Currently, the site is aimed from Reception onwards, allowing children to master Key Stage 1 and up to Key Stage 2 (age 11) including the 11+. During the early years the system is used primarily to learn spellings and over the years progressing to learning meanings of words as well.
No, Wordbuilder is a subscription site. Access is not free. A subscription to WordBuilder provides access to all WordBuilder content and allows you to create your own lists and cloze passages. Costs can be seen by clicking costs from the menu on the home page.
Access to WordBuilder content requires a subscription to WordBuilder (access is not free). To subscribe to WordBuilder, you must first register with WordBuilder. You will then receive an email which contains a link to WordBuilder. Click on the link to verify your email address (in case you forget your username or password) and activate your account. Your account will then be activated and you will reach a subscription screen, where you can select a subscription period, complete payment and then gain access to WordBuilder content. If you do not receive the activation email check your junk or spam folders. You can receive a new activation email by attempting to log in to your account.
WordBuilder.co.uk uses Paypal to handle all payments. You do NOT need a Paypal account to use Paypal. You can simply use a credit or debit card if you do not have a Paypal account. If you have difficulty in using the Paypal checkout, please contact us
You do NOT need a Paypal account to check out using Paypal. You can simply enter your credit or debit card details and make a payment. Paypal acts as a credit card merchant. If you encounter difficulty, please contact us.
Yes, simply select the subscription period, and pay at check out. The additional duration purchased is added to your current expiry date.
The 11+ (eleven plus) is a selective entrance examination for grammar schools, undertaken by primary school children who are in year 6, aged 10 or 11 years old, (over 10 years, but under 12 years old) during September to October of the year prior to admission to seconday schools. There are no standard national examinations for secondary schools. The examinations can include Verbal reasoning alone, or also English (comprehension, vocabulary, cloze passages, synonyms and antonyms), Mathematics and Non-verbal reasoning. Results are usually provided during mid to the end of October, before the deadline of secondary school choice applications. Formal offers of places are made during the following March. Most educational authorities discourage intensive tutoring and claim their 11+ exams are tutor-proof, but this should not be believed. Tuition, whether formal or parental will help. Preparation is key and we believe 11+ practice should begin in year 4 and extend to year 5. By the end of year 5 a child should be one year ahead of his age group. As a result WordBuilder is extremely useful for vocabulary building, which is critical for Verbal reasoning, comprehension, cloze passages, synonyms and antonym questions. The following regions administer their own examinations at the begining of year 6:
Cloze passages are useful for 11+ and independent school exam preparation. We believe 11+ preparation should begin during year 4 or 5 and the 11+ is taken at the begining of year 6. Hence, WordBuilder cloze passages are not provided at school years 3 and below. However, parents can create cloze passages for any age group.
WordBuilder Lists are "ready made" Lists created by WordBuilder. My spelling lists are created by typing words yourself. As many words may not be in WordBuilder databases, the lists are only used to learn spellings. If every word within the list is contained within the WordBuilder database, the default WordBuilder voice is used, else the words are pronounced using an American accent.
Since there is no guarantee all words you type will be in the WordBuilder database, words may be missing in non spelling sections (learn words, test meanings and test definitions).
My Word Lists are created by selecting words from the WordBuilder database. This means words are pronounced in a British English accent, and more words will be available in other sections (learn words, test meanings and test definitions). Note: the database is continually updated as word entries are completed. This is a long task, so many words in our database are not primed for testing meanings, definitions, antonyms, or cloze passages. If you have word requests - words to add to our database, or complete on our database, please contact us so we can makes these a priority.
When learning a list you should test meanings/definitions at least 3-5 times. Scores may be low the first couple of attempts. You will often see an improvement in score from as low as 30% to 80% or higher, especially in the 11+ lists. The advantage of WordBuilder is that when one word appears in a list you often learn 4 or 5 words. Other tests can be undertaken1-3 times.
We recommend using the Cloze Passage module in Year 5. However, we have split the Cloze Passage tests across year groups. Start with Year 4 Cloze Tests and progress to higher years. Initially chose to display word lists and progress or even repeat tests displaying clues.
We recommend you work between 20 and 45 minute sessions depending upon age, attention span and time available in one or two sessions a day.
Children learn new words rapidly at a young age. By the end of primary school the rate vocabulary enrichment slows down. Words that are learnt for the 11+ are not too dissimilar to vocabulary used at secondary school. Some people believe the vocabulary of a bright 12-year old is not too far from a child who has just finished secondary school.
WordBuilder recommends the use of Mozilla Firefox. The system is optimised for the latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It may also work on Goggle Chrome, Opera, Android and Apple Safari (although this cannot be guaranteed, as the sound manager ma not be compatible with Apple O/S). All browsers do not adhere to the same standards and thus the the look and feel may be different on different browsers. You cannot currently use Opera to create your own Cloze Passages because it handles spaces in a different manner to other standard browsers. Cloze passage creation involves calculation of spaces in order to create the passage accurately. IE 10 users should click F12 and set Document Mode to IE9 standards. Please ensure cookies are enabled and you allow pop-ups.
WordBuilder is optimised for a screen resolution of at least 1280 x 800. Please adjust your screen resolution by selecting Control Panel -> Adjust screen resolution (under Appearance and Personalization).
Note: all devices cannot support such a resolution, in which case select the highest closest resolution possible. To prevent horizontal scrolling try and pick a minimum resolution of 1024 x 760.
This may happen if you are using Internet Explorer 10.
IE 10 users should click F12 and set Document Mode to IE9 standards. This should resolve the issue.