11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi there, I'm new to the site and just have a few queries/questions that I hope you well informed people can help me with. I live in Kent and my son will be doing both the Kent and the Bexley test in September.

He has just undertaken his 'sats' (I think - NFER?) and from this I have been given three scores and will be told at the end of this week whether the school consider him selective at the parent/teacher interview.

His scores were

Maths 127
VR 106
NVR 105.

Really confused as to how this will place him. His scores for VR and NVR are really low, arent they.

I also need to know which books/papers are best for me to buy in order for him to practice.

Many thanks,
Sparky

I think I would take a particular test taken on a particular day with a pinch of salt .....do you know that they are poor results if you're not sure what tests they are from i.e the total score ? What are his national curriculum levels ? Do you feel he is bright anyway ? My son was told he wouldn't pass the 11 plus and historically had struggled lower down in primary but not only did he pass with a high score he has continued to flourish and I now feel he is definitely grammar material.

I used the Bond books...esp. found the How To Do ...range really helpful , they have 10 minute practice ones and full length papers .Just have a browse through Smiths, Waterstones etc and they have a good selection.

Has he tried VR and NVR before ? If not then they are hard as the children won't have come across anything like this before and coupled with completing them under pressure...

Those look like CATS scores. And they are not really low - the maths one is really high, and the other two are at the very top end of average - if that makes sense.

I think these are CAT (cognitive ability tests) scores rather than SATs. SATs give national curriculum levels as results i.e. Level 4,5 etc. There has been quite a lot of discussion about these and their relevance to the 11plus. One of these is here http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... ts#p243364" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; but there are others too as well as a link to an external page discussing CATs.

I've just realised that this is one of those posts in two places. I have answered on the other one.

Hmmm.Very good multi tasking, UnScary.

Somehow I missed it on "view new posts"!

scary mum wrote:I've just realised that this is one of those posts in two places. I have answered on the other one.

I have merged the two topics so your reply is now on here, scary mum.

My DD never passed the required 120 score for maths throughout her primary years until the actual day of the 11+. It is a risk you take, so I would advise your child to go for it (you have to take risks to achieve anything in life) but to have a good plan B in place if things go wrong and not to build the whole thing up too much. Children have to know that, even with the brightest child, there is a possibility of failure or not getting a high enough mark for the desired grammar school. Good luck!

Lots of reassuring responses. Amber, that's a nice thing to remember too. Also, your child never sits a paper the same as the 11+ paper so you don't know whether they are ever achieving the 120 standardised score in the real thing, now matter how much practice you do. It is not possible to get old real papers, and even if you could, it would be difficult to standardise the result yourself.