Hi my son got 336 the lowest score last year was 324 , can I put it as my first option in the list.will he get a seat at first go.

You can put it wherever you want. is it your first choice school, based on the research yo have done, if so put it first on the CAF. If not, don't. It is a first preference system, explained many times on these boards, what you cannot predict is how others will have scored, but if it is the school you want then apply for it and good luck.

_________________
mad?

As explained if it is your first preference put it first otherwise put another option first.The score will be sufficient for a place even though it is unclear what the introduction of pupil premium will have on cut offs.

_________________
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln

Agree that if the school is your first choice you have to complete the la application to say so with a good score like that.

336 should be enough based on last year, but what makes you so sure Quasimodo, to say it "will" be?

My son's score is a little bit higher. We are fairly confident of a place but still not counting the chickens until next March.

The way I see it, the median score is 300. That means about 700 kids scored between 300&395. I don't know the spread of those marks. Also don't know how many of those who scored well will also have applied for a Bham school and will go there. Also don't know how many looked after/pp kids will have scored over the 305 qualifying score.

My advice would be to plan for a place at qmgs as it looks like he did well enough. Still give a bit of thought to your 2nd choice school just in case.


Congrats though - hes clearly a clever boy who worked hard at the exam! Well done to him.

The score is in the top 25 % of all the children taking the exam (23%) this year.The further up the scores you go there are less and less children on those scores.I have been cautious in scores up to 330 for QMGS and at some point you can exercise your judgement based on following events for the last few years.Last years final cut off was 224.I have never seen a 12 point change in cut offs in the Walsall and Birmingham consortium exams looking back many many years.

_________________
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln

Great, can you tell me where you have the information about that spread of results? Have you got that information for previous years also?

IDK how many boys sat the test this year but if you assume circa 1500, then 23% is 345 boys. There are 150 places but some of those will go to pp kids scoring above 305. In that situation there needs to be 200+ boys in that top 23% who opt to go elsewhere for the 23rd percentile to get in. History tells us that should be OK, but with so many variables it's difficult to be certain.

Really interested in how you know that 336 is the 23rd percentile. I can't find any information about how many test applicants or anything about the spread other than top, middle, bottom. Can you share?

https://www.nfer.ac.uk/research/centre- ... ile-ranks/

I have broken 336 down to 112.

https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/advic ... xplanation

_________________
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln

Thanks, first link very informative.

Would still love to know how many applicants to QMGS test!

You might be able to ask the school?

of course not all those who took the exam and got high scores will put it on the CAF

I think I read on here that the head had stated over 1200 were sitting the test, but not sure of exact numbers.