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Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 5:55 pm
by crazycrofter
Hi, just out of interest, for children who are at grammar schools (year 7 and above), can you remember your child's SATs levels in year 5? I'm guessing they need to be old level 5 at the end of year 5 to be in with a chance?

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 7:34 pm
by adhdad
Hi Crazycrofter, my ds was high 5's in maths and english towards the end of year 5 if that helps.

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 7:49 pm
by Petitpois
I think 4a would be ball park start of year. My DD is heading towards level 6 but I would say she was 5b towards end year 5.

They'll be doing scaled scores for the first time this year , no Age standardisation. That will be interesting.

4b at end of year 6 would be no good in my view

PP

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:40 pm
by DMC1
I think the exam info said previously by the time you sit the exam you need to be level 5 to be in with a chance of getting a score capable of admission

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:06 pm
by MSD
If a child is working on level 5 or level 6 SATS in Year 5, that doesn't necessarily mean they will end up doing well in 11+. Yes, it tells us that the child is quite capable, but SATS and 11+ are testing two different things. 70% of VR is vocab in 11+, but that's not the case with SATS and there is no writing element in 11+ either. SATS isn't time pressured and 11+ is. The type of Maths tested is quite different and you have no NVR in SATS.

I personally wouldn't look at child's performance or levels in SATS to decide whether they should be put forward for 11+.

I would be interested to see some experiments, where you have a range of level 6 SATS children, sitting the Birmingham CEM test with no training whatsoever. I really think vast majority might struggle to make the cut-off score.

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:34 pm
by booellesmum
DD1,now year 10 - English 5, Maths 5, Science 4. Don't know what score she got but offered Scgsg as first choice on offers day.

DD2, year 7 - Level 5's with teacher assessment 6 for English. Scored 213, offered from wait list.

I don't feel the SATs were relevant to the CEM test at all and would advise not being complacent even if child is Level 6 across the board!

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:10 pm
by nervousmom
The sats have changed this year and there are no longer level 6 - DD teachers are very annoyed about this.

Both my DS (year 9 FW) and my DD (soon to be year 7 at FW) were high level 5 at the end of year 5.

Both scored 237 in 11+!

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:21 pm
by gingerly67
Agree totally with MSD - NC work is quite different, especially English. I got very het up about levels as my DS had only just scraped level 5 in reading and writing by the end of Y5 (5c). However, I felt he was strong in the elements of English that matter for CEM, i.e. vocab and comprehension. Most importantly he was well practised in CEM question types and good at working at speed. Not at GS yet but scored 250 in this year's test, roughly equal marks for maths and VR. Definitely don't be put off if your DC, in their school's opinion, isn't at this or that NC level (or whatever today's equivalent is) - there could be lots of reasons for that, not necessarily anything to do with their aptitude for GS or likelihood of doing well in a CEM test.

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:41 pm
by koala
Interesting discussion from some years ago on SATS levels and grammar school, particularly the post from fm.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... hg#p241575" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Old SATS levels in year 5

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 10:24 am
by crazycrofter
Thanks for all the anecdotal evidence! Dd who's in year 7 at KEHS says she was 5b in Maths and reading at the end of year 5. I'm finding it hard to judge where ds (year 5) is at as he's been home educated since the summer term of year 4 and year 4 was a wasted year anyway, with constant supply teachers.

We've always viewed him as less academic than dd and less of an all-rounder (he's strong in Maths) but we may be doing him a disservice. He's an August birthday too. I gave him two old Maths SATs papers last week and he got level 5 on both the reading and Maths tests. I guess at least I know that he's not totally unsuitable for the 11 plus. Lots of work to do though, especially on the speed aspect!