CSB Olympiad Book for Class 4

CREST International Spell Bee - Summer Book (First Chapter) PDF for Class 4 (Free Download):

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Blacksmith, neighbour, receipt, committee: all four sit on the Class 4 Spell Bee (Summer) word list, and all four trip up confident spellers. The Class 4 CSB workbook from CREST is built to catch those slips early. Order the colour PDF or the black and white printed edition from the Olympiad books page. You can read its opening chapter here without paying.

How closely does the book follow the Class 4 paper?

Very closely. The exam has 60 one-mark questions in 60 minutes, and every written section has its own chapter:

1. Spell-o-Spell
2. Word Connection
3. Word Makeup
4. Mingle-Mangle
5. Picture Speak
6. Word Cookie
7. Previous Year Paper
8. Answer Key

Word Connection is the largest written section, with 12 questions on links between words, and Word Makeup has 9 on prefixes, suffixes and compound words. The listening round, Rapid Fire, takes another 20 and is practised with dictation rather than on paper.

A sensible order for working through it

Start with Spell-o-Spell, the free chapter above. It has four worked examples plus 120 practice questions. Two of the examples show the kind of error to catch: insaider should be insider, and grately should be greatly. Halfway through, the wording changes to "Choose the word with incorrect spelling", so a child who reads too fast may slip; the misspelt words to find there include develope, narrater and convayance. Then move to Word Makeup, because the Class 4 suffix heading lists fourteen endings (able, ance, ence, ion and less among them), against five in Class 3. Leave Word Cookie and Mingle-Mangle for days when there is less time.

The previous year paper at the end is worth saving for the final weeks, done in one hour without breaks. Answers are printed after it.

Free help: Spell Bee sample papers for Class 4, and the complete Class 4 CSB syllabus with every heading, Education and Aquatic Life among them.