11 PLUS 2020 will be after Easter 2020. The exams will be conducted from Septemebr, 2020. All aspirants aiming for a seat at any of the coveted grammar schools in 2021 have already started planning on how to bell it or how to prepare for the 11 PLUS exam. While some students take the safer route and start their preparations even before their year 4 in school, some wait to plan their preparation strategy during their year 5 in school. But there is another group, which is in a dilemma on when and how to start the preparation process.
If you can identify yourself with the third group, this article is a must-read for you. Target 11 Plus brings you expert guidelines on when and how to prepare for 11 PLUS 2020.
Before answering the question about how to prepare, it is important to know when to start with the preparations along with how to prepare for 11 PLUS 2020.
When it comes to studying for an exam and cracking it successfully, you are your best judge to answer the question of when to start preparation. It is best to ask yourself how many months you need to prepare for 11 PLUS.
According to the experts, 9 to 11 months of dedicated preparations might take you towards your goal of securing a high scores. 11 PLUS achievers suggest that if you are serious about cracking 11 PLUS, keep a minimum of six months in hand for preparation. Thevani, who cracked 11 PLUS 2018 with admission to Tiffin says “I started preparing for 11 PLUS in Sep 2017, like 12 months before the exam."
11 PLUS 2020: When and how to start preparations
The next big question after ‘when to start’ is how to prepare for 11 PLUS exam. It is one of the most common questions by aspirants aiming to crack this tough nut. It often happens that despite knowing the pattern and syllabus, aspirants get confused about how to strategise their preparation in order to make the most of it. Let us now check how to start with preparations for 11 PLUS 2020.
Coaching Vs. Self-Study
While some 11 Plus aspirants take coaching, others follow their instinct and opt for self-study with study materials available on the web or in the market. Although there is no hard and fast rule to follow a particular preparation method, what matters most is how you plan and which topics you study so as to cover the entire syllabus of 11 PLUS and secure a high score in 11 PLUS.
As mentioned earlier, some of the aspirants might have already started taking coaching classes according to their convenient timing and mode. This does not mean that those who have not enrolled in coaching or planning to go for self-study are at a loss. The time for preparation has just started and you can still catch up with the early birds if you follow a systematic strategy. There are many successful candidates who have excelled without expert guidance. Khadija is one of the 11 PLUS 2017 students who secured an admission in Henrietta Barnett. Sharing her strategy, she says, “I only took a lot of practice tests and cleared my doubts with my parents and teachers. I made sure that I religiously invest two to three hours every day in practice mock tests. If on some days I was not practising tests, I would borrow study material of the topics I am weak in from my friends and study it.”
Take coaching material or utilise the internet
Those who opt for coaching get the tailor-made section-wise preparation material. But, even if you do not go for coaching classes and cannot access the expert notes, there is no dearth of right study material. There are ample question banks, sample papers and study materials by expert authors available online as well as offline. With the boon of technology, you can interact with the experts and fellow 11 PLUS takers in various social media platforms and exchange study materials and sample papers.
Get the right materials and study in a systematic and diligent manner. Also, utilise the practice papers so that you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
Take a diagnostic test and analyse
The first and foremost step to understand an exam, solve it and understand your strong areas and areas to focus on. There are many available in the market.
Try a diagnostic exam from Champs Learning. It gives you a comprehensive scores section wise and if you contact them, they can share topic wise analysis. This will give you clear picture about which areas you need to prepare more.
Understand the exam pattern and syllabus
The foremost step to crack an exam is to know and understand the 11 PLUS exam pattern and syllabus. Before preparing you must know the areas or topics you have to prepare, like we say, before shooting you must know what you are aiming for. In case of 11 PLUS, if there are no changes in the exam pattern this year compared to last year there will be four topics to cover:
Quantitative Ability, Verbal Reasoning, Non Verbal Reasoning, English with vocabulary, grammar and Reading Comprehension
It is important for you to cover the syllabus and clear the basics. Usually, the syllabus for all four topics cover year 5 and year 6, but the questions are a bit tricky and require logical thinking. The best way to understand and complete the syllabus is to make a plan and work accordingly. Louise Formicola, academic head – Champs learning says, “The most important aspect would be to improve fundamentals (Basic concepts). Focused preparation would be the key during this phase while striving to improve on the fundamentals across areas/topics.”
