For parents starting the 11+ journey, a big question is “How do I start my child with verbal reasoning”. This is a tough question because by their very definition, the VR questions are designed to be “non-teachable”.

There is no part of the school syllabus (independent or state schools alike) which targets VR specifically. The first thing to remember is that VR is heavily based on Mathematics and English. So a good grounding on quick mental mathematics and word vocabulary is very essential.

Next look at the types of VR questions here (Click Here). Remember there are the standard VR types and there are some additional types as well (Click Here). You may be tempted to go only for the ones which are likely to appear in your chosen school exam. But in my opinion this is a very dangerous strategy. There is no guarantee on the types of questions likely to appear in the exams. So covering every angle is not only the best insurance, but also is good for “brain training”.

Once you have seen and are conversant with all the VR types, select a few of them at a time. You can use the 11PlusDIY introduction samples for each type available [Click Here]. Sit with the child and introduce one VR question type at a time. I would recommend doing this even if you have a tutor who is going to cover the entire syllabus. Once you have introduced the child to each question type, and the child is familiar with all of them do not dive straight in with question papers! Most likely the scores are going to be low and you will get stresses while the child gets discouraged!

All VR questions can be grouped into basically 4 types:

• CODES : VR Type L, C, N and U
• MATHEMATICS:  VR Type G,P,K,I
• WORDS :  VR Type R, O, F, E, J, A , Q
• VOCABULARY : VR Type H,D,B,M,S

Start by selecting questions by groups and progressing to this intermediate stage before taking on the full test. 11PlusDIY has an excellent set of full exam style worksheets grouped by these types. These worksheets are excellent for introduction as well as revision.