KS 3 Sats

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Guest101

KS 3 Sats

Post by Guest101 »

Hi

Have tried to post to 11+ and beyond but additional post are closed at the moment.

Can anyone advise me, my son is in year 9 at a Bucks Upper school, doing very well, and he has just been asked if he wants to take the higher paper in Maths, I beleive its the 6-8 level instead of 5-7 level.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

It would involve extra classes after school to be taught the extra level. Which being a teenage boy he is not keen on!

Guest 101
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

Quite a few Uppers offer this - most Upper schools got some level 8s in 2006 - a couple of schools got more than 10!
Guest101

Post by Guest101 »

It seems to be most of the class that have been invited to the extra classes, he is in the top set. Presumably a decision will be made nearer the time.

He is currently working at a level 7, so I would guess that he is likely to get the 7 in the 5-7 paper. I presume that level 8 is not taught as matter of course in Upper school, but maybe in Gramnmar Schools.

We are also waiting to hear if he will have a scribe, he has been assessed recently as he has dyslexia/dyspraxia, and had a scribe in Year 6 for KS2 tests.

He does not work well under pressure, if fact we opted out of the 11 plus, and choose our local Upper School, lucky for us it is a very good one.
Bo Peep
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:04 am

Post by Bo Peep »

When my eldest did his SAT's his teacher said he was a borderline level 8 and would like him to attempt the 6 - 8 paper BUT wanted to warn him (and us) that if he took the level 5 - 7 paper he would achieve a predictable solid level 7 but the risk to be considered was that if he took the higher paper he could potentially end up with a shaky level 6!

My son is one of the few in his class who does not have extra tutoring, but he decided to take the 6 - 8 paper and put in the extra work at home, doing past papers provided by the school. He wanted to get 7, 7, 8 in his SAT's and this was his personal motivation. When he took the test he managed to score a high 8 and was pleased he'd put in the extra effort and hard work. His maths benefitted from it hugely and it was a big plus to his confidence.
Guest101

Post by Guest101 »

That was one of my concerns, yesterday I thought it was an extension paper just for level 8, but have researched on the net today I see that it is a choice of 5-7 or 6-8.

If he did not do so well in the 6-8 maybe he would come out with a level 6.

We have a parents evening week after next when hopefully there will be a clearer picture having done a couple of the extra classes.

He got 4a in year 6, so he's done pretty well to get to level 7 anyway.

Thanks for your help.
Catherine
Posts: 1348
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2005 4:47 pm
Location: Berks,Bucks

Post by Catherine »

The SATS scores are not hugely important as for a child future, but as Bo Beep said, the extra practice can only benefit his maths and it will give him a head start at GCSE level.
Guest101

Post by Guest101 »

Hi

My son came home from school today saying that he finished the level 7 work in class today and so the teacher gave them level 8 work, seemed really pleased. So that probably answers my originnal question.

I think his gripe is not doing level 8 work but that it has to be extra ciricular.

More of a worry is whether he will get a level 5 in English, which is his problem area, he is predicted to hopefully get level 5, beyond that my hope is that he will get a GCSE in English, but its going to be hard work.

Any suggestions, I have applied for some past English papers to look at?
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

In the 6 to 8 paper you need approx 100/150 to get a level 8 ie about 66%. You certainly don't need to answer all questions!

2006 mark boundaries:

5 to 7 papers
Level Mark range
N 0-25
4 26-31
5 32-53
6 54-86
7 87-151

Tier 6-8
Level Mark range
N 0-32
5 33-38
6 39-60
7 61-98
8 99-150


So grade boundaries are different - the questions overlap - same ones on each paper -

Go for it!
Guest

KS3 SATs

Post by Guest »

Agree that you need approx. 100/150 from the 3 papers. Paper 1 [non-calculator] has 60/61 marks, likewise Paper 2 [the calculator paper] and the mental arithmetic [A or B] 30 marks. There are key topics which at level 7 you should be secure on and there are certainly level 8 topics that can be taught prior to the SATs. You do not have to cover all the level 8 topics to be awarded a level 8. We regularly have pupils in our top set of a non-selective comprehensive school gaining level 8 [BTW we are not in a grammar school region]
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