I know, easier said than done, right? But panic is contagious. If you’re stressed, your child will absolutely pick up on it, and then you’ve got two nervous wrecks and zero progress. So take a deep breath. The Eleven Plus is a marathon, not a sprint. You wouldn’t run a marathon in your pajamas after eating a whole cake, would you? Same logic applies here.
Start early, but keep it chill.
The best time to start preparing is about a year before the test. But "preparing" doesn’t mean drilling your kid until they cry into their maths book. It means making learning part of everyday life. Play Countdown in the car. Do the crossword together on a rainy Sunday. Buy some fun puzzle books and leave them lying around. The goal is to make their brain hungry for challenges, not terrified of them.
And for heaven’s sake, don’t compare your child to their friends. You know that one parent who brags their kid finished a practice paper in ten minutes? Ignore them. Everyone’s brain works differently. Your child might be a slow, careful genius. That’s a good thing, especially for accuracy. Speed comes with practice, not panic.
