Maths/English scoring

Eleven Plus (11+) in Essex

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kg309
Posts: 48
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2012 10:13 pm

Maths/English scoring

Post by kg309 »

any idea of minimum scores for each paper? DD is doing well in the english, not so well in the maths and was wondering if the english will bump the maths up.

thanks x
ToadMum
Posts: 11945
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Maths/English scoring

Post by ToadMum »

kg309 wrote:any idea of minimum scores for each paper? DD is doing well in the english, not so well in the maths and was wondering if the english will bump the maths up.

thanks x
Unless it changes for this year, there is no minimum raw score to be achieved per se so yes, a relatively low score in one can be compensated for by a very good score in the other. However, how the raw scores on each paper translate into your child's standardised score depends on the average raw score and standard deviation. If your child gets a good raw score on a paper which candidates generally found hard, then their standardised score for that paper will be good and may compensate for a score on the other paper nearer to the average. Unfortunately, if they score poorly on a paper which was generally found to be easy, this may not be compensated for by a good score on the other paper.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
voyagers
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:44 am

Re: Maths/English scoring

Post by voyagers »

First of all it depends on what school you are aiming for an if you are in catchment or not.

Check out the traffic light doc available on the CSSE website that gives you the standardised score needed for entry to each school. The lowest is 303 for in catchment.

Then, take a look at this thread which will give you an idea of how last years raw scores translated into the standardised score. As a rough rule of thumb 80 out of 120 across both tests seems to result in a score comfortably above 303.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 15&t=44119" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

70 out of 120 is still a pass but is getting a bit bum squeaky.

It seems to fairly traditional for the English to be weighted more heavily than the maths, which is good news for you as it will up your standardised score, but I believe the standardisation is calculated every year depending on how the scores for the tests are distributed so it is going to depend on how the rest of the cohort perform.
ToadMum
Posts: 11945
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Maths/English scoring

Post by ToadMum »

voyagers wrote:First of all it depends on what school you are aiming for an if you are in catchment or not.

Check out the traffic light doc available on the CSSE website that gives you the standardised score needed for entry to each school. The lowest is 303 for in catchment.

Then, take a look at this thread which will give you an idea of how last years raw scores translated into the standardised score. As a rough rule of thumb 80 out of 120 across both tests seems to result in a score comfortably above 303.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 15&t=44119" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

70 out of 120 is still a pass but is getting a bit bum squeaky.

It seems to fairly traditional for the English to be weighted more heavily than the maths, which is good news for you as it will up your standardised score, but I believe the standardisation is calculated every year depending on how the scores for the tests are distributed so it is going to depend on how the rest of the cohort perform.
Where do you live and which school(s) are you intending to apply to? The priority admissions area for the Southend and Westcliff High Schools is anywhere in postcode areas SS0 - SS9 inclusive and these are the schools for which the standardised score of 303 is pertinent. A score of 303 or more will get you a place so long as fewer (or the same number) apply from the priority area than there are in-catchment places available, but not necessarily at your first choice - SHSB tends to be more popular IC than WHSB, for instance. Looking at the girls' schools, I think there is less of a disparity, however, although where we live is closer to WHSG, quite a lot of girls choose Southend, including our DD. ColCHS has no priority admissions area and admits purely on score.

The two papers are weighted equally. The difference in the effect that getting one question right or wrong in English compared to Maths will make will be due to the mean raw score and standard deviation being different for the two papers. (Of course, by chance, there may turn out to be the same for the two papers, but it is unlikely). My memory is that 36/60 in both Maths and English last year did not quite make a standardised score of 303, but I may be wrong.

BTW the range of standardised scores achieved for each paper will be something like 69 - 140, but the combined score for the two papers is multiplied by 1.5 to give a range with a Southend pass score of 303; I assume they decided to do it like this because for years people had been used to seeing scores in this format.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
kg309
Posts: 48
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2012 10:13 pm

Re: Maths/English scoring

Post by kg309 »

thanks for the replies. We are IC and aiming for WHSG as our son is at whsb in year 7. I hadn't realised her maths was so far behind where I imagined she was as even though I had asked at parents evenings over the last 2 years specifically saying she would be doing the 11+ as I was aware it wasn't as good as her brother's at the same point I was reassured each time she was where she should be (which it turns out isn't the case from this years teacher) so I am working with her the same way we did with our son, past papers going through each question going through bond books etc. She has been put into 11+ classes at school (this is quite new for them, my sons year only 3 children passed) so I'm hoping she has a bit of a chance.


Its so frustrating as if I had realised sooner I would have done more at home for her no matter whether it was for the 11+ or not. I only became properly aware when my youngest daughter started a different junior school this september as our catchment has changed and discovered she was going the same maths in year 3 as my daughter in yr 5!

Fingers crossed!

x
voyagers
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:44 am

Re: Maths/English scoring

Post by voyagers »

Good luck. I'm sure with some practice she'll be fine.

The change in the primary curriculum might go some way to account for your year 3 covering the same work as your year 5. The year 5 children are somewhat caught in the middle with the curriculum changes - lots of things that they need to cover that weren't necessarily included in the curriculum previously.
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