the time limit specified. This mirrors the timing constraints imposed during the actual 11 Plus exam and helps your child practice pacing themselves appropriately to complete all questions within the allotted time. When time is up, they must stop working immediately, even if they are halfway through an answer.

For parents, setting a timer can be a useful tool to track your child's progress and provide timely updates on remaining time. By checking in with your child formally at intervals, you can ensure that your child stays on track and manages their time effectively. Some exam boards may also specify timed sections during the exam, making it beneficial for children to practice working within specified timeframes. Always read through the instructions on the first or second page of the exam paper before giving it to your child. It will make any timings and reminders needed clear, so you can ensure they are adhered to during your mock exam.

Encourage your child to work independently during the mock exam, without seeking support or assistance from others. This mirrors the conditions of the actual 11 Plus exam, where students are expected to rely solely on their own knowledge and skills to answer questions. No notes or other materials should be in front of them except the exam paper.

Marking and reviewing

Marking your child's mock exam papers is a crucial step in the preparation process, offering valuable insights into their performance and progress. All our 11 Plus practice papers come with answers, a mark scheme and/or model answers to allow you to mark their work yourself.

Begin by meticulously marking your child's work using the provided answer key or mark scheme. This ensures consistency and accuracy in assessing their responses against the expected answers. Take note of any incorrect or incomplete answers, as well as areas where your child excelled.

Once you've completed the marking process, take the time to review your child's work comprehensively. Provide them with an overall score to gauge their performance on the mock exam. This score serves as a benchmark for tracking progress and identifying areas for improvement.

However, don't stop at simply assigning a score. Take the opportunity to go through your child's mistakes with them in detail. Discuss each incorrect answer and help them understand where they went wrong and how to approach similar questions in the future. Offer guidance, explanations, and strategies to address any areas of weakness and reinforce their understanding of key concepts.

Furthermore, analyse trends in your child's results if they are regularly completing exam papers. Look for patterns or recurring mistakes to spot areas where your child may need additional support or practice. This systematic approach allows you to identify your child's strengths and weaknesses accurately, enabling you to tailor their preparation accordingly.

Seek feedback and assistance if needed

Parents play a crucial role in supporting their child's 11 Plus preparation journey, but it's essential to recognise when additional assistance or guidance may be beneficial. If you encounter challenges or have questions about your child's progress, don't hesitate to seek feedback and help from us. For instance, many parents find it challenging to administer written comprehension or creative writing mock exams and marking because of the more flexible and subjective nature of the mark scheme. Our team of experienced educators and tutors is here to provide support and guidance tailored to your child's needs. We are here to help.

In addition to seeking individualised support, we offer a range of 11 Plus courses and weekly tuition workshops designed to supplement your child's preparation efforts. These resources provide targeted instruction, practice, and feedback to help your child build confidence and excel in the 11 Plus exam.

We recommend a structured approach to your child’s 11 Plus preparation, which consists of:

  1. Taking an 11 Plus course with us in target areas.

  2. Practising with exam papers (both informally and as mock exams).

  3. Revisiting key concepts through a final course as a recap before exam day.

This sequential approach allows your child to build a strong foundation, practice applying their skills in exam-like conditions, and receive targeted support and reinforcement at the optimal moment just before the real exam.

By seeking feedback and assistance when necessary and taking advantage of our 11 Plus tuition and resources, you can ensure that your child receives the support they need to succeed in the 11 Plus exam. Together, we can work towards helping your child achieve their academic goals and unlock their full potential.

Conclusion

In conclusion, conducting 11 Plus mock exams at home is simple! It offers a cost-effective and convenient solution for preparing your child for their upcoming exams. Our mock exam papers are specifically designed for home use, providing a realistic testing experience without any additional expense. By incorporating home mock exams into your child's preparation regimen alongside our other offerings, you can ensure they receive a comprehensive and well-rounded preparation for the exam.

The value of home mock exams extends beyond mere practice; they serve as invaluable tools for familiarizing your child with the exam format, managing exam anxiety, and identifying areas for improvement. Even if done only once, home mock exams can significantly contribute to your child's readiness and confidence on exam day.

We hope that this free guide and our free weekly exam papers will assist your child on their preparation journey, equipping them with the skills and confidence needed to succeed in the 11 Plus exam.

