How To Help Your Child Prepare For The 2023 Selective School Exam

1. There are a number of different ways to help your child prepare for the selective school exam, and choosing the right one is really going to be a personal decision. Given the website you find yourself on, (we specialise in one-on-one selective school tutoring) I think you know which one we feel is the most effective – but we will run through all options available to you. First up, it is worth highlighting that your child is very unlikely to receive any preparation support from their current school. Teachers have enough on their plate – so it is very rare we hear of classroom teachers being able to help with selective school prep. In addition, the selective school test content does not align with national curriculum standards – as in, the average year 6 student would not be expected to know the content of the test. It is specifically designed for the top 5% of any class –so teachers won’t want to spend time focusing on something that is only valuable for 2 or 3 students. Preparation option 1: self-paced practice with parental support. Many parents choose to do it themselves. They purchase a workbook or some practice paper bundles (like the ones we sell here) and let their child go through it at their own pace. When their child gets stuck on a question or they get some wrong, they will work through it with them until they get the right answer. This is a great way to prepare for the test –but it isn’t going to work for every family. You know your family’s schedule – how much time do you have to invest in this? In addition, this may be limited by parent ability. Please remember, this test is really hard (check out a free sample test here) and it may be too challenging for many to arrive at the answer and be able to convey the reasoning effectively. Another thing to keep in mind is that the selective school test is essentially a competition; your child is competing against 18000 other students across the state for less than 3000 seats. If the only preparation your child has done is a handful of practice papers with your help, they will be naturally disadvantaged to the student that has been working one-on-one with a tutor since year 3.

2. Preparation option 2: a classroom style preparation course This isn’t something we offer, but there are a number of centers offering these group options. Your child will be in a classroom of similar level peers and work through a structured program, usually with one teacher available to assist with any questions they might have. The pros of these group classes are usually in their structured program – a good program would have been refined over many years, ideally by qualified educators. The downside is the lack of personal attention and individualisation of the content; if maths is your child’s strength and they struggle with English, then you should be devoting more time to bringing that English ability up to where it needs to be. Group classes are not designed to be tailored to a student’s need. Preparation option 3: a one-on-one program with an accredited tutor In case it wasn’t clear, this is what we do and how we have got thousands of students into selective schools over the last 15 years. There is no greater way of preparing for the selective school exam than matching your child up with an accredited Alchemy tutor & working one-on- one in your home or online in the lead up to the 2023 selective school exam. Every part of our program is personalised around your child’s unique strengths and weaknesses, and will cover every aspect of the test with regular testing involved to monitor progress. The best part is how easy it all is for you as the parent. Lessons at home or online when they suit you. No shopping around for an experienced tutor – all our selective school tutors go through our unique selective school accreditation so they know exactly what your child needs to do to get in. We offer easy weekly payment after each lesson with no contracts, prepayments or minimums. You can check out more than 2000 5-star reviews from parents here. Whatever method you choose, we wish you all the best. To get started with an accredited selective school tutor, click here.