CATs Tests

Demon Pixie · Post by **Demon Pixie** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:20 pm

Does anyone know whether these tests are administered in London state schools?

I know some do - you would have to check with the school to be sure.

happyqueen · Post by **happyqueen** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:31 pm

Thanks Demon Pixie. Will ask HT.

Amber · Post by **Amber** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:36 pm

Only wanted to say so sorry about the (furry) cat, Perplexed. That is horrid. I am looking at a dying chicken which we have only had a month, but lost 2 very old cats last year - ghastly. Sympathies, and sorry if this is too off topic, but important all the same.

Perplexed 2009 · Post by **Perplexed 2009** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:47 pm

Thanks Amber, DD1 is off today in floods of tears, DD2 is more angry and has plodded to school.
Good luck with the chicken.

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:33 pm

I just wanted to mention that I did get the information I needed on this subject.

Many thanks to the Forum member who provided it - you know who you are, and you know how important the information was.

Thank you to everyone else who offered help.

Sally-Anne

slackmum · Post by **slackmum** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:05 pm

Our school did CATs in year 5, they did not tell me they had sat them or the results. I found out by accident from another parent months later, would have been useful to know!

sherry_d · Post by **sherry_d** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:16 pm

How useful are the cats in predicting or preparing for the 11+?

I vaguely remember my DD teacher mentioning them last september (start of yr5) but I had no clue what they were so dont recall anything

I am am in 2 minds about it now, if I should find out what she scored or I should just let that lie and concentrate on our preparation. I am thinking if she scored low then it could demotivate me a bit but then again I could put in more work in preparation. If its high then I may chill out and relax

slackmum · Post by **slackmum** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:07 am

Personally I believe all information is power. I recall reading somewhere (maybe on this site) that the concensus is 110-125 try for the eleven plus anything over 125 is within the comfort zone, in theory (with the correct preparation of course).

Tolstoy · Post by **Tolstoy** » Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:13 pm

How useful are the cats in predicting or preparing for the 11+?

If you decide to get them you need to get each individual score. I was told that my son was in the top percentile but it has now transpired that this was just for NVR. Unfortunately our 11+ doesn't have a NVR test just two VR's.

Importantly even though his VR was a very respectable, well above average, he didn't score as highly in the actual 11+ tests. I think the tutoring aspect has a strong impact.

More importantly his brother who across the board had lower scores in his CATs, scored much higher in the actual 11+. Despite having mild dyslexia he has always had a higher reading age than his brother. He reads a lot.

So get the scores by all means as good ones will help should you need to appeal but don't rely on them too much either way unless they are low and then an academic school is obviously not the right school for your child.

Milla · Post by **Milla** » Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:45 pm

Tolstoy wrote:[More importantly his brother who across the board had lower scores in his CATs, scored much higher in the actual 11+.

Exactly the same with my boys. The son who got 131 in his CAT did OK but not stellar in his 11+ (he's there now but there was the twilight zone wait as he'd only passed by 17 or 18 marks and you never know if that's going to be enough) whereas his bro, DS2, on 114 got a very safe pass to a higher-scoring grammar.