What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
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Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
Ok, thanks for that Antsymum, I'm understanding what you are saying but I would analyse it differently. See below. Frangipani did not give raw scores so I can't know whether performance on the day was way out of line with practice performance.
If your DD got 87% raw score, you mean she got 26 out of 30 correct. A very good score indeed.
87% is within the range she got when practising so certainly not a surprise to you. If you practised 50 questions in 50 minutes (as per the GL practice papers) then she still managed to achieve within the same range despite the extra time pressure of the real exam --- at practice paper speed only 25 questions would have been asked in 25 minutes and her score would have been 25/25 (assuming that none of the questions she got wrong were asked!) suggesting that the questions were perhaps, on average, easier for your daughter in the real thing than in the GL practice papers.
The thing that you are finding strange is that at school they consider her English to to be better than her maths but in the 11 plus the standardised scores show that relative to other people, the other way round was the case. There are a lot of different reasons why that might be the case and they're not to do with whether the Kent 11 plus maths paper questions were trickier than usual this year or not.
One would need way more information to work out why the particular gifted and talented children from indies that someone mentioned failed the maths.
My DD got 24/30 - it was within the range of scores she got when practising at GL practise paper speed (her scores were quite variable) which again for me hints at the questions being of similar or slightly easier difficulty level to the practice papers.
If your DD got 87% raw score, you mean she got 26 out of 30 correct. A very good score indeed.
87% is within the range she got when practising so certainly not a surprise to you. If you practised 50 questions in 50 minutes (as per the GL practice papers) then she still managed to achieve within the same range despite the extra time pressure of the real exam --- at practice paper speed only 25 questions would have been asked in 25 minutes and her score would have been 25/25 (assuming that none of the questions she got wrong were asked!) suggesting that the questions were perhaps, on average, easier for your daughter in the real thing than in the GL practice papers.
The thing that you are finding strange is that at school they consider her English to to be better than her maths but in the 11 plus the standardised scores show that relative to other people, the other way round was the case. There are a lot of different reasons why that might be the case and they're not to do with whether the Kent 11 plus maths paper questions were trickier than usual this year or not.
One would need way more information to work out why the particular gifted and talented children from indies that someone mentioned failed the maths.
My DD got 24/30 - it was within the range of scores she got when practising at GL practise paper speed (her scores were quite variable) which again for me hints at the questions being of similar or slightly easier difficulty level to the practice papers.
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
My guess would be that children from private school had had less practice of using and applying questions.
This is always a weak area in students we have joining us from the private sector, whether at Year 7 or later and it is very noticeable in Year 12.
This is always a weak area in students we have joining us from the private sector, whether at Year 7 or later and it is very noticeable in Year 12.
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
With this in mind ......Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the appeal panels might will look more favorably on a child who has done well in the maths (& reasoning) but just missed the pass mark in English? Particularly as it is a school with maths as its specialism?
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
I really don't know. It's always worth a try. If I were a panel member I would feel that a near pass on the English was a bit of a miserable situation as it didn't take many mistakes in the first 25 minutes of a very important day to fail the whole thing outright. Remind me again what was the raw score to pass English? It was high.
A lot of panel members won't be very good at maths though and won't know what you are talking about!
A lot of panel members won't be very good at maths though and won't know what you are talking about!
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
Ha Ha!!
Yes it is such a shame that the first half 25 minutes determines your fate this way.
We do have extenuating circumstances to add in to why he didn't do so well in this paper, so hopefully they may swing it - who knows?
I believe the lowest mark for the English was 16/24 - I could be wrong though...
Yes it is such a shame that the first half 25 minutes determines your fate this way.
We do have extenuating circumstances to add in to why he didn't do so well in this paper, so hopefully they may swing it - who knows?
I believe the lowest mark for the English was 16/24 - I could be wrong though...
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
Yes, I think I read that too. It seems high for a bright but careless child or a child with test nerves.
What is your child like at the following tasks (which were in the test):
- short multi-choice comprehension including some vocab questions
- spotting spelling errors
- filling in gaps in a sentence with the right words (grammar and meaning involved)
- no punctuation was tested.
I guess your best bet is to make sure that during year 6 he gets some good teacher assessed levels in reading (for the comprehension) and SPAG (for the other two exercises), and some strong predicted grades for the end of the year in these areas. Then you've got something good to show the panel.
Did it go to the headteacher panel?
