English 11 Plus Exam Preparation – Years Three and Four

Children should focus on the core skills during this period:

• Reading every day
• Paired reading twice a week
• Vocabulary enhancement activities (synonyms and opposites and plurals)
• Spelling development (which will also enhance vocabulary)
• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Comprehension activities

Children also will need some help and encouragement with their writing skills (particularly if they are going to need to write for their exam)

We would recommend children DO NOT embark on 11 Plus papers during this period, if they are doing the above activities then it is frankly pointless and may even be detrimental to development. Core English skills take a long time to develop properly. Despite best intentions we know that as soon as parents start dipping into tests the temptation to do test after test is just too great. By the time it becomes clear that results have reached a plateau it is often too late to go back and do the ground work on core skills. There will be more than enough time during year five to develop excellent technique and get used to the type of questions children will face.