Books or Online Browsers? Navigating 11+ Prep in the Digital Age

Written by Michellejoy Hughes, Expert 11+ Tutor

When preparing for the 11+ is it better to use online resources or books? What about for an online exam? In a digital age is using books a retrograde move? Michellejoy Hughes discusses some of the pros and cons of using print and digital resources.

As an 11+ tutor, I taught a mixture of face-to-face and online lessons until Covid, when everything for me moved online. Against all expectations, my lessons have remained online, and I have been amazed how successful tutoring online has been, especially teaching on-to-one on Zoom. It has required some serious thought about how lessons can work most successfully. After some trial and error, and with much feedback from my eternally inspiring students, I have found that using the Bond books is still vital to the success I have. Here’s why…

Structuring Lessons for Maximum Impact

Like many teachers and tutors, my lessons are divided up into a recap of skills, problem areas encountered in homework with a step-by-step strategy of how to do that question type, some consolidation to revise the new strategy, some activity to extend, expand or link the new skill, and then setting next week’s homework. I will often do a worksheet with some additional questions covered in the lesson, but I don’t want a child to forget all the skills we have covered and that is where the Bond 11+ Assessment Practice books come in.

The benefits of the Bond 11+ Assessment Practice books include:

• As the questions are mixed, I know that my students will be able to consolidate the skills we have covered.
• They highlight areas that are not yet fully understood for me to revisit.
• They are logical in their progression, helping children, parents, and me to see how a child is working and whether they are on track.
• They are in an accessible format for children, with physical space for working out, nothing distracting, and the questions are clear to understand.
• Parents like the books because they can easily mark the work, understand where their child has made a mistake, and they are affordable – this is especially important when a child is doing multiple 11+ subjects.

I ask children to complete their homework, but as they go through the paper, to put a big asterisk in the margin of questions they did not understand and a small asterisk for questions they had a go at but did not feel confident in solving. These are the questions I look at during their lesson.

This technique has paid dividends because it encourages a child to be active in their learning and self-assessment, and highlights for me those questions that need consolidation or confirms where a child can be more confident answering an unknown question type.

Why Books Still Matter

With some students, I know that they enjoy using the Bond Online resource and I will sometimes use this as a homework warm-up or for those days where their lives are especially busy. This is useful for them, and I am not against using the Bond Online resource at all, but I think they are so many benefits for using books for homework, and as the basis for the next week’s work. It has surprised me that for most of my students, they prefer to work on books.

When practicing, it is important to work through questions methodically and I encourage my students to write out any questions they do online, to be sure that they properly understand they steps and are not just guessing the answer. At this age, they are not necessarily faster nor confident in copying out from the screen and numerous online questions – especially codes and maths – can easily be copied with errors and can take a long time.

When a question is in front of a child in a book, it is easier to tackle. In verbal reasoning, it is easier to follow codes, and in non-verbal reasoning, to eliminate options or to put down working out.

I have found that my students who are only sitting online entrance exams, have found immense purpose and usefulness in working through books until the techniques are confidently secure and they feel ready to move to online questions.

The Benefits of Bond: Building a Strong Foundation

The beauty with Bond, is that there are resources for everyone that will provide a solid structure for success. If you are a parent using a tutor of teaching your child yourself, then the Bond books are ideal for homework and to consolidate lessons learned in classes.

If you are a tutor, then Bond books provide a simple, convenient, affordable, and highly successful way to integrate a homework routine that helps you, your pupils, and their parents. If you want more flexibility than the 11+ Assessment Practice books, then the 11+ 10-Minute Tests might suit you better. I use different books to suit my individual students and their learning styles.

Most companies do not offer both books and an online resource, but even if you are using an online-only platform, the Bond books can work well alongside it to give a thorough grounding in the skills needed. It is easy to rely on online programmes to do everything, but they have their limitations such as encouraging a child to guess because working something out against a countdown timer can be too much pressure. The Bond books encourage learning real skills and consolidating learning, and not on “lucky guesses”.

We want our children to have a solid learning to build on in their academic future. I believe that the books still have an incredible role in providing this.

Summary of this blog post

• Books still play a vital role in 11+ preparation - even for students sitting online exams - by supporting structured, distraction-free learning.
• Online resources have their place, especially for quick practice or busy schedules.
• Writing out answers and working methodically is easier and more effective with books, especially for complex subjects like maths, comprehension, and reasoning.
• A blended approach works best.

About Michellejoy Hughes

Michellejoy Hughes is a highly qualified and experienced teacher and tutor, with over 35 years’ experience in the education sector. Gaining her BA and PGCE in English at Liverpool and then her MA in English at Lancaster, Michellejoy spent many years working as a teacher in Liverpool, before becoming a private 11+ tutor. She is a qualified and experienced academic tester registered with the British Psychological Society leading to academic consultancy work. Michellejoy has helped over a thousand children prepare successfully, and to pass, the 11+.