About 11 Plus Process

11 Plus process consists of few steps. Deciding about schools for secondary education. If choice consist of grammar school then find the catchment and the selection process and deadline of that school. Once the decision is made on which grammar school and required information is gathered then application for the competitive exam called 11 Plus Exam. Preparation for these exams is a common activity while doing all the above processes.

Normally most of these exams are one stage exams. Few schools operate two stage exam procedure to shortlist the desired students.

There has been lot of changes recently in the test pattern. Few schools shifted from GL assessment to CEM pattern. Few schools shifted the pattern from one test to two stage tests.

For example, Slough Consortium have shifted the pattern from GL assessment to CEM (Durham University). Tiffin School(Boys) changed the pattern of one stage test to two stage test.

CEM pattern tests normally comprise of two papers with the mixed bag of questions on comprehension, verbal reasoning, maths and nonverbal reasoning. Each paper is divided into sections and a student has to adhere to time limits for each section.

Two stage test pattern normally has one month gap between two stages.

Stage one will consists of Maths & English question with multiple choice answers.

Stage two will consist the test on core English & Maths focusing mainly on reading, writing and word problems.

It is often said that practice is the best way to prepare for exams, especially as 11 Plus exams have strict time constraints which children need to get used to. Practice therefore helps children not only develop the techniques to answer the certain type of 11 Plus questions but to also answer them in the time provided. It is best to start preparing your child at least about twelve months before they sit the exams as this gives enough time for them to build the right techniques and have three or four months of practice and testing before the actual exam.

If you are planning to enter your son or daughter for the eleven plus (11+) entrance exam, you will be well aware about the fierce competition for Grammar School and Independent School places. Candidates for eleven plus exams may find themselves one of 20 applicants for a Grammar School place, or one in five applicants for an Independent School place. So children need to be very well prepared to face the challenge.