Bond and CGP books are two of the most widely used books for 11+ preparation though there can be a lot of questions, and anxiety, around how to best to use them. We’ve outlined our philosophy for working through these books in a way that helps your child to fulfil their potential as quickly as possible.
How do you use the Bond books in your classes?
Almost every one of our students between the ages of 5 and 13 completes Bond or CGP books weekly as part of their homework. We differ from many tutors, however, in that students do not complete work in these books during our classes. Instead, our tutors focus on a couple of topics in each class, using the range of Kin Learning books or supplementary worksheets to guide students through a topic thoroughly. This means that students may work through the Bond books more slowly than their counterparts at other tutors, however, our students have the advantage of having mastered topics rather than covering them superficially.
Each week, we assign a few bits of homework that directly relate to the topics we’ve covered in class as well as homework across several Bond books. For students preparing for the 11+, we set homework in all four subjects – maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning.
Why do you give homework?
We consider a student to be doing well with the Bond books when they achieve scores of approximately 80% in each paper. At this level, students are given the opportunity to practise skills they’ve already learnt but are also encountering some more challenging material each week.
As well as being an essential tool in helping children to progress, your child’s homework serves as a guide for our tutors’ lesson planning. Bond books highlight topics that children may have forgotten or can serve as a reminder of topics we still need to cover. Regular work in these books is therefore vital for us to be able to track your child’s progress.
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How do you decide which books my child should complete?
When our students first start, we provide a list of recommended materials that is based on that child’s initial assessment. Each book on the list is carefully selected to provide an all-important mix of a challenge and revision.
As you may know, the Bond and CGP ranges come with age recommendations. Many parents (and often teachers and other tutors) adhere strictly to these guidelines, meaning that an 8-year-old will automatically complete the 8-9 books at a minimum. This is often inappropriate, however.
The Bond and CGP books don’t necessarily tally with the National Curriculum. This often means that your child won’t have covered many of the topics contained in the books for their age. This is especially true if they have only recently started tutoring with us. When this is the case, attempting to complete the more difficult Bond books can be hugely counter-productive – not only being a futile learning exercise but also proving demoralising and frustrating for students.
Our book recommendations take the above factors into consideration so that your child can be stretched without being set up for failure. We expect more able students to move through books quickly and will often assign additional papers in order to achieve this.
Doesn’t my child need to complete the 10-11 books before sitting the 11+?
As the Bond books go on, they tend to deviate from the 11+ syllabus, particularly for the grammar schools in the Kent area. For example, the English books generally contain long-answer (rather than multiple-choice) questions and the maths books contain topics that simply aren’t featured in the local 11+ exams. Completing these books can therefore lead children to spend hours and hours mastering topics that are not needed. In many cases, it’s better to move on to a different range of resources at this point so that children can learn to apply their existing skills in different ways.
Depending on when your child started classes, there may not be time to work from a low level right through to the 10-11 or the 11-12 books. Rather than working religiously through every Bond book, our tutors provide personalised book recommendations to keep your child on the right track. We know this system works as many of our students have achieved incredibly high scores in the Bexley, Kent, Newstead and even Olave’s exams without ever touching many of the 10-11 Bond books.