Year 5 Cat test results

Pepsi · Post by **Pepsi** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:24 pm

Can anyone tell me if the Year 5 cat test reslts are a true indicator of how your child will fare in the real 11+ exam? As we are out of area we need our DS to gain a very high score in the real test to ensure that he gains a place. He scored vr 129, nvr 141 and quant 133 which gives him a cumulative total of 403. This is not enough for the grammar schools that we would like to consider and are wondering if it is realistic to expect that he can improve his score in the next six months. Are there any parents of boys out there who have had similar cat score marks in year 5 and then got an 11+ score of over 410? It would be great to hear some positive news to spur us on!!!

sherry_d · Post by **sherry_d** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:33 pm

Those are VERY high scores. With those scores I will be grinning. Over 127 means your son is in the top 4% of his age group in the country.

Anything above 120 is a definate go (according to what I have been told) but like anything the test are not conclusive. 110 -120 is give it a try and under that means you need to put quite a bit of work

This explains more on cats percentiles
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:L5 ... clnk&gl=uk

Saying that I have seen some forum members whose kids had pretty low scores below 110 and they worked hard in those areas and these kids went on to achieve really HIGH scores (almost full marks) in the 11+ . So that shows even though cats can be an indicator, its not a guarantee to anything.

In short you may not need much preparation but there is a certain amount you still have to do to get the techniques. There is still time until september if you start working with you DC now. As for your scores, those are very high but if you are aiming for superselectives then bear in mind your child will be competing with those of similar intelligence or higher or those highly tutored or coached for the exam

Judd took boys from about 415 while skinners took from about 410. I am not sure if you do know that 420 does not mean they got everything right.

Roughly the child need to have scored around 75% to 80% to get the full marks of 120

neurotic kent mum · Post by **neurotic kent mum** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:41 pm

Nothing is guaranteed. Can expect them to do brilliantly and they won't. Can expect them not to and they will. Ultimately your predictions are really good but there are no positives in this! Rather negative thoughts really but found it easiest with the second to realise that it could go wrong. Depends on the day!

Pepsi · Post by **Pepsi** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:19 am

Thankyou both for your comments. We will carry on working hard!!

Milla · Post by **Milla** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:31 am

have said this elsewhere before but ... DS1 got 131 and got into grammar - no catchments, no siblings but not the top academic one in the region. DS2 got 114 in his and got a rather high mark to our super selective, Pate's. True, they are an indicator but not the only thing. However, yours sound extremely good!! (we didn't get a breakdown just the one mark)

Squiddly · Post by **Squiddly** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:27 pm

My DS got very similar marks in his CATs and 413 in his 11+. The CATS are the nearest thing to the 11+. But it all depends on the day. My DS had consistently been very strong at NVR (135 in Cats, 90%+ on level 5 bond and 90 - 95% on all test papers) but on the day he didn't do as well as expected, NVR 133 (raw score of 64%!). 413 isn't enough for Judd this year. Fortunately, my DS is going to St O. javascript:emoticon(':D')

Blue Peter · Post by **Blue Peter** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:08 pm

Milla - that dancing baby is REALLY CREEPY!!!