11 Plus Exams Forum

Could anyone please tell me what percentage of children in Buckinghamshire get 3 x Level 5s in their KS2s?

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered before, as I suspect it might have been, but I can’t find the information anywhere.

Rob

It was discussed here (but I don't know how up to date this would be now):
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... hree#74380

Thanks Etienne.

I was just interested because at our appeal hearing when we said DD was predicted 3 x Level 5s (which she has since achieved), the chair said rather dismissively: “That’s the least I would expect from someone hoping to go to GS.â€

It's true, Rob, that panels do usually expect a prediction of three 5s minimum. The vast majority of children going to appeal are being predicted three 5s, but less than 40% of appeals are upheld (a generous figure in comparison with other selective authorities).

You have to bear in mind that (a) at the time, these are only predictions, and (b) the correlation between curriculum tests and 11+ performance is at best imprecise.

Etienne,

Yes I do understand that and on one level I accept it, but I don't think the chair of an appeals panel should be saying it right at the start of an appeal - it smacks of a preconceived bias which they should not have, and which is contrary to the guidelines.

Also in our particular case a large part of our argument was based on the fact that given DD's medical condition her SATs (and classwork, reading age etc) were a better judge of her true ability than a one-off CAT or 11+ paper. In front of a chair who was so sniffily dismissive of SATs, that was clearly going to be a hard case to make.

[quote]“That’s the least I would expect from someone hoping to go to GS.â€

I thought at the time it was a rather strange remark – even more so now I know that in Bucks a larger percentage of children pass the 11+ than get 3 x 5s.

I don't think the comment above is true - in our school about half the class achieved three level 5's but only about a quarter of the class achieved the qualifying mark (or were successful in appeal) in the 11+ exam. About half a dozen of the class who will be going to the local secondary school have 3 level 5's.

DS didn't get 3x level 5 but passed 11+. He is very biased towards logic and mathematical problems (perfect Bucks 11+ child) but struggles with his written English - so in regions with individual papers for Maths, English and VR he would have struggled.

Incidentally - his Reading level is 5 but Writing 4 so overall English level achieved is 4. Does this mean that more emphasis is given to the Writing tasks so the lower grade in this aspect counts, or are the marks for both tasks averaged giving a level 4?

Hi Andyb

I believe they add the writing and reading scores together.

My DS sounds similar to yours - he isn't that great at English much stronger at Maths and Science. He achieved a 4 in reading and somehow a 5 in writing. His overall level was given as 5.

This link sets out the thresholds.

http://testsandexams.qca.org.uk/18988.aspx

For info: Based on that previous thread noted by Etienne, I had concluded within that thread that 25%-27% of Bucks children achieved three Level 5's.