11+ exam - helping your child with their vocabulary

It is now February; we are roughly halfway through the school year and now is the time many children begin their additional work on preparing for the 11+ exam in September. No doubt that many parents have heard rumours about what is involved in the exam, and this can lead to stress about whether they are doing the right things to help prepare their child.

We at Ingenia Education are committed to providing parents with as much information about the process as possible, and we hope we present it in a way that is accessible for you. So, in this month’s blog, I am going to give a few tips on ways you can help your child develop their vocabulary. As you may remember from our previous blogs and Facebook Live videos, the vocabulary, reading and verbal reasoning sections make up roughly 50% of the 11+ exam (with a combination of maths and non-verbal reasoning making up the other 50%), so it is essential that your child has a well-developed vocabulary.

This first tip may seem obvious, but it is probably the most important: get your child to read a range of different books and texts over the coming months. This should include both modern and classic fiction, as there are some more “old-fashioned” words that are commonly used as the basis for questions in the test (many children’s books written before 1930 are in the public domain, meaning you can read them for free in various websites and apps). Additionally, encourage your child to read and engage with different sources of non-fiction, such as newspapers, encyclopaedias and suitable websites. The CBBC Newsround website is an excellent resource as it contains both written and video news reports that are aimed at a younger audience, so children can understand what the report is about as well as being exposed to a higher level of vocabulary.

Secondly, have your child create their own little dictionary using something like a notebook. The idea behind this is that whenever they come across a word in their reading with which they are unfamiliar, they will look up the definition using a standard dictionary (perhaps an online one), and then write the word into their dictionary with their own version of the definition, thereby gaining a better understanding of it. They could then use this dictionary to support their writing (perhaps even taking into school, with the teacher’s permission), and even use it as their first point of reference to look up words which they may have come across before but have forgotten about.

Another tip is to invest in some good workbooks and resources. These will not only provide some examples of the types of questions your child will face in the 11+ exam, but they can also gain a greater exposure to the level of words they are required to understand. While working on these questions, your child could also be using their own dictionary and adding to it as they come across unfamiliar words in the questions. The Bond 11+ CEM English and Verbal Reasoning books are the ones I have used previously (which I would recommend) but there are many other quality publications available from CGP and other publishers. I have also heard good things about the website

, which provides some online mini-tests and activities (some are free, but a monthly subscription is required to access all their resources).

My final tip for now is more fun: play lots of word based games! These can not only aid in recognising words quickly, but also help with spellings too. Scrabble, Boggle and Bananagrams are just three examples of the kind of games you could play with your child, but there are a plethora of others available! If you want to add an extra level of challenge to these games, you could create additional rules such as only permitting words that are five letters or more, stricter time-limits on how long each turn can last, or banning words that are too simple (perhaps saying that if your little brother/sister knows that word, it isn’t allowed!). There are also games you could play in the car or when you have time to kill, such as when one person says a word and the next person has to say a word which begins with the last letter of that word and so on.

I hope you these have provided you with a good starting point for helping your child with their 11+ preparations. Remember, it is better to begin now and have your child do a little bit of work each week over the next seven months than get them to do one or two months of intensive work just before the test. Also, try to ensure your child knows that you want to be part of the process and are willing to help and get involved, even though they are the ones doing most of the work!

One final thing to consider is that the skills and knowledge your child is acquiring during this process won’t just help them with one test; they will be used throughout their entire lives.

If you would like more information on the 11+, SATS or any other aspects of primary education, please contact us and we would love to help you. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and you can learn more about our company or purchase our 11+ practice materials at www.ingenia-education.co.uk.