Pi Academy Course: Year 5 English Past Papers
Age Group: 10 to 11 years
Course Duration: 1 – 1.5 hours per week
Summary of Course:
This course is designed for students who already have a thorough understanding of basic and advanced skills in English and want only to solve past papers, learn exam techniques and receive help with time management under exam conditions.
Reading and Comprehension:
In this course we cover highly challenging comprehension questions from various schools’ past papers. The question types covered in the course include factual, inferential, emotional, tonal, style, language choice, structure and form. Both objective (multiple choice) and descriptive (long-form answers) styles of paper are covered in the course, both of which are crucial to helping students understand the elements of writing for creative or informative purposes.
Writing:
- Two major aspects of writing are covered: transcription (spelling and handwriting) and creative writing (articulating ideas and structuring them in long-form writing).
- In transcription, we pinpoint any regular spelling issues and, if necessary, set regular spellings to be learnt and tested; we offer feedback on handwriting legibility and advise on speed of writing. Orthology and orthography are also discussed.
- In creative writing, we teach students to plan, revise and eventually evaluate their own writing. Students are also taught to articulate ideas and communicate them effectively.
- We consistently bear in mind the need for accurate, swift writing and organisation of ideas under exam conditions. We therefore encourage students to time themselves as they practice, and we carry out occasional timed assessments for those students who need to focus on their timing.
- While we assume that students are confident in spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) to a high level, we do also cover this in case there are any problem areas.
- In papers requiring long-form answers, we discuss with students how to ‘break down’ the number of marks per answer, and how all those marks can be achieved.
Prerequisites:
We assume the student attending this course is well versed with fundamentals in English and familiar with basic literacy techniques including reading, writing and SPaG to a high level.
Course resources:
After each lesson, we provide lecture notes and a past paper for the student to complete in their own time. We have also developed a summer reading club so that students may continue their literary education during the summer holidays. If desired, we can also provide a list of recommended reading during term time – even for students wishing to solely focus on past papers, this is recommended, as current exam papers often use passages from various sources, including twentieth and even nineteenth century literature.
Why this course is important:
To achieve places in London’s top grammar and independent schools, students must be able to do well in timed exam conditions. We offer support with this aspect of the 11+, as well as a wide variety of practice papers and a tailored approach to each student. This course prepares students for 11+ examinations for independent schools in areas including London and the Greater London area, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Essex and Surrey.
Outcome of this course:
We have an extremely high success rate, with over 97% of our students achieving places at top schools in Greater London and the surrounding counties. More than 90% of our students have also received offers of scholarships from both independent and grammar schools – a small sample of these is listed below.
- St Paul's Girls' School
- Westminster School
- Haberdashers' Aske's Boys’ School
- Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
- City of London Girls’ School
- City of London Boys’ School
- Highgate School
- Merchant Taylors' School
- Queen Elizabeth’s School
- The Latymer School
- Henrietta Barnett School
- Dame Alice Owen's School