Top Last Minute 11 Plus Preparation Tips For Exam Day

Test season is well and truly upon us with many secondary schools holding their 11 plus exams over the coming weeks. Kids up and down the UK have been working their socks off and learning really challenging topics to prepare them for their exams. Still, there’s more to acing tests than a head full of knowledge. Solid exam technique is crucial too.

These top last-minute 11 plus preparation tips will help ensure that your child’s exam technique is up to scratch and that they won’t lose valuable marks by making avoidable mistakes!

I’ve also made a free printable version with all the tips to make it easier sit down with your child and go through them at your own pace.

Last Minute 11 Plus Preparation Tips For Before Test Day

Some of these tips are so simple, that you might want to skip over them. Please make sure that you don’t!

Personal details

Make sure your child knows how to write their date of birth and full name. When it comes to filling in details on their test papers, they are likely to be feeling quite anxious and that’s when little mistakes happen. Get them to practice a few times so that it becomes one less thing to think about.

Test paper familiarity

Hopefully, your child has done some practice papers during their preparation journey. Knowing exactly what the actual exam paper will look like will improve confidence and save them from getting flustered. Depending on the format – standard written answers or multiple choice – make sure that they’ve seen the layout. They need to know where to put any jottings or working out and where to write their answers. 

Multiple choice tests usually have a test paper containing the questions and a separate sheet with printed boxes for their answers. Take a look at this multiple choice answer sheet example from CGP . It’s a good idea to print one off so that they can practice how to show their answers with a straight horizontal line. These answer sheets are computer marked, so it’s really important that they don’t write anything else on the page.

Be prepared for distractions

On exam day, there can be all sorts of distractions, from pushy parents stressing or boasting outside the venue to children becoming overwhelmed and crying or even throwing up or wetting themself during the exam. It’s worth making sure that your child is aware that distractions like this are possible and that they should block them out and just focus on doing their best.

Last Minute 11 Plus Preparation Tips For the Actual Test

Exam rules and expectations

Explain that when they enter the test room, they should be quiet and listen carefully to all instructions. They mustn’t write anything until they are told to. Exam instructions are often played from a recording, so it’s a good idea for them to be aware of that.

Find the clock

When they sit down, they should check where the clock is so that they can keep an eye on the time. I don’t recommend constant clock watching because it can cause panic, but some time checks will help them keep pace.

Pay close attention to all information

Sadly, exams are designed to catch people out. Children need to read all questions instructions, explanations and examples on the test paper very carefully. Marks are often lost on similar question types such as verbal reasoning ‘closest meaning’ and ‘most opposite meaning’ simply because they skip through the instructions. Remember, there are often several questions for each question type so that can result in a lot of lost marks!

Timing

Unfortunately, the pressure of working against the clock is often the cause of lost marks. There are a lot of questions in each test, so it’s important for children to know how to do the best they can in the time that they have. Some exams are divided into sections that are timed individually. For others, children need to keep an eye on the clock. 

Here are a few tips to help with completing the questions on time:

• When the test begins, quickly flick through the pages and spot questions that they find really easy – answer them and get them out of the way at the start
• Next, work through the paper from the beginning
• If there is a question that they don’t know the answer to, don’t spend too much time on it. Mark the question paper – I recommend drawing a circle around the question number – so that it’s easy to come back to and answer later

General exam technique for top marks

• It’s totally fine to write down working out and jottings – a lot of children think that everything has to be done in their heads. They can write on the question paper or might be provided with a sheet of blank paper for this purpose
• Once they reach the end, they need to go back and answer the tricky ones that they marked earlier
• If they are still stuck and it’s multiple choice, they should eliminate answers that are definitely incorrect to narrow the options
• They should never leave a multiple choice blank! A guess is better than not answering
• If they have time remaining at the end of the test, they should use that time to check, check and check again!

Grab your printable last minute 11 plus preparation checklist

Going through these tips with your child will help remove anxiety about the unknown so that they can sit their exams with confidence and truly do their best. 

You can download a checklist version of these tips below to make it easier to cover them before the big day.

I’ll be back next week with a really important but overlooked step in exam preparation – prioritising self care during exam week.