All of our full time 11 plus tutors have had specialist training by an ex headmistress of a top London independent school.

Last year, each full time Minerva 11 Plus Tutor helped their students pass the initial stage of their 11 plus exams for their chosen schools in London and the home counties.

Our dedicated team of professional 11 plus tutors know exactly how to help your child feel confident, motivated and to stay ahead.

With plenty of learning materials and knowledge of the specific ways a child is expected to answer certain questions, our tutors are fully equipped to deliver an unrivalled tutoring service.

What Our Tutors Can Do To Help

Written by David, one of our full time 11+ tutors.

Every year, children across the UK – despite being ‘children’ in every sense of the word – take the stressful, important and high-pressure 11+ exams that will shape the future of their education.

For most 11 year-olds, this is a very young age to be under so much pressure.

However fair, equal, or ‘tutor-proof’ these exams may be, there will always be certain students with an advantage. All research suggests that older pupils – born in September/October – will naturally do better than their younger counterparts, that girls are better equipped to focus and buckle down at this age than boys, and that certain schools better prepare students.

Schools will always try and do their best by their students, but the truth is that teachers are under huge amounts of pressure, and will often be unable to provide extra help for struggling individuals. If there’s one part of a syllabus your child is struggling with, that can demotivate them and bring down their overall scores, making it harder to get into their preferred schools.

A Minerva 11 Plus tutor can help de-stress the preparation process and identify the areas that need work, so your children can feel confident going into these crucial exams. Our tutors always put an emphasis on fun, confidence and motivation, rather than explicit exam preparation: we aim to prepare children for the future, not just exams.

As well as focusing on the syllabus and core material, our tutors have fun exercises and activities, online resources and an innovative approach to one-on-one tuition. We have extensive experience in English, maths, verbal and nonverbal reasoning, and a fantastic record of getting our students into great schools. Keep an eye on this page, as we will very soon be updating it with advice, resources and FAQs relating to the 7+ and 11+ exams.

If you think your child may need extra help with 7+ or 11+ exams, and you would like to book an hour with a Minerva 11 Plus tutor, please call the Temple of Minerva on 0208 819 3276.

How you can help your child prepare for the 11 +?

1. PRACTICE 

It shouldn’t need saying, but of course doing practice papers and questions that mirror the style of the exam is always beneficial before sitting the real thing. These papers can expose kids to the many different types of non-verbal reasoning questions, the style of maths questioning, which often includes word problems that require a level of decoding, and getting used to doing an exam in timed, silent conditions. The more practice you can do – even if it’s only one 20 minute paper a day over the holidays – the better prepared you’ll be for the real thing.

You can find endless 11+ resources and past papers online and in places like Waterstones and WHSmith, but a good place to start is always Galore Park 

2. Focus on what you DON’T know

There’s no point doing loads of maths papers if your kid’s a maths whizz, who’s always scoring in the 80s and 90s anyway. Likewise, if they’re an English genius, doing endless comprehensions probably won’t benefit them much either. Identify the weaker areas, and focus on improving those – and even within a subject, identify the weaker areas (eg angles, algebra, fractions) and make sure it is those that you focus on. It may well be the area they most want to avoid, but probably the one they most need to.

3. Have a revision timetable

Again, this is almost certainly better than nagging your child to do work on a daily basis, and if you make the timetable with them, it gives them the added bonus of having some control and agency over their revision time. Make a list of all the topics you need to cover in each subject, and ensure that you schedule in breaks, as concentration at this age usually dips after 20-30 minutes. It doesn’t need to be too over the top, but a little revision time every day goes a long way.

4. Revise with games

A lot of kids will be reluctant to revise over the holidays, but most can be convinced into playing a game. Cognosis is a brilliant game for 11+ students, as it covers all four disciplines and is genuinely fun. Games like Sum Fun and Bananagrams can also be useful, and are easily adaptable for revision purposes. Visual aids like flashcards and mind-maps can be useful – and gamified – and lots of fun can be had in coming up with mnemonics too – and that’s without mentioning the endless stream of available 11+ revision apps. 

5. Use rewards

You’re a parent – you already do everything for your child, but sadly if they’re going to revise in the holidays, they want even more. It could be a particular Christmas present, a trip somewhere, something edible, a playdate or even financial incentives (some kids drive a hard bargain), but for younger kids, there’s no greater incentive to work than the short-term pay off of a prize. Amazingly, most of them are less able to think about the longer-term, 1-7 year reward of going to their first choice school when there’s a Terry’s Chocolate Orange at stake NOW.

6. Work with them

Some children at 11+ age will be reluctant, or even near-unable to work unsupervised, and will simply end up messing around, doodling or procrastinating – it’s just how they are. Having a parent or older sibling (or indeed a tutor) there to help keep them on task, and doing the work they’re supposed to be doing, can be helpful for their concentration, and ensure that revision time is being used efficiently.