7 + plus dictation task explained
Preparing your child for the dictation element of the 7 Plus exam can be very difficult, especially if you are not familiar with all aspects of the 7 Plus process. Students usually take the 7 Plus exam in Year 2, to be admitted to their new school in Year 3. Although the 7 Plus exam is normally taken early in Year 2, it is important to note that some schools mandate that it be taken before November.
The expectations for 7 Plus English are that a student should be conversant with the full of KS1 curriculum (and sometimes beyond this level). With some elite schools, students are required to be able to write at least half of an A4 page composition with a clear beginning, middle, and end story structure in addition to being able to read fluently and respond to comprehension questions in full phrases.
The 7 Plus dictation part often requires the students to listen to sentences, which they then have to write down. For instance, the student may be required to write down a sentence that the assessor reads out loud during the exam.
The 7 Plus dictation part assesses the student's listening, grammar, and spelling abilities. Schools will therefore assess the student to see if he or she can pay attention by listening, write clearly and neatly, use proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and edit their work based on the sentence's context. They will specifically be examining your child's comprehension of fundamental grammatical rules such as the use of proper nouns, and the use of capital letters at the beginning of sentences, as well as the use of full speech marks, question marks, commas, exclamation points and stops at the end of a sentence.
