11+ score

Eleven Plus (11+) in Buckinghamshire (Bucks)

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BLANCA
Posts: 144
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:58 pm

11+ score

Post by BLANCA »

Reading through Bucks CC info it says that papers are given a score of between 69 & 141. How does that work? I'm worried as dd is October b'day. Does that mean they can take off up to 11 marks for age?

thanks
willow
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Post by willow »

I had exactly the same problem last year when my daughter sat the bucks 11 plus . I'm not sure if this will be of any help to you but her average score on 8 bright sparks was 90%. (I've got the score of all the papers she did if you want them) In a practice paper standardised by the school she got 90% correct which they gave a score of 119. Her final scores were 129 and 123. Interestingly, on the second paper she was 11, as she had her birthday in between the two test dates. Although, she did say she personally found the second paper a bit harder than the first.

My younger daughter is taking it this October, but she is August born. It looks like 90% ish is the aim for the the older children in the year group. I am not sure how the standardisation will effect my younger child though.

I hope this info helps a bit.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

The Bucks 11+ is standardised by looking at the average score /80 for each age band (a month in age). Basically your child's score is compared to the average of their age in months - older children tend to score more highly so this is 'balanced' to make sure all children have a fair chance.

It is complicated -
BLANCA
Posts: 144
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:58 pm

Post by BLANCA »

thanks willow & Guest55

I really thought 90% would be a "good pass" but from what you have said willow dd will be 11 before test so will be lucky to scrape through.

this feels like it is almost impossible, so for her to get a good pass she would only be able to get a couple of questions wrong & there is always going to be the chance of a silly mistake here and there. If your marked down for age how could a sep/oct b'day ever get 141. ( I'm not pushing for that a pass will be great), but it just seems so hard!
willow
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Post by willow »

You are right in that it does seem very hard, it was a stressful time. Don't be disheartened though, it may have been that the October cohort performed very well last year, so possibly children of her age scored higher. We have to bear in mind the actual raw score pass mark probably changes a bit each year, so one year 69/80 would equate to 121 but another year it could be 71/80 (just for example). Interestingly, there were only 3 other children in DD school that passed and they were all summer born.

Also from what I've read about standardisation methodology, an older child will have more points taken off than a younger child for the same amount of questions wrong. If that makes sense.

Out of interest, if you dont mind, what practice papers have you used so far??? We are finding vocabulary the biggest obstacle again!!!
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

School standardisation is misleading as they have no idea how it's really done!

Patricia [very experineced tutor] reckons you need 86% to qualify - so aiming for 90% on practice papers ie. 72/80 is sound.

Of course the 121 is 'manipulated' each year to make sure there are enough places ... the new Y6 cohort is not too big so it should not affect the standard [unlike the 2005 entry cohort which was unusually large and meant pupils had to score higher raw scores to qualify]
BLANCA
Posts: 144
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:58 pm

Post by BLANCA »

Thanks Guest55

I feel a tiny bit better now!

Willow you must have nerves of steel to go through all this twice!! We started with ips then tutors then bright sparks and we are going to move onto nfr after we have completed test sent by bucks CC as we are out of county dd will not cover this at school. I recently got an electronic dictionary for dd and she is really enjoying using it where before she hated stopping to look up words, so i'd say that has been a big help with vocab. I also got the maths training for ds and ask her to do a bit every day just to keep basic maths fresh in her mind over the holidays. Have you seen Patricias sticky on home tutoring? really has been great.
willow
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Post by willow »

Thankyou guest55 for info. about the size of the cohort. I had been trying to research this recently but to no avail. At least cohort size is one less thing to worry about. As for Bucks standardisation,yes, it appears to be one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world!!!!

Blanca, believe me my nerves are fraying and will continue to do so no doubt!!!! Patricias advice is very helpful, as are the vocab lists she put together. We are working through those at the moment. We have done the IPS, tutors and are now working on Bright sparks. Although over the next couple of weeks I thought we'd focus on vocab, as she's averaging about 65/80 at the moment because not knowing what some words mean out of context. Problem is I find if DD has more than a week between between papers her timing goes to pot!!!

DD has not done the familiarisation papers in school yet, I am assuming they do them after the holidays.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

Schools vary about when they do the practice papers - note that pupils should be allowed to bring them home either marked or send home with the answers.

I understand that parts of the Bucks website are off-line at the moment -
willow
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Post by willow »

You are right Guest 55 about Bucks website being down at the moment. It happens quite frequently.

Interestingly last year, all of the familarisation in school was done before the summer holidays. This year they did the method teaching before the holidays (which was less than impressive) and must be doing practice papers after. This was quite disastrous though, the teacher teaching the children the methods kept getting the wrong answers, and all the children ended up confused and none the wiser. This particular primary is quite openly anti-11 plus. In fact the week before the 1st exam date last year the children were given a large project to do as homework. The dead line being just before test!!
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