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testing in year 7

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:26 am
by sally40
My ds has just started gs and has been told they will be having tests next week and no revision is necessary, is this so that the school can set them which iam thinking is quiete early to be doing this ? I also have heard that this is done a few times over their time at school so as to predict their predicted levels at gcse . could anyone help please . :?

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:36 am
by Chelmsford mum
My daughter, in yr 7 did "surprise" CAT tests.( cognitive aptitude tests) They took the best part of a day and were given without warning so parents didn't try to prep them.
As I understand it, they are like VR type tests.Certainly that's what my daughter thought.
My DD's school doesn't set for anything.You will know from the open evening/ literature if yours does. If they do , it is better for the school to know where they are truly at now all the 11+ prep is over.
I wouldn't worry about baseline type tests or CAT tests.They are mainly for the school to enter a baseline mark as they come in so that they can show how they improve over the years. (called value added)

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:51 pm
by sally40
Thanks cm for your reply my ds has been doing the tests this week, just wondering as they asked for my ds postcode does anyone know if we get the results or does it stay within the school. :?:

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:40 pm
by alexandra6
we live in kent and my daughter's grammar gave us the reults for the Y7 CAT tests with a useful covering letter explaining the results. there were 3 tests here - Verbal, Quantitative and Non verbal. The marks were 'standardised' (similar to the 11+ I think, although one of her marks was 141 and the 11+ highest mark was 140). Then we were told what NPR (National Percentile Ranking) this equated to, i.e. the 141 put her in the top 1% in the country for Verbal, and so on. The school told us this measure alerted them to her potential and put her on their gifted and talented (G and T) register as a result. That was 2 years ago and not much more has been heard of CATs or G and Ts since :shock: except for the G and T's I am drinking increasingly while I await my son's 11+ reult in 2 weeks! Big sis being a hard act to follow - isn't family life fun :D

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:11 pm
by Just1-2go
Both my DC took CATs test in year 7, I understand that this is to set their targets for the coming year.