AGGS total marks, no of question

[aharris]

Hello,

I know it is a silly question so don't discourage me.
I am new in this forum and would be glad if anyone tell me about the following regarding Altringham grammar school entrance exam:
Total number of question,marks and time in each subject e.g;VR,NVR,MATH

thanks

kind regards

AHarris

[TraffordMum]

No question is a silly question, AHarris. Welcome to the forum.

Traditionally, the AGGS exam has consisted of a 50 minute Maths exam, a 50 minute VR exam and a 2 x 10 mins NVR exam. I note that the AGGS website doesn't specifically state this, though, for 2012 entry. I don't have a daughter sitting the exam this year so have no direct information for this year's exam.

I would recommend calling the Admissions department at the school and asking your question of them. They will be able to confirm the above info and let you know in what order the exams are taken and, presumably, the number of questions. They are very friendly and very helpful.

I note from your other post that you are in Fallowfield and already aware that AGGS doesn't admit on score, but on distance from the school. I just want to caution you not to assume, because a girl has been admitted from Fallowfield this year, that that will always be the case. Make sure you have a good back up!

[TIDDLYMUM]

Hi

The open evening is 23 June. I am sure it would be in your interests to attend. We went to the boys one the year before my son sat the exam and found it very useful, as we like yourself were well out of catchment in Stockport, however score is the factor for the boys. We didn't know anything about the school till then as we didn't know anyone who had attended.

I was very surprised that they went down to the 30's on the waiting list this year as I wouldn't have expected that many to turn down a place. The boys out of area pass mark went up a few points this year to 355.

Good luck.

[aharris]

Hello Traffordmum and Tiddlymum,

Thank you so much for both of yours' helpful guidance.

Yes Traffordmum, I am living in fallowfield area but would probably move towards West didsbury that needs to work out where I could move if so.

From this forum I understand out of catchment qualifying score was around 351-355 for AGGS. So, I was trying to understand what was the total marks, I assumed 450 i.e; 150x3 papers. so, if total mark is 450 then they must get 78-79% but if it is 400 then it stands at 88-89%. i could not find anything on school website regarding this, as one of you already mentioned.

Could anyone clarify the total marks?

I am hoping to attend the open evening and certainly learn more.

Thanks to the moderator who started this forum which I found incredibly useful and people in this forum are really great.

Kind regards

AHarris

[TIDDLYMUM]

The boys website has a presentation on how the marks are calculated- see below. I assume the girls would be similar. Its a bit complicated and of course there is age standardisation. I am sure the school would explain though.


http://www.agsb.co.uk/doclib/2011_Parent_Informaiton_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



In terms of moving house- the girls school has an 8 mile catchment where you would get in with the bare pass mark and a bit of luck with places. I am not sure where W Didsbury would be in terms of miles but in any case would be closer than Fallowfield. For example from AGGS to Southern Cemetery is 5 miles on Google Maps directions, so I imagine round there would be ok?

[TraffordMum]

From this forum I understand out of catchment qualifying score was around 351-355 for AGGS.

That's not right. If we were talking about a boy and Altrincham Boys' Grammar School then you would be on the right lines. This is because Alty Boys, after admitting boys from a small catchment area whatever their mark, then allots the rest of its places to boys outside the catchment area on a highest score first basis. Hence why each year there is an out of catchment qualifying score in the range of 351-355.

However, you are looking at Altrincham Girls' Grammar. Alty Girls has a different admissions procedure. It has a much wider catchment area of 8 miles. All a girl has to do is pass the exam. It does not matter what score she gets*. The school first allots places to girls in catchment who have sisters already at the school, then to girls in catchment on the basis of how far they live from the school. Someone living 1 mile from the school will get in before a girl living 3 miles from the school. If there are places left after all qualified girls in catchment have been given places, the next category of girls admitted are those outside catchment with sisters already at the school. Only then will girls without sisters who live out of catchment be allotted places, in order of how close they are to the school.

* The only time score comes into Alty Girls is if there were two girls who tied for the last allotted place in terms of distance from the school. Let's imagine twins, one who scored 335 and one who scored 334. The twin scoring 335 would get the offer of the last place.

