It’s important to plan your preparation for the Maths section of the 11 plus thoroughly – and the guide below will help your child do just that. Keystone’s tutors have enormous breadth and depth of experience in tutoring children for the 11 plus Maths paper, and their best advice is summarized into the brief, practical tips that follow.
There are two key areas of ground to cover when preparing for the 11 Plus Maths Exam: Knowledge Base and Problem Solving.
Knowledge Base
Your child’s understanding of core mathematical concepts is vital, and they should be well versed in the following topics:
- Place value
- Negative numbers
- Fractions and percentages
- Decimals
- Number patterns
- Averages
- Probability
Familiarity with these core topics is absolutely essential, but in addition, broad familiarity with the wider curriculum is of course expected to some degree. Ensuring that your child understands the basics and is begins to develop beyond them is therefore a key part of effective preparation for the Maths paper.
Keystone Tutor Olly gives his top tip for 11+ Maths preparation
"11+ Maths Top Tip: make sure your child practices writing their working clearly and neatly, especially under time pressure; most senior schools will allocate marks for working alongside the answer so it's a really useful skill to develop."
Problem-Solving
Alongside a good knowledge of core mathematical concepts, the ability to use them appropriately to solve problems is the other core skill being assessed. Word problems and general mathematical problem-solving (such as that seen at the UKMT) form an important part of success at this level and students should make sure to practice plenty of these, keeping the following mind:
- Working must always be shown for questions worth more than one mark
- All questions should be attempted
- Problem-solving is active: just ‘thinking about’ problems is not enough. This guide offers some great strategies for solving maths problems actively
Where to find practice 11 Plus Maths papers
There are a great variety of resources and materials available online for Pre-Test and 11 plus assessment. The most reliable are from Galore Park, although some schools do offer sample papers or links to the types of assessment they use (e.g. Latymer Upper, CLSG, King’s Wimbledon).
We hope this guide will be of use in your child’s preparation for the 11 Plus Maths exam!
11+ tuition
Each year Keystone supports many students preparing for the 11+. The tutors we represent are experienced in the intricacies of the 11+ exams and how they differ between schools' assessments. We would normally recommend that preparation begins around 12 – 18 months before the exams. Tutors will devise a programme tailored to the specific circumstances of the student.
For more details on how Keystone can help with 11+ preparation, please call the office for a chat with one of our client managers, or contact us via our request a tutor form.