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The 11 Plus Exam is a competitive entrance examination. This exam is usually taken towards the end of Year 6 to get into Year 7 in a grammar school. While this exam may not be compulsory anymore, many parents in the UK still wish to have their child sit the exam to get into the best grammar schools.

Are you one of those parents who want their child to take and ace the 11+ exam but don't know what you can do to help, don't worry! We will guide you in choosing the suitable 11 Plus Tuition in Aylesbury.

We're here to share with you some of the most excellent tips through which you can help your child pass their 11 plus exam.

Examine your options

While it might be tempting to bombard your child with unnecessary information and textbook knowledge, doing a little research of your own can be a good idea as it would save both time and energy. The internet is currently filled with thousands of web pages providing information regarding the 11 plus exam. Luckily, you don't have to spend hours going through every detail as we're here to sum it all up for you.

So, the first thing that you need to do is decide whether you want to prepare your child for the exam yourself or do you want to hire a tutor?

There are many excellent online tuition centers in High Wycombe, London, Manchester and other towns in the UK. These tutoring companies provide the best tutors, training programs and preparatory exam sessions for students of all classes.

Now, whether you choose to go with online tutoring or the good old DIY, it's important that you have enough information about both options.



Hiring an Online Tutor

If you're like most modern parents who don't have enough time on their hands to help their children with homework and examinations, online tutoring might be a life-saver for you. Nonetheless, with so many options around, how can you know which one to pick?

How to choose the best online tutoring company for your child's 11 plus exam preparation?

The task of selecting schools or tutors for your children can become challenging at times, but with the right knowledge, you can make a good decision for your child's education. While choosing an online tutoring service, there are certain things that should be kept in mind.

Legitimacy

With more options, there are always more chances of running into a scam. Therefore, checking for the legitimacy of an online tutoring company should be the first course of action. Many legitimate online tutoring companies in the UK have a history of teaching and preparing children for their 11 Plus exam. For this purpose, it is good to read reviews or talk to fellow parents using such services.

Expertise

Teaching children is not an easy job, especially when preparing them for a competitive exam. Therefore, parents need to go for an online tutoring company with the most expert teachers and faculty. Experienced tutors have better chances of generating good results even in not-so-academically able children. So, whether your child is a genius or not-so-sharp, it is always a good idea to put them in the hands of expert teachers.

One-to-one sessions

The entire purpose of getting additional help from online tutoring is to help your child learn what he might not have been able to understand in school. School classrooms are crowded places, and one teacher can't pay equal attention to each student. Therefore, when you're planning to get some extra help, you have to make sure that you're going for a tutoring service that offers one-to-one sessions for your child. One-to-one sessions provide your child with the teacher's undivided attention and time. Similarly, tutors are better able to understand a child's needs and requirements in these sessions.

Compatibility

You can pick the country's best tutoring service with experts and one-to-one sessions, but all your effort will go down the drain if there's no learning and teaching compatibility between your child and the tutor. For this reason, it is necessary that you have a meeting with the tutor beforehand and communicate all your child's needs and learning patterns. It is also advised that you ask the tutor about their teaching styles and lesson delivery methodologies. If you think that a particular tutor or tutoring company might not be able to address your child's needs, then there's no point in moving forward.

Try it before you buy it.

Online tutoring can sometimes waste your time and money; therefore, test drives are not only essential before buying a new car but also before choosing an online tutor for your child. Many online tutoring companies have started to provide students with free trial periods where they can attend classes for free and leave at the end of the trial period if it doesn't work for them. This way, if your child does not seem to make any progress and the tutoring sessions proves to be unfruitful, you can easily opt-out and try some other options.

Now that we've covered some ground rules for selecting an online tutoring company for your child's 11 plus exam preparation, it is time we help those parents who want to prepare their child for the exam themselves.




How do I prepare my child for the 11 Plus Exam myself?

Every parent wants to see their child succeed; however, with the rising academic pressure and competition, it can become challenging for some parents to prepare their children for competitive exams themselves.

Are you one of those parents who don't want to take help from any tutor and wish to prepare your child for the exam yourself but are struggling to start? Then you're at the right place.

Following are the five tips that you can use to prepare your child for the exam yourself.

Start early

The smartest thing you can do for the preparation of the 11 plus exam is to start early. The ideal time to start prepping your child is around Year 4. This way, your child can develop all the necessary skills such as creative writing, grammar, vocabulary, addition, subtraction, division and analytical and critical reasoning, which will be useful for the exam.

Do your homework

Before you ask your child to memories every little piece of knowledge there is in the primary school books; you must do your complete research on the 11 plus exam. While the exam structure may vary depending upon the area of the country you're in, the core content remains the same. The 11 plus exam consists of 4 major subjects, including; English, Maths, Verbal reasoning and Non-verbal reasoning. Therefore, while teaching, your main focus should be on these subjects.

Another important thing to remember is that there are currently two main exam boards in the UK that conduct the 11 plus exams each year, the first being the CEM and the second GL Assessment. It is your responsibility to make sure which exam board is being used by your desired grammar school. Not knowing this beforehand can badly affect your child's chances of passing the exam.

Get hold of the practice papers.

While it might be possible to prepare your child for the simple Maths and English questions using their textbooks, it can be tricky to teach them how to answer verbal and non-verbal reasoning questions successfully. For this reason, having practice papers can help you in familiarizing your child with the repeated questions and the techniques used in answering them correctly.

