11 Plus Non-Verbal Reasoning Exam preparation in year five.

Year five is a good time to start Non-Verbal Reasoning preparation.

We suggest a period of time is spent understanding the key question types. Once that work is done, learning will need to be embedded by doing a number of short untimed tests. Once that process has finished then children can work on some easier timed tests (to teach them to work quickly and accurately enough). Only when children are scoring very high marks on the easier tests would it be appropriate to move them into 11 Plus standard tests for the final phase.

Children should particularly develop their speed and accuracy during this period so any testing should be focussed on that. Where children are struggling with accuracy then anything you can do to help them develop self-checking skills would be useful. As an example it sometimes helps to get children to mark their own work and then come back to you and explain where they went wrong.

Remember not to overdo 11 Plus Non-Verbal Reasoning preparation. Most children will reach their peak in this area quite quickly because the concepts are very easy to understand.

Once children have reached a plateau, further improvement can only be made by developing speed and accuracy.

See our guide on 11 Plus Non-Verbal Reasoning preparation for more help.