Why should a ten year old learn about exam technique?

If your ten year old is preparing to sit entrance exams for Trafford’s grammar schools, it makes sense for them to learn about entrance exam technique.  A two or three-hour exam is a big deal at any age, but for a ten year old it’s daunting to say the least.

Grammar school entrance exams in Trafford are elitist examinations and they are designed so that most children will not pass: however, ALL children can pick up good exam technique and this will stand them in good stead for SATs, GCSEs and beyond.

This isn’t a real letter – but the problem is real and very common.

Yesterday, we posted on the importance of answering every question and of guessing the answer where necessary.  Children often miss out questions or have to guess answers because they run out of time, so today we are looking at ways to speed up in entrance exams.

How long should it take to complete each question?

This is difficult to answer briefly, since all the schools are different, but in general you should aim for:

GL Format

One minute per maths or English question, 30 seconds per NVR question, and slightly more than  30 seconds per VR question (0.6 seconds if we’re being precise).  A more detailed response to this question can be found here.

CEM Format

CEM timings vary. CEM papers are divided into short sections. Children sitting CEM exams must work VERY quickly and in fact these exams are designed so that children may not be able to finish in the time available. This tests resilience as well as ability.

Confused about the two different formats? Visit our entrance exam page for up to date information.

How to get faster at answering entrance exam questions

There are three ways to do this, all equally necessary and effective.  Firstly, your child should, by the time summer comes, be using GL Assessment papers or CGP CEM-style papers on a regular basis. Find out how to book our popular summer school. You should not necessarily expect your child to be completing full papers on a daily basis. If you want your child to speed up, you need to time their responses:

• in blocks of ten minutes (i.e. how many questions can you answer in ten minutes?).

• in blocks of ten questions (i.e.  can you answer 10 maths questions or 20 NVR questions in 10 minutes?).

You may also like to use Bond, CGP or Letts workbooks for practice. Your child will be more motivated if they receive instance feedback on these mini-tests, so please mark their work immediately.  Speed requires confidence, so please be positive!  If you do three of these mini-tests, three times per week (or more often, if your child is willing), you will soon see a big difference.

Need more practice papers or resources? Visit our download store for FREE and low-cost practice entrance exam papers and resources.

The other way to help your child speed up their response time is to ensure they have the skills to answer the questions in the first place.  So, when they do their mini-tests, go over them afterwards and use their errors to identify topics your child needs to study.  Bring your child along to Better Tuition and we will identify and remedy any areas of weakness. Call Paul or Christine now on 0161 748 3912 and find out how we can help.

Entrance exam technique can be tricky for a ten year-old so we will soon be posting on how to avoid making careless mistakes and how to conquer nerves.  In the meantime parents and carers can post their queries here or read more about the six ways we can help your child  through entrance exams (four are free).