So, I was trying to understand what was the total marks, I assumed 450 i.e; 150x3 papers. so, if total mark is 450 then they must get 78-79% but if it is 400 then it stands at 88-89%. i could not find anything on school website regarding this, as one of you already mentioned.

Could anyone clarify the total marks?

This is where things get complicated. Each of the three papers counts for a third of the total score (even though the NVR is only 20 mins and the other papers are 50 mins each). Say the VR paper consists of 80 questions, each girl will get a score out of 80. This is called the raw score. Once all the scores are known they are standardised. In really simple terms this means that they are all compared with each other and adjustments are made to the scores to take into account the relative age of the girls taking the exam. Generally the younger girls taking the exam will be given an extra few marks. The raw scores are then converted into standardised scores. Again, in simplistic terms, a girl who achieved an average raw score might be given a standardised score of 100. A girl who achieved 76/80 which was the top mark in the paper might be given a standardised score of 141 (which is the highest standardised score achievable in this exam). Therefore, the girl will get an overall total score which is made up of 3 x standardised scores (from Maths, VR and NVR). The maximum mark is 423 (141+141+141). The pass mark is 334 (an average of 112+111+111).

The difficulty with this in terms of assessing your daughter's progress in practice papers is that you can't directly correlate the raw scores gained in them with the standardised scores achieved in the actual exams. (You never find out the raw scores gained in the exams - only the standardised scores.) For example, the maths paper might be really hard and your daughter might score only 55% in it. Yet, if all other girls score less your daughter would probably still get a standardised score of 141. Clear as mud?

I am hoping to attend the open evening and certainly learn more.

This is a really good idea. The headteacher usually holds a couple of talks during the evening in which she explains the process and there are always people around who will answer questions.

I am living in fallowfield area but would probably move towards West didsbury that needs to work out where I could move if so.

One question you could usefully ask at the open evening (if not before) is how far out in distance the last girl admitted in each of the last 3 years. This would give you some feel for where you might be safe to move to. However, I would counsel you that just because Didsbury makes it one year, doesn't mean it will the next.

Good luck!

[aharris]

Thanks Traffordmum to rectify me about 'out of catchment' qualifying score and and for your detailed posting. Alty Girls School has a bigger catchment so probably they do not need to go for out of catchment, is it the case? I know I should raise the question on open day 'what was the furthest distance to offer a place in the last 3 years or so?' Can anybody give some information about this please.

I do not want to pass any pressure to my kid rather I would take the pain-thats all parents do. So, moving from fallowfield to other area is one option to consider.

I would request you if you please took the pain to PM me information regarding mock test plus tutor, if you have any.

I looked at the presentation by alty boys school as forwarded by Tiddlymum and was helpful to understand how marks are calculated, and I am assuming the process is the same for alty girls school. Although it is difficult to correlate raw score and standardized score, looking at the past years statistics would help to get some good idea about where I stand on.

[TraffordMum]

The girls standardise on a very similar basis to the boys, yes.

If it helps, when my daughters were doing the GL Assessment papers as practice they were getting over 90% for VR, and between 80-90% on Maths and NVR. They passed fine. However, other things come into play on the day - nerves, whether kids are thrown by unusual questions, distractions in the room etc.

I am trying to remember what the admissions procedure was when my younger daughter (now Y8) took the exam. For the 2012, 2011 and 2010 (current Y7) intake, the 8 mile boundary was brought in. Therefore, when you ask the question at the Open Evening about where the last girl lives, make sure you ask for 2010 and 2011 data, because for prior years the allocation was different - not very different, but different.

For what it is worth (and neither of my daughters were admitted under the current procedure) they have girls in their classes who come from Warrington, south of Knutsford, Stockport, Burnage and Salford. There are certainly several girls in each year who come from the Didsbury area.

Re mock exams, I suggest you PM those posters who claim to have information rather than waiting for them to PM you. They should get a notification via email that they have a PM which is more likely to elicit a response than relying on them to notice your post. I don't have any specific info at this point.

[aharris]

Traffordmum:
Thats' helpful. Thanks