The Best 11 Plus (11+) Online Tuition | The Exam Coach Way

This blog post explains how The Exam Coach delivers the best online learning experience for children studying to sit the 11 Plus exam for grammar and/or independent school entry in the UK. If you have a child about to take the 11 Plus, please read on to discover more about our philosophy and approach, as well as why it works.

If you’re pushed for time, just take a look at the video below in order to get a feel for an Exam Coach workshop and how it’s different from standard online tuition.

How We Deliver The Best Online Tuition

There are five core principles we use to guide our approach to 11 Plus exam tuition.

1. The super tutor

We believe the best tutors in the world exist for each subject, exam type and age group. We call these tutors ‘super tutors’. At The Exam Coach, we only have a small team of tutors focusing on our 11 Plus specialisms:

  • 11+ Comprehension (Multiple Choice and Written Answer)

  • 11+ Creative Writing

  • 11+ Persuasive and Informative Writing

  • 11+ Verbal Reasoning

This is because we believe so strongly in the importance of who is teaching our learning materials; they have to be experts in their field.

In 2016, The Sutton Trust and Ipsos Mori estimated up to 1.5 million people in the UK earn income from teaching pupils outside of school. Here’s the report. Frankly, anyone can call themselves a tutor. It’s an attractive side-income, and the lack of regulation creates a low barrier to entry into the profession. Due to this, there are significant differences in the quality of tuition delivered across the country.  

The huge shift to online learning over the past five years has meant parents have finally seen just how much the quality of teaching can vary. All you needed to do was glance over your child’s shoulder during a period of online schooling to see for yourself. The difference in teaching quality, not to mention online teaching quality, is enormous.

Take a moment to think about your own schooling… There were teachers who inspired and captivated you, and there were those who left you bored-stiff and scratching your head during the end of term test! They were all professionals, but they all delivered drastically different levels of instruction. Online tuition has enabled parents to see the problem still exists. Furthermore, teachers are now trying to do something they’ve never been trained to do — teach online!

For this reason, it’s our mission to find, train and scale the best tutors in the world. We only work with the people who have passed competitive exams, attended top universities and have strong teaching experience. After training them in our best practices for online tuition, we scale their teaching to as many students as possible. We believe this is the future of education and, through use of technology and a dedicated support team around each super tutor, we believe it is an achievable goal. Every student deserves access to the best tutor.

2. Small group dynamic

When done well, online small group tuition is more enjoyable and effective than 1-1 tuition. We include two key ingredients in all of our workshops:

  • Entertainment

    • Our goal is to make our workshops as entertaining as possible. Great tuition should be a performance — it should educate and entertain — the group dynamic in our workshops facilitates this. We spend a lot of time choosing examples and selecting materials we think will resonate with our students. After every workshop we gauge what worked and what didn’t work based on student response from a broader sample than 1-1 allows for. In this way, we are able to develop world class online learning materials and experiences. If students are enjoying and engaging in what we do, we know they’re far more likely to be learning too. 

  • Competitive group testing 

    • Competition drives performance. All of our workshops and courses include tests; small prizes are awarded for winning students. This is then consolidated by active recall testing at intervals throughout our workshops to ensure retention of information. The competitive group dynamic incentivises our students to engage fully and pay attention whilst also giving parents a clear indication of progress achieved. During a 1-1 tuition session students do not have these incentives in place, naturally they can become disengaged. Furthermore, our testing format only serves to boost a child's confidence because all answers are submitted privately within the group online classroom environment.

Students are able to ask specific questions by putting their hand up and asking upon invitation by the tutor. The tutor can mute and unmute all students at their discretion. The online learning environment helps reduce the number of questions that interrupt the flow of learning. Therefore, the tutor can choose when is the best moment to answer a question. Questions can also be asked on an anonymous and private basis via the 1-1 chat option. This means students can be fearless with the questions they ask. Do you remember that tricky concept you never fully understood but were too embarrassed to ask? Our online workshops are set up to resolve these types of questions.

3. Excellent explanation beats personalisation

We believe the personalised approach to education is given too much prestige.

Many tuition companies will state their ‘personalised’, ‘bespoke’ or ‘individualised’ approach as an upside. We’d argue this is not entirely true. One example of how personalisation is misunderstood is the ‘learning styles’ myth.

