Many anxious parents ask this question as they seek something different to prepare their child for the Transfer Test. Children can become bored with pencil and paper practice and something a bit different can keep the enthusiasm going.
We all know how attached children can become to their iPad or tablet and how they just love to use them for research or games. If you can capture this interest as another way to prepare for the Transfer Test you are onto a winner.
There are a number of differences between pencil and paper practice and using an online site to practice. What pencil and paper practice provides is fairly apparent but subscribing to an online Transfer Test site is very different. A good site should run anywhere that the child can connect to the internet. The Online Transfer Test site should provide a suitable platform that gives your child easy and instant access to a wide variety of English and maths questions.
Connecting to the internet means that your child can practice and revise anywhere and at anytime. These sites are perfect for practicing on holiday and prevent you from the hassle of taking books or worksheets with you.
A superior product will instantaneously mark the practice test and give instant, relevant and professional feedback on your child’s answers. Quality feedback is vital to improving your child’s chances of passing their Transfer Test. A good site will also break down the preparation into smaller “bitesize” pieces covering the various aspects of both English and maths. The better sites will often email details of what ever practice the child has just taken to a chosen email address. (Usually the parent/guardian.)
We all have heard that “Practice makes perfect” but more correctly “Practice, the results of which are known, makes perfect.” It is feedback on practicing sections of maths and English that will advance performance and therefore give your child better Transfer Test scores. Relevant feedback from an Online site is essential.
Preparing for this demanding Transfer Test does necessitate a lot of time and effort by both parent and child. Marking pencil and paper tests can be very time consuming and one big plus of an Online revision platform is that it will mark any papers or practice sessions immediately – probably an important concern for busy parents.
A good Online site will allow a child to try out different questions, repeat the same English or maths questions and practice the same test again and again and see their score improve.
Seeing their scores improve and getting good feedback for areas that they are weak at can be highly motivating. I cannot emphasis how important feedback really is.
Many of these sites use a computer based online system that is based on the child choosing his/her answer from 4 or 5 options – this is called multiple-choice. Sites using this arrangement often encourage a child to “click and go” quickly to the next question without any real learning.
Some of the actual Transfer Tests are of this type but when preparing for a pencil and paper exam a child must learn to work out the answer and not just guess or choose any answer.
Online practice sites offer a different means of preparing for the Transfer Test and this is often more motivating for a child who is very “computer savvy.” They can help your child stay motivated during practice sessions for the Transfer Test.
If you intend subscribing to one of these sites, look for a wide variety of question types, immediate marking, instant and appropriate feedback. The option to practice any question type over and over again is important. As the child improves their understanding and knowledge of the basics a good site should probably offer the facility for the child to take a timed test of 50 or 100 questions. Timed tests will help prepare your child with time management for the actual Transfer Test.
Combining online practice with pencil and paper preparation is possibly the optimum way to prepare your child for their Transfer Test.
This site has an explanatory video and seems to offer endless practice in English and maths for a very reasonable subscription .