11+ Preparation

There are four Swot Shop 11+ preparation courses: Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non Verbal Reasoning. We also offer 11+ Mock Tests.

11+ Preparation Maths and English Courses

The preparation courses cover all year 6 maths and English work 9 months early. It is advisable that children starting in October of year 5 should continue to attend the year long course until the last sessions in September of the following year.

Course Content

• Maths topics include all relevant subject areas for year 6 – improving understanding and technical ability.

• English work topics selected to promote improvement in creative writing and comprehension through varied exercises and question sets.

Pupil Experience

• Weekly taught classes in maths and English relevant to 11+ tests.
• Weekly homework in both maths and English.
• Exam style marking systems for maximum feedback.
• Fast paced competitive groups with exam success tips every lesson.
• Fully qualified teachers with extensive knowledge of the 11+ entrance requirements for independent and grammar schools in the Harrow area.
• Test exercises in class.

Homework

• Two hours of homework per subject each week.

11+ Verbal and Non Verbal Reasoning (VR and NVR) Courses

A large number of schools use VR and/or NVR as a reliable and quick means of comparing the ability of entrants. They are rough but reliable measures of intelligence and ability – VR for English, NVR for maths and sciences.

They involve thinking, reasoning, understanding and solving problems either with words (VR) or images (NVR). Some schools just choose one, others use both. Swot Shop offers courses in both to match the needs of schools local to Harrow.

Whilst, both VR and NVR are used to test some underlying or inherent abilities, there is no doubt that children can improve their performance in two ways:

1. Learning the strategies associated with each question types.
2. Practising many examples of each of the question types and competing with other children to improve their accuracy and agility.

Harrow Schools Requirements
Across the wide range of schools, that use VR and NVR, the selection tests vary significantly. Since most children apply to more than one school our best formula for success is lots of practise using the most varied of test questions repeated over many months. Then we pay close attention paid to developing strategies and accuracy.

Over the years, schools have been to known to change their tests, without notice to entrants, so too much reliance on past papers specific to any school carries risk. Most schools use multiple choice tests but some use standard form and so both must be practiced.

Swot Shop VR and NVR
For VR, we build up from first principles such as teaching alphabet order and letter patterns to knowing when to pay attention to context. There’s a hierarchy of questions and those skills that the children develop early on come in useful later. NVR is all about shapes – predicting size and movement patterns, identifying thickness of lines, etc.

Our teachers can choose from a bank of over 2,000 original, Swot Shop questions which ensures the children work on an extensive range of new material. Each question type has a ‘best strategy’ that the teachers share with the pupils who are then tested in class to reinforce what they’ve learnt. All the scores are collated and revealed to pupils and parents; this element of friendly competitiveness prepares the children for competing with 100s of other children for a place at their favourite school in the Harrow area.

For more than 20 years Swot Shop has improved children’s chances in VR and NVR tests. We continue to develop new questions and better answering strategies as well as continue to improve our teaching practices to help children get through difficult areas of learning. We stock all the main publishers' test packs and they are available exclusively to our Swot Shop customers.

Mock Tests

We organise mock 11+ tests between July and August – details and prices are usually available in April/May.

Familiarity with the test reduces children’s anxiety before the real exam. The children are tested on the first day and then, after marking, the teacher discusses and explains each paper with the group on the following Sunday. Every test is different and includes the following elements:

• Maths, English and Reasoning.
• Exam-type conditions and marking systems.
• Original mock papers based on past ones from schools local to Harrow.
• Positive competitive peer group environment.
• Full group result sheets (individual children not named).
• Papers marked, scored and returned to children.
• Feedback and test analysis from qualified and experienced teachers.

Interview Days

We run our own Interview Days. Busy, worthwhile rehearsals designed so each child can prepare for success and dispel anxiety:

• School specific details covered.
• Common topics covered with full preparation.
• Personal profile assignment prepared.
• Children taught to develop informed opinions on wide range of issues.
• Strategies for ensuring a positive response to questions.