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Was the exam easier this year? Stiffer comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:00 am
by HappyRobot
Five boys at my ds school have over 235 this year and the same number of girls.

This concerns me as I know they are bright, but is this normal? Do indi schools get this as normal or do we just have a bright year for our school?

My main question is are there lots more of these kids around with high scores fighting for the limited places?

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiff comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:25 am
by Okanagan
HappyRobot wrote:Five boys at my ds state school have over 235 this year and the same number of girls.

This concerns me as I know they are bright, but is this normal? Do indi schools get this as normal and we just have a bright year for our state school?

My main question is are there lots more of these kids around with high scores fighting for the limited places?
As it is standardised against the cohort taking it then the average will always be 200, and the distribution of scores approximately equal. So there should be a similar proportion of candidates scoring over 235 each year. However the absolute standard to get 235 could change if a higher proportion of children enter the exam. The closer you get to measuring it against a whole population, the lower the standard needed to get 235 (or any other score for that matter). So more candidates overall (assuming that the average standard of the additional candidates was lower than that of the original group) would mean higher scores for those at the top end of the original group.

Sorry - theoretical answer only, as we don't know about any change in candidate numbers!

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiff comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:28 am
by mike1880
Ot to put it another way, it's just a bright year group at your school.

Mike

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiff comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:30 am
by nervousmom
Happy, this school sounds great, can you reveal the name?

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiff comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 12:05 pm
by HappyRobot
nervousmom wrote:Happy, this school sounds great, can you reveal the name?
don't feel comfortable spilling the name...sorry

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiff comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:00 pm
by HappyRobot
Okanagan wrote:
HappyRobot wrote:

Sorry - theoretical answer only, as we don't know about any change in candidate numbers!
I believe there were 500 more applicants this year and 4600 in total.

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiff comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:04 pm
by Okanagan
HappyRobot wrote:
Okanagan wrote:
HappyRobot wrote:

Sorry - theoretical answer only, as we don't know about any change in candidate numbers!
I believe there were 500 more applicants this year and 4600 in total.
possible that same standard = higher score then. Which in turn means that the extra candidates wouldn't necessarily mean it is harder to get in even if the actual score required varies (dependent upon the average standard of the extras).

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiffer comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:09 pm
by nervousmom
Happy no worries about name spilling.

I don't think our school even knew the exams were going on or that the results are out.

I think 7 in total took exams. We know that 2 scored under QS, the girlthatbtook warks said she didn't have her results, we can only assume she didn't do very well, but we will never know for sure as DS won't be asking again.

Happy. - have you decided on a school yet?

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiffer comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:42 pm
by UmSusu
Nervousmum are you sure your name isn't noseymum :wink: :D

Happy robot, as the scores are standardised it is difficult to make assumptions about the level of difficulty of the exam. As okanagan mentions, we can take into account the extra numbers and their possible effect on the overall score but we still would not know whether these extra numbers have an increasing, decreasing or representative effect.

The other factor is that this is the first time we actually know our scores before the form and I wonder how much of an effect this will have on the schools that take most of the top scoring candidates : previously we really did have to put them in order of preference ( taking into account what we already knew about the order of last-score-in from previous years). This year, I have noticed that several people who achieved top scores and had suggested that either FW or Warks schools would be higher preferences are now wondering if they should give up a chance at CH for example. We won't know the effect of this until 1st March.

Wrt a lot of high scores this year, I think it is most likely that you have a bright bunch in your year. I would say the same about the kids in DS2 year - they have had maybe 6 children scoring between 240-260. Another 2 in the 230s and another 4 or 5 score less than this but enough to get into one of the grammars. I do find this odd as traditionally they only ever send 4 or 5 to a grammar each year (usually CH). This year it seems they will be sending about a quarter of the pupils to grammars! So I must say I am confused myself as to scoring system. I certainly wouldn't say the exam was easier as we all saw their stunned faces of most of the children that left exam as they tried to break out a smile to their parents! All the children I know found certain parts harder than others but none of them said it was easy.

UmSusu

Re: Was the exam easier this year? Stiffer comp for places?

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:56 pm
by nervousmom
Perhaps I will change to noseymum :lol:

I am not as clued up on all this as others but I see it as a case of swings and roundabouts.

In the past you would have to apply not knowing your score, so some people would apply for CH anyway and hope for the best and others FW if they didn't think DC would make the cut for CH.

This time people know their scores, so some of those who would have put CH before may have to put FW as first choice and others who would have put FW may now put CH.

So I can't see how this will effect the QS because as I say swings and roundabouts. Or am I missing something obvious?