In this Dukes Study Club webinar, senior tutor and head of Maths at JK Educate, Jacob Conway, talked Dukes Club parents and students through the recent changes to the 11+ examinations and shared his tips on how to tackle these.
Jacob, who has been supporting families and children with 11+ transition and exam preparation for several years, spoke about the move towards an emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving and analysis in these tests.
Where previously Maths, English, non-verbal reasoning and verbal reasoning areas was split clearly into sections, the introduction of critical thinking incorporates all of these different aspects into one paper. This can make it challenging for pupils who need to learn to adapt to the various types of questions and be confident in moving from one type of question to another in succession.
To prepare for the exam, Jacob explained that review of past papers is still relevant but it is key to choose the questions carefully. Students need to be exposed to problems with large amounts of data, riddles and analysis. He went on to tackle a number of problem-solving and puzzle-based examples for the audience, demonstrating where to start and the logical steps to take to unravel questions which can initially seem rather baffling.
Here are his suggestions to get prepared:
Talk about problems and brainstorm ideas.
- Organise thought processes by putting pen to paper and get stuck into the problem. It isn’t always obvious at first what method will work so try and try again.
- Practise a variety of different types of questions and especially those that look intimidating.
- Focus only on the key bits of information you need to answer the question. Don’t get overwhelmed by the volume of information presented.
- Practise, practise, practise. This will help to improve speed and ability to organise thoughts.
And when it comes to the exam itself, these are Jacob’s top tips to avoid getting overwhelmed:
- If you are finding a question hard, take comfort in the fact that everybody will be finding this a challenge.
- Take a deep breath and give yourself a little break.
- Move on if you can’t tackle a question. Come back to it later if there is time but you are better off spending more time on questions that you know.
- Only use the information given in the question to tackle the problem even if you think you know more about the subject. What is on the paper is the only information relevant to the question.
Watch Jacob’s webinar for a deeper exploration of some of the questions students might be faced with and how to tackle these logically.