Get your basics strong
Once you know your syllabus and have your study plan ready, you get acquainted with the basics in each section of the test. Having the fundamental concepts clarified is the biggest asset any 11 PLUS aspirant can have as an answer to how to prepare for 11 PLUS exam. If you have conceptual clarity, you can solve any tough problem.
Gabrielle, who secured admission in QE Boys says, “In the first six months, I just used to revise, clear my basics, and took regular practice tests."
Start section-wise preparation
Like last year, this year too you may not have the liberty to choose the order of the section. The order of the section is given below:
· Verbal Reasoning (VR)
· Numerical Ability
· Non Verbal Reasoning (NVR)
· English
Numerical Ability: Use the reverse strategy for it, take mock paper, try to solve it with timer, and later analyse it from the solutions available.
NVR: Focus on being familiar with versatile forms of shapes, rotation and complex combinations of these. Later, analyse your preparation via mock tests
VR: Focus only on those question types where comprehending the content is a core requirement like Para-jumbles, codes, sequencing.
English: Focus on your reading habits. Read more, build vocabulary, understand the contexts and try to answer few questions on them. Test your practice in time bound conditions.
Time Management
Apart from judging the candidates’ sectional knowledge, 11 PLUS also tests the time management skills. The trick to complete the exam within time depends on how a student plan and practice for the exam. It is important to have a strategic preparation plan to tackle the test. While CEM has the sectional time limit of various duration for each topic to provide better time management skills to the candidates, GL pattern has sectional time limit on for the sections and offers freedom to use your time for various topics in that section. As Manish Salian, an expert on competitive exams suggests on how to prepare for 11 PLUS 2020, "Try to attempt each section in three rounds. In the first round pick the questions that you are sure about and can solve without wasting time. In round two, pick questions that are an opportunity for you, while in round three, pick questions that you think you can solve but are time-consuming and ensure you answer all questions as they don’t have negative marking."
Prepare from Books
There are many books available in the market by various publishers and teaching organisation. Few popular publishers are Bonds, Letts, CGP etc. Ask around which one are more suitable. Visit few coaching institutes and understand which books they follow. Some of thecoaching institute like Champs Learning and AE use their own books ad content.
Mock tests or Sample papers
Rahul who secured pass marks in all exams last year says, “The major part of my preparation started from January when I started taking mock tests. In the last one month before 11 PLUS, I just used go to coaching classes and write mock tests and made sure that I’m not writing anything wrong.”
The Mock test is the most effective method of evaluating your current preparation level and re-strategise your future preparation plans. It also makes you familiar with the type of questions which might appear in 11 PLUS 2020. If you solve many tests with questions of 11 PLUS, you have high chances to crack the exam with a good score. You should analyse each and every mock and sectional test that they take. This will help them ascertain what worked or did not work for them.
Adding to the importance of Mock Test, Dev , another successful student in 11 PLUS 2017 says, “. I took mock tests as many as possible because that helped me in realising where exactly I stand. I worked hard on improving my speed also. Clearing basics of each subject was also an important aspect during the preparation phase.” It is important to identify your weak areas through mock tests and put all your focus on improving them. Whether you take coaching or not, practising from Test series and online Mocks will support you in securing a high score. You must ensure to get your performance analysed at after taking each test and implement the expert feedback after each test session.
Fast Facts about 11 PLUS
11 PLUS, a paper-pencil test has a dynamic exam pattern, which changes almost every year. The scores of 11 PLUS are accepted by various grammar schools or group of few schools offering admission to year 7.
Every year each school will have some surprise element in their tests. This year, parajumble was a main focus and a cloze passage with data bank of words was another element of surprise. Maths has been a simple section so far. Few more schools to have their exams yet.