Is tuition absolutely necessary to pass the 11+ exam?

Is tuition absolutely necessary to pass the 11+ exam?

No. This is the short answer. 

If you’ve read our story, you’ll know that we did not use tutors when we started the 11+ journey with our eldest child. At the time, we were not specialist 11+ tutors. 

Eagle-eyed readers will point out that myself and my wife are both teachers and this is not the case with other parents. This may be the case, but there are other non-teacher parents who have also self-tutored. 

A 2019 survey by the grammar school advocacy group, The Grammar School Heads Association (GSHA), suggested that up to 80% of pupils who pass the 11 plus exam have had some form of additional coaching, whether through private tutors, tuition centres, or extensive parental support. 

Perhaps a better question might be ‘is tuition the best option for my child to pass the 11 plus exam?’ 

This question allows a far more useful discussion. The reality is, what may work for one child may not work for another child. Therefore it is important to understand the different factors at play. In this article, I’ll touch upon some points, which I hope are useful to parents wondering if tuition is necessary for their child to pass the 11 plus exam. 

Competency 

There may be parents who themselves went through the grammar school system and therefore know about the 11 plus curriculum, how to study for it, and ultimately, how to pass the 11 plus exam. 

Competency is one of the biggest factors; the 11+ exam is unlike any other exam children sit. Whilst English and Maths may be familiar subjects, NVR and VR are unlikely to be familiar. 

For parents who are unfamiliar with the 11+ journey, going for a self-tutoring approach means first learning the topics and techniques and then imparting that knowledge to the child. This is essentially what myself and my wife did. However, we were lucky in the sense that our daughter was already at greater depth in all subjects, so really, we only had to learn VR and NVR. As we are both teachers, the teaching aspect was easy. 

Parents who have the competency to deliver the 11+ curriculum may be well placed to consider self-tutoring (though do read till the end of the article as there may be other factors to consider, too). 

Time

Another huge factor is time. This is perhaps the thing people underestimate the most. The amount of time the 11+ endeavour takes is very significant; it consumes most evenings and most of the weekend – especially for children in Year 5 who have to increase their effort level. 

In the case where both parents are working, finding enough time to learn and teach the 11+ to children is very difficult. We got lucky as we started our 11+ journey during covid, when we were working from home. Collectively, my wife and I saved up to 4 hours by not having to commute, which we were able to invest into the 11+. 

Do remember that for every hour spent on the 11+ is an hour not spent on other work. For time-strapped parents, self-tutoring may not be worth it based on time considerations alone. However, for other parents, time may not be an obstacle. 

Cost

This is a big and obvious factor. Tuition prices can vary wildly. Some tutors are asking north of £60 per hour, whilst others may be asking for less than £20 per hour. The cost depends on many things, such as supply & demand, area, setting (e.g. group v 1-to-1), and so on. (Since we work with working families, our charges are no where near the big, expensive tuition businesses out there) 

It may be helpful for parents to determine their own hourly rate. For instance, if a parent works as a plumber at £60 an hour, it makes more financial sense to pay a tutor (who is asking for less than £60 an hour) and then do an additional plumbing job. 

On the topic of cost, do bear in mind the additional costs associated with the 11 plus. This may include physical and digital resources, as well as mock exams at external centres (which we highly recommend).  We provide all resources needed (including mocks) and a good tutor should be able to do the same. If a tutor is relying only on Bond and CGP books, they are unlikely to be heavily invested into delivering the 11+ curriculum.

Family dynamics

Every family has a different dynamic. And sometimes, trying to teach your own children can negatively affect the family dynamics. The 11+ is genuinely a difficult endeavour for children and it can be very stressful at times. It is commonplace for children to allow their frustrations to boil over, and it is easier for children to get frustrated with their own family members than with external people. 

This is something a lot of people do not take into account. 

Mocks 

One of the most important things we did for our daughter was to enrol her for mock exams at an external centre (doing the Bond 10 minute exams alone is not sufficient).  

Even in the case of parents having time and the competency to deliver the 11+ curriculum, it is not possible to recreate an authentic mock exam experience at home. 

Location 

I’ll include one final point, but in my mind this is unlikely to be a significant point of contention. 

In major cities, tutors and tuition centres are very easy to come by. In more remote places, tutors may not be readily available, which may result in self-tutoring making more sense. However, nowadays there are many online tutors so location is less of a consideration now. 

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From the points above, hopefully parents can see that the question of whether tutors should or should not be used cannot yield a straightforward answer. There are so many factors at play and every family has their own set of circumstances. 

If after considering the points above parents can confidently say they can deliver the 11+ curriculum, then perhaps self-tutoring could be viable. This is what myself and my wife did, but we would be the first to admit that there was a perfect storm of circumstances (covid, our daughter working at greater depth, both of us being teachers, etc.) that allowed us to self-tutor. Had our circumstances been different, there is no way we would have self-tutored. We wouldn’t have had the time to do it. On that factor alone self-tutoring would have been unviable for us. One (strong) word of advice I have for parents going down the self-tutoring route is to book external mock exams.  This is the single biggest thing that really moves the needle. Mock exams allow children to get a feel for multiple choice questions, which takes a bit of getting used to. It allows parents and pupils to get an idea of speed and accuracy in answering questions.  It also allows comparison, both with other children and their own previous mock exams to get an understanding of how much progress has been made.

Overall, the biggest benefit of self-tutoring is probably the cost saving. There is no single, correct answer as to whether tutors are absolutely necessary as this depends on the circumstance of families.  

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