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Recommended Reading
If you have ever tried searching for Common Entrance revision websites you may not have got very far – they are surprisingly few and far between! As a general rule, schools issue their own revision notes for individual subjects, which are often thorough and impressive; however, they are understandably reluctant to publish these online. I have collected together the following links that I hope may be of use both to pupils and to parents. As I stumble across new online resources I shall add them to the list.
English: Reading Matters, Grammar and Punctuation Exercises (some quite tricky!) and The Times Spelling Bee
Maths: Mathletics (requires the purchase of an annual subscription) and some excellent revision notes here
Science: Science4CE and Supascience
French: Languages Online (French), Target Language and BBC Bitesize (Foundation Tier)
Latin: Vir Drinks Beer and Cambridge Latin Course
History: History on the Net and excellent notes on this page courtesy of St Hugh's Prep. School, Faringdon
Geography: Excellent notes on this page courtesy of St Hugh's Prep. School, Faringdon
Religious Studies: Common Entrance Religious Studies Revision
In addition, the BBC website usually has a wealth of appropriately presented and useful information (and games) on a variety of topics. This page deals with English, Maths and Science, whilst this page has links to the other subjects. Of course, these resources are geared around the National Curriculum and not Common Entrance, so you will have to pick and choose a little. Those preparing for a scholarship would be wise to pay a daily visit to the BBC News page; younger pupils may enjoy the Newsround page instead.
A few other relevant sites include...
The Independent Schools Examinations Board is responsible for setting Common Entrance and Common Academic Scholarship papers.
Galore Park publishes Common Entrance text books. They are also the official purveyors of Common Entrance past papers.
The Good Schools Guide contains a range of help and advice on almost every aspect of education.
Bofa has a range of interactive online resources to help pupils to prepare for 11+ English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning tests - in so far as it is possible to prepare for these. A number of very good iPad apps are also available to help with such preparation.
Common Entrance Revision Apps and Podcasts
A small number of apps and podcasts suitable for Common Entrance revision are gradually beginning to appear in the iTunes store. I have listed a few below and shall add to this as and when I stumble across more.
Maths: Maths 13+ CE (Self Assessment Series) revision app by EducationApps
Science: Science 13+ CE (Self Assessment Series) revision app by EducationApps
Latin: Latin Tester Plus revision app by FluteSoft
Pipiatum Level 1, Pipiatum Level 2 and Pipiatum Level 3 revision apps by World Class Arena
History: History 13+ CE (Self Assessment Series) revision app by EducationApps
Geography: Revision Podcasts from Pembroke House School
Religious Studies: Revision podcasts from www.ce-rs.com
Religious Studies 13+ CE (Self Assessment Series) revision app by EducationApps - although take care as this is based on the old (pre-2011) syllabus so only some of the questions are relevant. I contacted the developers about this in February 2012 but an update is yet to appear.
The programmes by EducationApps can also be downloaded as in app purchases within one global revision app that can be downloaded here.
The iTunes store also contains a few iPad apps that can help with 11+ pre-test preparation.
