FSL 11+ Course - Week 10

Week 10 – What We Cover

This week, we work on the following:

Maths: Percentages (FSL Red Book page 28-29)

Lots of students are not keen on percentages, and lots of schools teach it in different ways, but the ‘key facts’ that they need to understand are as follows: 

– To find 1%, divide the number given by 100

– To find 10%, divide it by 10

– To find 50%, divide it by 2

– To find 25%, halve it, and halve it again (divide by 4)

– To find 75%, divide it by 4 (to find 25%), then multiply by 3) 

– To find 20%, divide it by 5 (or find 10% and double it) 

These are really important to know off by heart as they are really useful to be able to apply to different questions. E.g. to find 30% of 500, I would say to a student, find 10%, then multiply it by 3. To find 5%, halve what 10% would be, and to find for example 7%, find 1%, then multiply that answer by 7 etc. 

We also take a bit of time to explain to them why % is actually one of the useful bits of maths they need to know (mortgage rates, sale discounts, etc.!) and it would be helpful if you can reinforce them at home whenever possible. For example, ask them something like ‘if these bananas cost £2, but are reduced by 25% in a sale, how much would they cost instead?’

Sometimes students respond well if they can see maths working in everyday life – rather than just sitting with a worksheet and forgetting about it until next week. 

Non-Verbal Reasoning (Test 3, not timed)

This week, we will discuss the question type ‘Series’. A key tip with these questions is to look at every element of each box individually, and see how it changes across the sequence. We will be finishing off a few of these questions for homework.

Click here to read the list of elements students should always look out for in NVR

Verbal Reasoning: Odd Ones Out (FSL Green Book, pages 28-30)

In Odd Ones Out, students have to choose two words out of five that are unlike the other three – e.g. knife, spoon, bowl, plate, fork. This is a test of both vocabulary and in particular they need to look out for homophones (words that sound the same but have different spellings for different meanings, e.g. beech and beach) as well as homonyms (words with multiple meanings, e.g. fine could mean well/ok, thin or a charge for something). 

For a list of the homework this week, please see below:

Week 10 – Homework

  • FSL Yellow Course Homework Book (pages 55-57). Please note the children will receive a new homework book next week to continue from Week 11.

  • Complete Collins NVR Test 3 (not timed)

  • Any incomplete classwork (optional)