Encourage reading

If you didn't start preparing your child in Year 4, it is now time to develop a habit of reading. Motivating your child to read every day can help boost their vocabulary along with teaching the correct use of grammar and sentence structure. A child that can write his answers using correct vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure has significantly higher chances of passing the 11 plus exam.

Set a time and place

Studying at the same time every day can help form a learning routine. Children who have a daily learning routine have an easier time concentrating and engaging in the lesson. While you're preparing your child for the exam, it is crucial that you reserve a quiet corner in the house solely for teaching and learning. This means eliminating all the distracting elements that can divert your or your child's attention away from the exam preparation.

Prepare, practice, repeat.

Lastly, the key to acing the 11 plus exam is a lot of practice and then some more. Until your child passes the exam, never skip a preparatory learning session. Frequent practice and repetitive learning can help your child comprehend complex lessons and achieve better grades in exams.

To wrap it all up, passing the 11 plus exam might seem like a challenge at first. However, with the right planning and preparation, every parent can help them ace the 11 plus exams.

The practice of Online Tutoring in Manchester is flourishing rapidly with a vast number of millennials turning towards online and work from home jobs. With a college degree, some experience, and determination, one can easily make a career as an online tuition teacher.

So, how can you become a successful online tutor?

This article covers 11 best practice tips for effective online tutoring to help aspiring online tutors kick-start their careers.

Know your strength

Before getting excited about the possible idea of becoming an online tutor, it is essential to know your academic strengths; including, your major in college and how good you are in that subject. Do you want to teach English, Maths, Science or any other topic? It is vital to choose a matter of your expertise as it might surprise some people that just because you got good grades in a subject in college, it does not necessarily mean that you will be able to teach it to others practically. In short, knowing your strengths and weaknesses along with your area of expertise is crucial before diving into the world of online tutoring.

Pick your students

It is important to decide earlier in the process about the selection of students that you are planning to teach. Do you plan on teaching middle school children, high school kids or college students? This step is necessary as you might need to alter your teaching approach and methodology per your students' academic requirements and mental levels.

Flying solo?

Online tutoring has been here for a while; however, after the major hit from the Pandemic towards the end of 2019, the education system worldwide was dreadfully shaken. As schools shut down and paved the way for online teaching and learning, the practice of online tutoring gained massive popularity, with a vast number of online tutoring companies emerging and offering students assistance services from the top experts and educators.

Today, there are many well-reputed online tutoring platforms such as; Adnan Khan Tutoring: Maths, English & Science Tutor | 11 Plus | SATs | GCSE who are always looking to hire subject experts. Therefore, it is good to examine your options, as finding students on your own can be a tiring process.

Create a Compelling profile

To grab the attention of potential students or any online tutoring platform, you must create a profile that stands out amongst the rest of the profiles. An attention-grabbing profile includes your introduction, academic achievements, teaching experiences, your aspirations and a convincing cover letter that elaborates why students or an online tutoring company should hire you.

A quiet workspace

Now that you have evaluated your subject expertise, analyzed your student selection, created a profile and already made a decision about whether you want to work with an online tutoring company or solo, it is now time to create a workspace in your home. The core aspect that separates home-based work from office jobs is the necessity of a quiet corner in your home. With office jobs, your house can be the noisiest place on earth, and it would not matter. But to become a successful online tutor, you must find a peaceful corner with the least amount of distractions and minimal chances of interruptions during your classes.

Punctuality is a Virtue

Punctuality is known as one of the cardinal business virtues. One of the most significant principles to abide by is showing up on time. Being late to online classes and learning sessions will waste time, resources and simultaneously create a negative image in your students' minds of a person who does not value his own or their time.

Preparation is the Key

Remember the guy in college who never prepared for his presentations? Everybody would silently laugh at him, and even the teacher would not take him seriously. Don’t become "that guy" while tutoring online. Over the years, it has been seen that the more prepared a teacher is, the better he can deliver the knowledge to his students. So, make sure that you are well prepared with your lesson for the day.

Develop a connection

It is easy to know your students and form a connection in an in-person class. However, in an online course, it can be tricky to get your students to open up about the academic challenges they might be facing. When we say, "develop a connection with your student" as a practical tip for online tutoring, what we mean is, to become an excellent online tutor, you must find a way to know what is going on inside a student's head by creating a friendly yet professional environment where your students can feel comfortable enough to share their academic struggles with you.

Create a system for Feedback
Feedbacks are essential in every class, primarily online. Creating a well-structured system for a weekly feedback session can have a remarkable impact on your class' progress. Knowing what techniques, methods, and teaching approaches are working well with your class and getting information about some possible shortcomings can help you improve your teaching style and the entire learning experience for your students.

Take fun breaks

It is hard for students to stay focused or interested for three consecutive hours in front of a computer screen. Therefore, an effective tip for online tutoring is to take little breaks between sessions. You can incorporate some fun activities or give your students a few minutes to relax, eat, freshen up and then get back to studying. This leisure time between learning sessions is essential as breaks can increase focus and productivity.

Motivate and stay Motivated

And lastly, the most important thing to keep in mind is the significance of motivation. While the world is still in the shackles of a disastrous pandemic, it is easy to lose motivation for work or study. Therefore, to become a successful online tutor, you must stay motivated and passionate about your work while encouraging and motivating your students at the same time.

At the end of the day, being a good online tutor requires patience, determination and a passion for teaching. Tutors are not only there to teach a course, but a good tutor must aspire to become a role model for his students.