The four distinct learning styles that have been popularised are: 

  • Visual

  • Auditory

  • Kinaesthetic

  • Reading/writing

Which learning style does your child prefer? 

Though learning styles are not a total myth, you should be aware of some of the academic studies performed in the area. One of the most prominent studies asserts, although learning styles may exist, there’s little evidence to show delivering instruction adapted to a child’s perceived learning style improves the child’s ability to understand and learn new concepts and information.

In other words, our learning style (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic or reading/writing) is a convenient and easy-to-understand concept we like to tell ourselves. Yet, there’s no evidence to suggest studying information delivered in our preferred style improves learning or test scores.

If you’re interested in reading more about this, you should look at the work of Professor Daniel Willingham who began his career at Harvard University and is the current professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.  This article does a good job of summarising his research as well as of others who support his findings.

Parents spend large quantities of time and money on a personalised 1-1 tuition programme or subscriptions to adaptive learning platforms with artificial intelligence capabilities. Tailoring content and delivering it to match a child’s learning style is one of the main arguments 1-1 tutors use to charge higher rates for their services. Yet, in terms of learning outcomes and exam results, the research shows this is of little value.

On the contrary, we’ve learned that great instruction and explanation is great instruction and explanation (no matter the learning preferences of the students). If a message is delivered with passion, enthusiasm, energy and precision, and is then supported by a variety of material to communicate this in different ways (eg. visual, auditory, kinaesthetic or reading/writing) learning outcomes will improve quickly. 

4. First class learning materials

  • Classroom-tested materials

    • We use tried and tested learning materials to ensure our learning goals are achieved within a group environment. Concepts are rephrased and re-expressed in different ways to anticipate common misunderstandings before they arise. Examples and stories are made relatable for our students. We have honed and refined our online materials after hundreds of workshops and continue to look for new improvements to this day.

    • It is not just our teaching materials that are classroom-tested. On each of our courses, students receive several resources to help them learn and remember the content covered. The following are provided for each of our course sessions:

      • A worksheet

      • Model answers/exemplary texts

      • Class notes

      • A homework task/mock exam paper

  • Course planning

    • If you ask a 1-1 tutor to show you their learning materials for the next two months, they probably won’t be able to show you much. The typical approach tends to lack precision and thorough planning. Our learning materials are all already made, classroom-tested and ready to go. We have a clear plan for how to prepare students to perform at the level we know they will need to and, based on previous parent reviews, we know it works!

5. A focus on exam technique

Our goal is to help students pass the 11 Plus exam. Therefore, our teaching is always delivered with the exam front of mind. Students are taught how to apply what they are learning within an exam situation.

We give students a step-by-step processes to answer exam questions quickly and accurately. If they follow the process, they will score higher marks on a more consistent basis. These processes eradicate common challenges we see our students encountering each year. For example:

  • Making careless mistakes

  • Misreading questions

  • Slow reading speed

  • Unmethodical reasoning processes

  • Poor comprehension exam technique

  • Failure to target the mark scheme

We go into granular detail on the steps and thought-processes students need to carry out in order to achieve highly on exam day. This ensures students work methodically and use their knowledge to the best of their ability.

Types of Tuition

The Exam Coach offers two types of tuition to help students with their 11 Plus preparation for grammar and independent school entrance exams. Find out more below.

11+ 5-Day Courses

Our full 5-day 11+ courses focus on teaching the key concepts and exam techniques for each of the 11+ disciplines we specialise in:

  • 11+ Comprehension (Multiple Choice and Written Answer)

  • 11+ Creative Writing

  • 11+ Persuasive and Informative Writing

  • 11+ Verbal Reasoning

These courses help students develop the critical foundation needed for each of their 11 Plus exams — for example, understanding effective exam technique and the mark scheme. We provide clear explanations, give students easy-to-remember exam techniques and show worked examples. Our courses are designed to ensure that students master the skills they need in order to achieve their full potential in their 11 Plus.

Types of courses currently offered:

  • 📚 ENGLISH COMPREHENSION (MULTIPLE CHOICE STYLE)

    • Suitable for the following exam boards: GL Assessment, CEM, ISEB Common Pre-Test, Kent Test, Sutton SET and Tiffin Stage 1.

