11 Plus Exams Forum

Just to show how unfair the system is, a bright girl in my daughter's class scored 140, 139, 116 and was judged not suitable for grammar school. This is despite having a score that is 35 marks above the pass mark! The head teacher appeal also failed on the grounds that her work in the lowest-scoring subject (Maths) was not up to grammar school standard.... seems mad to me. There are girls who are clearly less able getting assessed suitable when she is not.

My DD also missed out in a similar but less dramatic way, with an aggregate of 365 including a 140 for VR but two scores below the 117 cut-off.

TD

That is madness and shocking the appeal wasnt successful in that case. I hope they appeal. Sorry to hear your news. Particularly frustrating when it went so right in one paper!

So sorry that this has happened. I would say though - that maths is probably one of the most important aspects of the test. This has an impact over other subjects - design and technology, sciences and so on....and if the math isn't as strong as it should be, then it also holds them back in the other subjects that base themselves so much on a sound understanding of maths. With cross curricular dimensions being brought in so much into the schools - it is really important in the 'all roundedness'. I know my son scraped through on the math, and he will need to work alot harder at GS than his older brother who is a natural mathmetician and can grasp all the concepts very quickly.

tired_dad_2008 wrote:Just to show how unfair the system is, a bright girl in my daughter's class scored 140, 139, 116 and was judged not suitable for grammar school. This is despite having a score that is 35 marks above the pass mark! The head teacher appeal also failed on the grounds that her work in the lowest-scoring subject (Maths) was not up to grammar school standard.... seems mad to me. There are girls who are clearly less able getting assessed suitable when she is not.

My DD also missed out in a similar but less dramatic way, with an aggregate of 365 including a 140 for VR but two scores below the 117 cut-off.

TD

This does seem madness, especially when other tests (Medway) have an aggregated score system with no minimum in any area. This can mask a weakness in a particular area.

I have to say that I find the Kent rationale crazy.

In Birmingham a pass score is a pass score irrespective of the constituent VR, NVR or Maths marks.

If you applied the Kent pass criteria to the KE Grammar exams in Birmingham, I'm afraid that the grammar school heads would complain as they would loose quite a few of their future Oxbridge mathematics intake.

Just as well Albert Einstein or Alan Turing didn't have to take the kent 11+ in the 20's and 30's.

tired_dad_2008 wrote:............a bright girl in my daughter's class scored 140, 139, 116 and was judged not suitable for grammar school.......... TD

unbelievable

surely it would be a good case for appeal

That's so unfair. People can be brilliant writers, historians, philosophers or linguists without having the maths. She was only one point short of a pass on the maths paper (pass mark 117) - and full marks/almost full marks on the others. I would definitely appeal, although it's such a long process. I wonder how Shakespeare would have fared?

I think the parents will appeal - although of course they can't do anything for the time being except put a grammar school on their form, knowing that their daughter will be rejected in March and that they will then have to face more months of uncertainty waiting for the appeal to be heard in May/June. Seems like a completely silly outcome. As testbuster says, there are plenty of brilliant humanities students who struggle with maths (but will still end up with an A or B at GCSE Maths) and should surely be accepted and even encouraged at grammar schools.

Not sure whether we will appeal for our own DD. Probably will stick a grammar school on the form and then see how she feels in March about her second choice comprehensive, assuming she receives an offer for that. DD is bright and suitable for grammar but actually the comp (Bennett) is excellent and has setting from Year 7 in all subjects, so she should be stretched and nurtured there.

CanucksintheUK wrote:So sorry that this has happened. I would say though - that maths is probably one of the most important aspects of the test. This has an impact over other subjects - design and technology, sciences and so on....and if the math isn't as strong as it should be, then it also holds them back in the other subjects that base themselves so much on a sound understanding of maths. With cross curricular dimensions being brought in so much into the schools - it is really important in the 'all roundedness'. I know my son scraped through on the math, and he will need to work alot harder at GS than his older brother who is a natural mathmetician and can grasp all the concepts very quickly.

Reasonable comment if say scored 105. But 1 mark below what is a somewhat arbitrarily set minimum "pass" mark ( last year it was 114) does seem to be a bit harsh. That result last year would have been pretty close to a few super selectives after the initial shakedown.