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Strategy 4 min read · 2026-02-04

Avoiding the Most Common 11+ Mistakes

The mistakes top scorers <em>still</em> make on real papers — and how to coach your child out of them.

Even strong candidates lose 5–8 marks per paper to recurring slips. Cleaning these up is the single fastest score-improver you can make.

Misreading the question

Especially in maths: "what is half of 60?" answered as "what is 60 doubled?". Train your child to underline the actual question.

Switching letters in multi-choice

Thinking the answer is B but marking C. Slowing the marking moment to a beat eliminates most of these. Practice now in mock mode to drill the marking pause.

Not noticing units

Calculating in centimetres when the answer is required in metres. The "kilo-cm-m-mm" lapse costs marks every paper.

Leaving blanks

Every blank is a zero. Even a wild guess gives a 20% chance of being right. The last two minutes are for filling everything in.

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