Is The 11+ Truly Tutor Proof?

In recent years there has been uproar from Grammar Schools about the private tuition culture or coaching for the 11+ entrance exams. This has led to calls for a tutor proof exam to be set by the exam providers (GL Assessment, CEM etc.). In Kent, in particular, this led to a new format to be used with the introduction of two new sections and a general increase in the difficulty of the tests. But has it truly become tutor proof?

The short answer: No and it never will be.

The reasons for this lye in the strategies being used by the tutor and/or teachers to help students. Tutors using basic material and trying to purely coach exam technique will fall flat on their faces and find that, for them, the exams have become more tutor proof.

Other tutors, however, who understand the skill sets being tested by the exams will spend most of their time working on these skills and less time working on exam technique. Improving these skill sets takes time and cannot happen if the student is in line with the national average and just starting weeks away from the exam dates.

To understand this further let s take a look at the most recent format of the Kent 11+ exams one paper testing verbal, non verbal and spatial reasoning, the other paper testing Maths and English skills.

The Maths papers test all aspect of Maths knowledge up to the end of Key Stage 2 so how can we possibly coach exam technique if the student has deficiencies in his/her knowledge?

The truth is you can t but you can start early and bring up the deficiencies as well as cover subjects not yet taught in school. You can also improve problem solving and deduction skills required to pass the Maths test. For this reason the exam can never truly be tutor proof but it has however become coaching proof (apart from to the very bright students).

The same idea holds true for the other aspects of the test.

Does this mean that everyone with tutoring, starting early enough can pass?

Unfortunately not.

There will be some students who will not be able to develop these skills to the standard required and who also may learn at a slower rate than others. This isn t through any fault of their own, it s something that just can t be controlled. This is why I find it laughable when some tutors speak of a 98% success rate as all that tells you is that they only took on the brightest students for the exams (or they re just plain lying).

In my years of doing this I ve also noticed a not so surprising factor that always seems to be true. The harder students work and the more parents help them, the faster they improve. Who would have thought it: there`s no substitution for hard work.