Best maybe if you make this a separate thread in appeals.
What is your child like at the following tasks (which were in the test):
- short multi-choice comprehension including some vocab questions
- spotting spelling errors
- filling in gaps in a sentence with the right words (grammar and meaning involved)
- no punctuation was tested.
I guess your best bet is to make sure that during year 6 he gets some good teacher assessed levels in reading (for the comprehension) and SPAG (for the other two exercises), and some strong predicted grades for the end of the year in these areas. Then you've got something good to show the panel.
Did it go to the headteacher panel?
Best maybe if you make this a separate thread in appeals.
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frangipani
- Posts: 299
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:17 pm
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
Perhaps my DS is an exception. As I said previously, in all eight GL practice papers he achieved over 85% in around 40mins, he was a high level 5 at the time of the test.
On the day he under-performed and didn't finish the paper, he didn't guess the last few either and achieved 60% raw score. He only achieved a 70% accuracy out of the questions he did answer which is much lower than I've ever seen from him before.
Maybe he just had a bad day. But an unfamiliar test format would have probably panicked him. Or it could be that doing all the calculations in his head was his downfall. Or perhaps knowing there was 30 Qs in 25mins threw him into a panic (which is quite likely as it was the only paper he under-performed in). I don't know really and doubt I ever will. His siblings all achieved a result very similar to the practice tests, and none of them were as mathematically able as him, so I didn't expect this at all. He still managed a fairly high score overall and looks in a good position for his preferred school, so it's not a disaster.
On the day he under-performed and didn't finish the paper, he didn't guess the last few either and achieved 60% raw score. He only achieved a 70% accuracy out of the questions he did answer which is much lower than I've ever seen from him before.
Maybe he just had a bad day. But an unfamiliar test format would have probably panicked him. Or it could be that doing all the calculations in his head was his downfall. Or perhaps knowing there was 30 Qs in 25mins threw him into a panic (which is quite likely as it was the only paper he under-performed in). I don't know really and doubt I ever will. His siblings all achieved a result very similar to the practice tests, and none of them were as mathematically able as him, so I didn't expect this at all. He still managed a fairly high score overall and looks in a good position for his preferred school, so it's not a disaster.
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fatbananas
- Posts: 1411
- Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
Are we allowed to see the papers done by our DC?
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
I spoke to an experienced school teacher who was an exam monitor during the test. He advised that the math questions were very broad which suggested that either they wanted to test childrens bandwith, or, that they wanted to include "something for everyone".
Regarding the difficulty, he didn't feel that they were particulalrly hard, but he did say that children who were good at mental maths and had strong number bond skills would fare well. This seems to be born out of my DCs cohort and their scores.
I guess the learning is that parents should not get sucked into "my child scored x% doing XYZ test papers" when parents should be exposing children to a wide range of styles and questions from multiple sources. We were warned by KCC that they wanted to make the test less tutorable so we shouldn't really complain if we have plied our DCs with what we believe will be the test format, only to find it was different.
If the questions weren't as difficult as first thought, and it was only the pressure of time, them maybe KCC have found a way to flush out the kids whoose core math skills are very good. The more I think about it the more it makes sense.
Regarding the difficulty, he didn't feel that they were particulalrly hard, but he did say that children who were good at mental maths and had strong number bond skills would fare well. This seems to be born out of my DCs cohort and their scores.
I guess the learning is that parents should not get sucked into "my child scored x% doing XYZ test papers" when parents should be exposing children to a wide range of styles and questions from multiple sources. We were warned by KCC that they wanted to make the test less tutorable so we shouldn't really complain if we have plied our DCs with what we believe will be the test format, only to find it was different.
If the questions weren't as difficult as first thought, and it was only the pressure of time, them maybe KCC have found a way to flush out the kids whoose core math skills are very good. The more I think about it the more it makes sense.
Re: What was the kent maths paper really like this year?
I am a primary teacher and would like to update you all. Levels no longer exist in Primary Education . There may be a Level 6 maths paper this year but that will end in 2015-2016. Now the second time that Level 6 has been introduced by a government and then withdrawn. Schools are looking for ' mastery' at level 5 now so any really able pupils will just keep on doing the same things until the rest of the class catch up . Mastery means 'on hold' in primary schools.....they say it doesn't but as a teacher of high ability year 5s I am being told NOT to move them on to any Year 6 work - doh .
