Five sessions a week, each split morning and evening, two subjects per session, and a journal.
The journal is the part families skip, and it is the part that turns six weeks of work into six weeks of progress.
Why these six weeks
The test is in early-to-mid September. These six weeks are the last block of time before it, and they are the final push.
That makes them different from Easter. Easter was for repair and practice with time to consolidate. The summer is for intensity and for finding the last weak points while there is still room to fix them.
We put students through a lot of intensity at this time: revision classes, a summer school of some sort, roughly five times a week. See our Easter guide for what should already be done by now.
The shape of the week
| Element | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Frequency | About five days a week |
| Structure | Two sessions, morning and evening |
| Each session | Two subjects, tailored within it |
| So per day | All four subjects touched |
| Rest | Two days off a week, in the plan |
Two subjects in the morning, two in the evening, every working day. Having that specific focus and input every day is what really helps, and it is the structure that has worked running a tutoring company through a lot of these summers.
The journal, which is the real answer
If you take one thing from this page, take this. Journaling is imperative.
A journal is a document the child keeps, every session, recording:
- What they did. Subject, topic, how long.
- What they scored. Every test, written down.
- What needs to be done. What went wrong and needs improvement.
- What needs more practice. In their own words.
It takes three minutes at the end of a session and it does something nothing else does: it creates a record of scores and weak points across the whole six weeks, rather than a vague sense of how it is going.
Without it, week five is guesswork. With it, week five is evidence.
Using what the journal tells you
The journal is only worth keeping if it changes the plan, so read it weekly.
- Read it every Sunday. Fifteen minutes, with your child.
- Find the weak subject. It will be obvious on paper and was probably not obvious in your head.
- Double down there. If maths is the weak point, give maths more sessions next week.
- Re-test the thing that was weak a week later, and record it again.
- Leave the strong subject ticking over. Do not abandon it, do not feed it.
That weekly loop is the whole method. The journal finds the problem, the next week attacks it, the journal checks whether it worked.
Six weeks without burning out
- Two days off a week, written into the plan from the start.
- A proper gap between sessions. The middle of the day is theirs.
- Keep one normal summer thing. A club, a sport, a week away.
- Mark on scores, not on effort. Children can tell the difference.
- Watch for falling scores at steady effort. That is tiredness, not ability, and it means rest rather than more.
See our guide to managing pressure.
What not to do in August
The last fortnight has its own rules, and they are nearly the opposite of the first four weeks.
- Do not introduce new topics. Anything met in late August will not be there under pressure.
- Do not raise the hours. If six weeks were not enough, the last ten days will not fix it.
- Do not run heavy mocks in the final week. A bad score days before the test damages morale when it is too late to act.
- Do not drop the reading. It costs twenty minutes and holds comprehension together.
- Do stop entirely for the last day or two.
See our guide to the final week and our guide to exam day.
See where your child stands today
Timed sections in the GL Assessment format, marked instantly, with a topic-by-topic breakdown. No sign-up to start.
The journal is the thing nobody does
This is probably the very important time, in terms of really doubling down and spending some time. We put our students through a lot of intensity at this time: revision classes, enrolling into a summer school of some sort, so having revision classes pretty much five times a week.
Having students on a specific study plan broken up into morning and evening sessions, and each session has tailored sessions within it, so covering two subjects and then two subjects in the evening. Every day having that focus and that input really, really helps them, and gives them the final push before the test in September.
And journaling is imperative. It creates a document of what they have been getting in terms of their scores, what needs to be done in terms of improvement, and what they actually need more practice of. So if maths is a weak point, for example, then you can double down sessions on maths.
Mushtaque Ahmed, Founder of GrammarPath and Bright Mentors
Frequently asked questions
What should the summer before the 11+ be spent on?
Intensity and structure: about five days a week, two sessions a day split morning and evening, two subjects per session so all four get touched daily, plus a journal recording what was done and what was scored.
What is an 11+ study journal and why does it matter?
A document the child keeps each session recording what they did, what they scored, what needs improving and what needs more practice. It takes three minutes and turns week five from guesswork into evidence about where the weak points actually are.
How do you keep six weeks productive without burning a child out?
Two days off a week written into the plan from the start, a real gap between the morning and evening sessions, one normal summer thing kept, and watching for falling scores at steady effort, which means rest rather than more work.
What should a child not do in August before the 11+?
Meet new topics, which will not survive under pressure. Raise the hours, since ten days will not fix six weeks. Sit heavy mocks in the final week, because a bad score then damages morale too late to act on. And they should stop entirely for the last day or two.
How do you use a study journal week to week?
Read it every Sunday with your child, find the weak subject, which is usually obvious on paper and was not obvious in your head, give that subject more sessions the following week, then re-test it and record the result again.