Navigating motivation, time management, and increased screen time while preparing your child for 11+ online assessments can be tricky, especially during the summer break. Our six tips for offline test preparation are designed to help parents and families implement a simple, effective routine, and to support children in their learning journey without sacrificing their holiday.
Every 11+ entrance assessment will include segments on English and verbal reasoning. Reading books is an excellent way to supercharge your child’s comprehension, vocabulary, and grasp of grammar. Encourage your child to read in their downtime before bed or, even better, have them read to you. Become an avid bookworm yourself and have conversations with your child about plot and characters, and encourage them to verbalise their opinions on what they read.
For an added bonus to their learning journey, give your child the power to write their own stories. Keeping journals or diaries, writing letters to relatives and even penning thank-you notes can help your child practise their comprehension, and help to improve their confidence and capability with language.
We get excited about games night for a reason! Games are a wonderful way to reinforce key concepts in a playful manner. Monopoly, Sudoku and Chess are accessible games that promote arithmetic skills and logical thinking. For quiet Sunday afternoons, jigsaw puzzles, tangrams, memory games and construction toys are excellent tools for practising non-verbal reasoning, another key part of some 11+ assessments. Scrabble, Boggle and Hangman are excellent games for enhancing vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension abilities.
If you do not already have these games in your home, we recommend exercises as simple as running through times tables to improve your child’s maths skills. Our verbal reasoning expert, Chris Pearse, recommended puzzle games from The Happy Puzzle Company to develop your child’s confidence in arithmetic and problem-solving.
Did you know our Common Entrance (CE) 11+ papers are a fantastic, offline way to practice for 11+ online assessments, including the ISEB Pre-Tests? Both tests follow the National Curriculum and match the content that your child has already learnt at school.
The ISEB Pre-Test and the CE 11+ English Reading paper both focus on a child’s comprehension skills. Preparing for the Pre-Tests with CE English past papers could help your child practice reading a variety of texts, familiarise themselves with new vocabulary and demonstrate their abilities.
Similarly, CE 11+ Maths has a variety of question types that train students to process information and work through steps to reach the solution. This process can be practised offline using CE Maths past papers and then utilised during the Pre-Tests, where students can use process of elimination to support their answers to multiple-choice questions.
We have created two bundles of all the available CE 11+ past papers released over the past four years to support parents and families in preparing for any 11+ entrance exams. The English and Mathematics CE 11+ Past Paper Bundles are available now on the ISEB online shop, at a limited 25% discount.
English CE 11+ Past Paper Bundle
Mathematics CE 11+ Past Paper Bundle
Practising with past papers can be excellent for familiarising your child with the format and types of questions they will encounter in any 11+ online assessment. Regular practice helps build confidence, and we encourage students to review the included mark schemes to learn from any mistakes and improve their performance next time.
Wherever you are this summer, your family can enjoy days out while fitting in light and efficient English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning practice. Museums provide excellent opportunities to tailor test preparation to your child’s interests: make a note of which exhibits excite and interest them, explore the wonderful displays together, and then ask them to teach you about what they learned. Visiting libraries would allow your children to find books that interest them and expand their tastes. Exploring scenic gardens, zoos or local parks and pointing out the patterns in nature can be a great exercise for non-verbal reasoning. Even a trip to the shops can be helpful: there is no better game for developing mathematics than budgeting, or helping a parent find the best price for a product.
Making time for these activities could also help your child in their senior school interview. Assessments are important, but they are only part of the admissions process. The interview is designed to help the senior school get to know your child personally, and students who have active, busy holidays may have more opportunities to talk about their interests.
The School Run features a useful guide on Holiday learning in theme parks, museums and on the move, including ideas on incorporating non-verbal reasoning at the beach.
If you’re looking for online tools this summer, we offer a free test walkthrough for the ISEB Pre-Tests. This allows children to experience the test player interface and see the styles and types of questions that they might be asked during the tests, building confidence and reducing test anxiety. For test practice, Bond Online Premium Plus (BOPP) is the only platform endorsed by ISEB. This is because it is the only test practice platform that contains questions and mock tests created by ISEB. Parents and guardians can try Bond Online Premium Plus for free for seven days, and for a limited time, can use the discount code ISEB10 for a 10% discount on monthly subscriptions (this discount can’t be used on yearly subscriptions and expires on 1 September 2024).
Preparing for 11+ online assessments can be simple, accessible and rewarding for you and your child when balanced with fun and effective methods. These tips for offline test preparation can help you foster a healthy learning environment in your home and deepen your family bond, without prolonged screen exposure.
Your support and encouragement are vital throughout this journey. Celebrate their progress, provide positive reinforcement, and make learning a collaborative and enjoyable experience. With these strategies, your child will be well-equipped to tackle the 11+ assessments with confidence and enthusiasm. Happy studying, playing, and reading!