  • 📚 ENGLISH COMPREHENSION (WRITTEN ANSWER STYLE)

    • Suitable for the following exam boards: independent/school written exams, CSSE and Tiffin Stage 2.

  • 📝 CREATIVE WRITING

    • Suitable for the following exam boards: Kent Test, CSSE, Sutton Stage 2, Tiffin Stage 2 and independent/school written exams.

  • 📝 PERSUASIVE WRITING

    • Suitable for the following exam boards: Kent Test, CSSE Sutton Stage 2, Tiffin Stage 2 and independent/school written exams.

  • 🤔 VERBAL REASONING

    • Suitable for the following exam boards: GL Assessment, CEM, CAT4, CSSE, ISEB Common Pre-Test, Kent Test and Sutton SET.

Details:

  • £275 per child.

  • 5x 90-minutes of expert 11+ tuition by an experienced tutor/teacher over 5 days (either during one week or other consecutive weekends).

  • Interactive video and microphone access via Zoom.

  • Detailed class notes, worksheets and other resources for each session.

  • Key concept explanations and demonstrations.

  • Exam style question practice and walkthrough.

  • Competitive class tests.

  • Self-assessed and marked testing.

  • Full walkthroughs of answers.

  • Fun examples and stories.

  • Detailed and effective exam preparation in chosen 11+ area.

  • Exam and memory technique explanations.

  • Model answer explanations (where applicable).

  • Homework set after each session.

  • Detailed homework marking and feedback after each session consisting of a 5-minute voice note from our team. All our marking focuses on areas for improvement to ensure continued progress.

When they take place:

  • Weekends during school term time.

  • School holidays.

How to register:

Weekly tuition

In our weekly workshops, your tutor will share some background information about themselves and our workshops with new students. This is followed by 40 minutes of teaching time. Weekly workshops run twice a week, usually on weekday evenings. The dates and times of these workshops change each week to ensure everyone can benefit from them.

The content within each workshop varies between 11+ creative writing, comprehension, verbal reasoning or English vocabulary. These classes are a great way to experience our tuition and let your child learn something new before booking one of our courses. Weekly tuition allows us to regularly top up your child’s knowledge during the year prior to their exams.

Each weekly tuition workshop is standalone, meaning your child does not need to have attended any previous sessions to join one. Class notes are sent out 24 hours after each workshop to help students recap what they have learnt.

Types of weekly workshop:

  • Tricky Vocabulary Workout

    • Expands student’s vocabulary and knowledge of word meanings, key for both English and verbal reasoning, 11+ exams. Even if students know how to solve a type of verbal reasoning question, if they don’t know the vocabulary used in the question, they still could get a wrong answer! Therefore, these sessions aim to broaden each child’s knowledge of English vocabulary as much as possible, using words we’ve previously seen appear in 11+ exams.

  • Verbal Reasoning

    • Our weekly tuition sessions for verbal reasoning focus on synonyms and antonyms (words with close and opposite meanings). Word meaning plays a huge part in most verbal reasoning exams. In these sessions, we work through several different types of exam-style question, ensuring students understand the technique and thought process behind answering each one.

  • Comprehension

    • Comprehension appears in almost all 11+ examinations, and practice makes perfect. In each comprehension workshop, the tutor will walk students through an exam-style text, showing them how to best handle and annotate it. Then they will answer 10 questions, focusing on elements such as the process of elimination, minimising mistakes and literary devices.

  • Creative Writing

    • Finally, our creative writing weekly tuition focuses on using exam-style questions as prompts to help students work together to craft model answers. In each session, students will be given some exam questions and model sentences which could be used to create a high-scoring beginning, middle and end. They will then work on their own answers with the tutor, improving and extending them as they go.

Details:

  • £15 per session (payable via Zoom).

  • 45 minutes.

  • Short introduction to The Exam Coach for new students.

  • Competitive class testing.

  • Self-assessed testing.

  • Walkthrough of answers.

  • Class notes.

When they take place:

  • At least once a week (date and time announced on Mondays via our email newsletter).

  • Usually on weekday evenings.

How to register:

If your child has gained value from The Exam Coach, please leave us a review on Google. Your reviews allow us to keep our business alive and kicking. If you could spare a moment of your time, we would be enormously grateful. Click the stars below to begin. Thank you.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️