letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
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Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
Good!MamaBear wrote:Got the letter today!
My I ask what school and where?
I am a little concerned at the different times being offered. Leaks from one session to another (something County were trying to avoid) I have one child sitting at 9 and is finished at 12. I can gather much vocab from that child and pass it on to the child who starts at 2 (I will not on principle - but it can easily be executed)
Patricia
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
Although I would argue that the children starting at 9am have an advantage, having an exam straight after lunch is not exactly the best time. Certainely our dd is performing much better in the morning.
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
Yes, I would be annoyed to be given a 2 pm test time for a 10 year old for a process that will go on for 2 hours or so including instructions etc, particularly when the others are getting the early start. Some children are better in the afternoon - but not so many, and having the morning to wait for it is a killer for the nervous child.
Having said that, I agree with Patricia that it is open to abuse too. Another possibility is that a person who is authorised to be in the morning test room is also a paid tutor (seems to happen here) and feeds some useful info to an afternoon child.
What is the need for it? If the Bucks grammars have agreed on the new test and the new procedure, couldn't they come up with a system where all the children could be tested at the same time?
It also shows up the folly of having a test that is possibly too much influenced by having a good vocabulary. If a child has developed a wide ranging vocabulary through having all the brain that easily does this through listening and reading, well great, that is one useful test of a particular type of intelligence. But if you are child that has for some reason not had the exposure to a wide vocabulary to allow this to happen, or you have had vocabulary crammed into you through Bond books since you were 5 and bribes to play Free Rice every day, what's the big deal of such an overly facile testing idea?
I would suggest that it is terribly cheap and easy to roll out millions of antonym / synonym type questions and demonstrate to purchasing authorities who know no better that they are being sold original questions rather than ones from a bank of more sophisticated well tested questions.
I can see that Bucks was a little strange just having VR in its test. But in fact when you look at GL assessment VR in detail it is not purely VR in the way that an ed psych would define VR. I struggle to see how a lot of the questions are anything to do with VR in fact. It does test some mathematical skills too. So apart from missing out on the spatial awareness type skills, it's probably a far more balanced test than its title would indicate.
Really I am not clear why a lot of areas are trying to change their tests and some are switching to CEM. It seems like a fad. NFER must have a lot of data on which to work through having run their tests on many children in Kent for many years (over 13000 children sit the Kent test each year) and with over 30 grammar schools we must have lots of information to tap within the county as to the strengths and weaknesses of the tests from the point of view of a grammar school. Also the non-selectives will have a lot of information on children who didn't pass the Kent test but have gone on to great things.
Instead of using this information at our disposal to work scientifically on the development of a new and better test, everything just seems to be done on a whim. Politics I guess. I find it unfathomable.
Having said that, I agree with Patricia that it is open to abuse too. Another possibility is that a person who is authorised to be in the morning test room is also a paid tutor (seems to happen here) and feeds some useful info to an afternoon child.
What is the need for it? If the Bucks grammars have agreed on the new test and the new procedure, couldn't they come up with a system where all the children could be tested at the same time?
It also shows up the folly of having a test that is possibly too much influenced by having a good vocabulary. If a child has developed a wide ranging vocabulary through having all the brain that easily does this through listening and reading, well great, that is one useful test of a particular type of intelligence. But if you are child that has for some reason not had the exposure to a wide vocabulary to allow this to happen, or you have had vocabulary crammed into you through Bond books since you were 5 and bribes to play Free Rice every day, what's the big deal of such an overly facile testing idea?
I would suggest that it is terribly cheap and easy to roll out millions of antonym / synonym type questions and demonstrate to purchasing authorities who know no better that they are being sold original questions rather than ones from a bank of more sophisticated well tested questions.
I can see that Bucks was a little strange just having VR in its test. But in fact when you look at GL assessment VR in detail it is not purely VR in the way that an ed psych would define VR. I struggle to see how a lot of the questions are anything to do with VR in fact. It does test some mathematical skills too. So apart from missing out on the spatial awareness type skills, it's probably a far more balanced test than its title would indicate.
Really I am not clear why a lot of areas are trying to change their tests and some are switching to CEM. It seems like a fad. NFER must have a lot of data on which to work through having run their tests on many children in Kent for many years (over 13000 children sit the Kent test each year) and with over 30 grammar schools we must have lots of information to tap within the county as to the strengths and weaknesses of the tests from the point of view of a grammar school. Also the non-selectives will have a lot of information on children who didn't pass the Kent test but have gone on to great things.
Instead of using this information at our disposal to work scientifically on the development of a new and better test, everything just seems to be done on a whim. Politics I guess. I find it unfathomable.
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
Hi Patricia,
Our test is at the Aylesbury Grammar School at 9.45am.
Our test is at the Aylesbury Grammar School at 9.45am.
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
Absolutely. I said the very same to my parent who has been given an afternoon slot.Lea's mum wrote:Although I would argue that the children starting at 9am have an advantage, having an exam straight after lunch is not exactly the best time. Certainely our dd is performing much better in the morning.
There will be a couple of thousand children taking the test in the grammar schools. I would have thought with 13 grammars all having, halls, gyms and large classrooms, the whole cohort of children could have sat the test at 9.30 am the same time as the in county children - making the test fair and not open to abuse.
Patricia
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
It is a school day so presumably they have to work round a timetable.
However, having changed to avoid 'the potential to cheat' it seems madness not to have everyone taking the test at the same time.
However, having changed to avoid 'the potential to cheat' it seems madness not to have everyone taking the test at the same time.
Last edited by Guest55 on Wed Aug 28, 2013 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
Yes it does seem silly. Late sittings are also possible for people who register late. And what about sickness?
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
Can anything be done about it?
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
I wish we could do something. I thought about calling Bucks, but I don't see what we would gain from it.
Re: letter from Bucks Council re prep and transfer test
Oh I guess a few heads will have wanted to change things and they'll all kind of agreed, but then when push comes to shove they realise they have to work round a school timetable to make it happen - which was I guess why Saturday test centres were devised in the first place. If these academy grammars all did their own test they'd have to think about the logistics a bit more though, so it's not entirely fair if they are all playing the "got to work around the timetable" card. Presumably all these late letters are because it's taking the grammars ages to work out how many they can fit in their halls and gyms and when. Or does Bucks have too many out of county candidates to test in one morning sitting even if every grammar school offers up a gym or sports hall?
Guess you will have mitigating circumstances at appeal if your child falls asleep at the usual home time of 3:15 and you can point out that it wasn't a fair test as the test conditions were not the same for everyone. Perhaps you should write and request a morning test time so that your child is tested under the same conditions as other Bucks children and keep a copy of the reply letter which refuses your request.
Guess you will have mitigating circumstances at appeal if your child falls asleep at the usual home time of 3:15 and you can point out that it wasn't a fair test as the test conditions were not the same for everyone. Perhaps you should write and request a morning test time so that your child is tested under the same conditions as other Bucks children and keep a copy of the reply letter which refuses your request.
