7 Plus Comprehension

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7 + plus comprehension explained

Having your child professionally assessed to determine their academic level from a very young age, is one of the best ways to help them prepare for the 7 Plus exam. Many parents rely on private tutoring to assist their children in getting ready to take the 7 Plus exam in Year 2, mostly because of the difficulty of the exam, and the fact that most parents lack the necessary knowledge and time to help their children themselves.

Although the format of the 7 Plus exam varies from school to school, it often requires a higher level of arithmetic and English comprehension. These may cover topics including story writing, comprehension, dictation, verbal and nonverbal reasoning, spelling, and in some cases, an interview with the child or in a group setting will be part of the 7 Plus exam.

Both comprehension and story writing are important areas on the 7 Plus exam. With story writing, students are essentially evaluated on how well their ideas are presented, and whether they are coherent and pertinent to the issue. Grammar, the level of description in their creative writing, as well as punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure, are also graded during this exam. With 7 Plus comprehension, it is required of your child to understand the comprehension passage and respond to the related exam question.

On your part, you could perhaps encourage your child to read every day at a level above the national average, to ensure they gain a thorough understanding of reading. However, with private tutoring, a tutor can help your child build a strong reading technique and a broad vocabulary. Your child will also have the opportunity to draw back the curtain and explore the information needed to perform better in the 7 Plus exam and impress the examiners.

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Expectations of the 7 + plus comprehension exam

The 7 Plus comprehension exam may contain many different types of comprehension questions, such as predicting questions, retrieval questions, summarising questions, vocabulary questions, author choice questions, inference questions, and more. The key to performing well on the exam is to have a broad vocabulary and a sound method, especially for areas like 7 Plus comprehension. Unless otherwise specified, student answers must be given in complete sentences for comprehension – which, given their young age when taking the 7 Plus exam – can be quite daunting if they are not properly prepared, or lack self-confidence.

In London, the 7 Plus process is known to be very competitive, especially at schools where there are far more than 10 applicants for each opening, and as a result, the standard is also very high, with successful applicants sometimes required to perform at an academic level far above the national average.

While true for most elite schools, others will state they are looking for candidates who are well-rounded on many different fronts, but the main deciding factor is typically how well applicants perform on the 7 Plus exams. The reality is that your child might not be accepted into their first-choice school if they do not perform well and the best approach to a great performance, is, of course, to be well prepared.

How a tutor helps with the 7 + plus comprehension exam

A private tutor can play a big part in helping your child perform better on the exam by helping them prepare for the questions that might be asked, and by practising how to respond to them. As a private tutor, I have assisted a sizable number of young students, including my own children, in getting accepted into some of the top schools in and around London.

Playing word games, engaging in daily activities which include reading, and utilizing various resources are just a few of the strategies I employ to assist students in developing the solid foundational abilities, which is required for taking the 7 Plus exam.

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