NLP is a wonderful discipline for taking difficult subjects and making them ordered and simple and in her Engaging NLP series, Judy Bartkowiak does that very well with small handbooks. When it came to the 11+, Judy decided to collaborate with an 11+ tutor, Carol Fitzpatrick as any parent knows, the 11+ is a tough nut to crack. Response has been excellent receiving an early endorsement from 11+ specialists Chukra.
Independent book review site The Bookbag reviewed the book and gave it a hearty thumbs up [4 out of 5] commenting “If your child is facing the 11+ then this book is going to make life simpler for everyone”.

Here is the review in full.

“The 11+ process is nerve-wracking for parents and children alike and many parents find it difficult to know how best to help their child. Over-enthusiastic intervention can make a child more nervous and conscious that there’s a lot at stake, whilst leaving the child to get on with it can well make the child feel that their success or failure doesn’t matter to you. It’s also important that any preparation is built up in a steady way and that it leaves the child feeling confident of their success. ‘Passing the 11+ with NLP’ is a dual purpose book: there are the strategies for giving your child self-esteem, focus and concentration along with the other skills needed to pass and then there are details of the type of questions your child will face in the exam.

If you’re uncertain about NLP – Neuro-linguistic programming – then I’d suggest that you read the book to see what’s involved. It’s a great deal simpler and more user-friendly than that phrase might suggest. It’s about easing the pressure on your child (and yourself!) and building their self-esteem. Many children convince themselves that they’re not going to pass – and then live up to their own expectations. It’s about looking at what a child does well and then transferring those skills into the class room.

The need to be able to concentrate through the length of an exam is paramount and ideas are given for building up the length of time which a child spends concentrating. Many of the ideas are very simple, such as ensuring that the child works somewhere where they are confident that they will be able to concentrate and that they learn simple techniques like keeping one finger on the question they’re answering – which saves time they might otherwise spend looking for their place.

Children learn differently and ideas are given for establishing how best you can help your child and for avoiding outing negative thoughts about their abilities into their minds. This might sound obvious, but it’s very easy to say ‘don’t think about…’ which means that the child will think about it! There’s a lot here for the parent to think about and work on and all of it will benefit the child.

You might be surprised when you look at the type of questions your child will need to answer. They are not easy and many adults will struggle with them. What is required is not just knowledge, but mental agility and practice is the best way of developing this. Examples of the questions are given in the book along with a clear explanation of how to arrive at the answer and why it’s best done that way. Common pitfalls are pointed out and there’s advice on how to approach the questions.

If your child is facing the 11+ then this book is going to make life simpler for everyone”.

NLP 11+ is available through all good bookstores, through Amazon Kindle and through iBooks for the iPad.

The Engaging NLP series includes NLP for Parents, Children, Teachers, Back To Work, New Mums (pregnancy and childbirth) and Teens with French language editions being launched as well.

Passing the 11+ with NLP