SATS - level 6 tests

[Daogroupie]

Yes, Long Journey there was a mistake in the Maths 3.5 test. Measure the line and circle which two lines underneath total the line, only none of them did! Wonder how many students wasted time puzzling over it instead of cutting their losses and moving on. DG

[Long Journey]

That's the one DG. She said she kept measuring over and over, but luckily didn't get too bogged down and run out of time. Has this happened before? If so what's the procedure? Free mark for everyone I suppose, though it doesn't compensate for the loss of time.

I didn't realise it was the 3-5 paper. So everyone must have had it then. The time lost could be the difference between getting a "good" level or not for a borderline pupil .

[countrymum]

Think DD was a bit about this particular question, if the same one? She thinks there were two correct options though, and that's what confused her.

[Hera]

DS was aware of this but just estimated the answer by giving the closest answer available so was not held up by it.

[BusyQueenBee]

Daogroupie, how do you know there was a mistake? Are you certain about it? Did you get the fact from your DC? I think it is unbelievable!

DS found the L6 maths easier than the practice papers. But the L6 English harder...

How is Science assessed? By the teacher? Can a teacher give a L6 in Science? Can a teacher give L6 in Writing?

[Golgo13]

I asked my son about the mistake in the Maths 3 to 5 paper, and he said that there was an 18cm line, and you had to find two lines that added up to the same length as this reference line.

He said that as far as he could recall, the lines available were of length 7.5, 8.5, 8.5 and 9.5cm length, so you had to choose one of the 8.5cm lines and the 9.5cm line.

Obviously if there are two 8.5cm lines it becomes a poorly designed question, so I begin to doubt that he was totally accurate in his measurement...

[countrymum]

That's the one! My DD is convinced there were two right options for this one? So the two 8.5 options kind of explains it.
Hope we get to find out the official 'mistake'

[mystery]

ds1 thought the level 6 maths paper was easier than the ones he'd practiced too. But I did point out to him that if it really was easier the pass mark will probably be higher!

I do think maths (certainly at primary level) is one of those subjects where it's fairly black and white - if you've mastered a topic it's "easy", if you haven't it's "hard" and there's not a lot of grey area in the middle. Unlike written English for example, where there is a lot of subjectivity and no definitive "right" answer so harder for them to be sure they've done all they needed to get the marks.

Interestingly he said 15 from his school did the level 6 maths yesterday - 13 boys and 2 girls. Certainly at this age it does seem that there is a tendency for boys to be better at maths, and girls at English - as shown on the local breakdowns of levels which I linked to earlier. Locally the percentages of boys and girls getting level 6 were 7% and 3% respectively - this year 13 boys represents 48% of boys entered, while 2 is just 6% of the girls. Of course they may have just been more ambitious in entering more for it this year, so the results will be interesting to see whether they're significantly higher than last year.

I think the numbers getting level 6 are going to be published on a school by school basis this year (but not the number entered for it, or the percentage of those entered getting it) so there may have been a temptation to enter more on the basis that the school has nothing to lose. If that has meant that they've actually attempted some higher level work with those who are capable of it, rather than just concentrating on those who are close to the level 3/4 or 4/5 boundaries then it may be no bad thing. The regional breakdown of the results from last year do seem to suggest that some areas were more inclined to enter children for it than others, judging by just how much variation in results there was from between those that did best (13% getting level 6 in maths) to the worst (1%).

Interesting. Is the gap between boys versus girls at ks2 maths big enough to be statistically significant nationally? Shocking if it is.

[Okanagan]

Is the gap between boys versus girls at ks2 maths big enough to be statistically significant nationally? Shocking if it is.

On a national sample size of over half a million - then yes variations at levels 5 and 6 for maths would be statistically significant. There's no significant variation in those getting level 4 or above (84% for both boys and girls) but 42% of boys and only 36% of girls got level 5 or above last year, and 4% of boys / 2% of girls were graded at level 6. There wasn't a single local authority where the girls matched the boys for level 5 or above (although there were a few where a slightly higher percentage of girls than boys got level 4 or above).

Actually the effect is even more pronounced - in favour of the girls this time - in English (ignoring level 6 because so few nationally got it). In reading 43% of boys, but 53% of girls got level 5, whereas for writing it was 21% of boys but 35% of girls. Unlike the maths this effect was apparent for those at level 4 or above too - 83% of boys and 89% of girls getting level 4 or above for reading, and 76% and 87% respectively for writing. Again the pattern was absolutely consistent across the country.

I'm sure there's an interesting research project there for someone on teaching methods which produce better results for maths for girls or for English for boys. Finding the best examples of current practise might be hard though given the consistency of the gap. There probably are individual schools out there which are closer though if you could see the data at that level.

If my own two boys are anything to go by I'm not really surprised though. Both are more attracted to maths, and ds1 in particular sees reading as a means to get information, rather than as a form of entertainment, so has never really been attracted to fiction. Yet when he was younger he was never given anything but fiction to read by school. Even now he'd rather read something like "How It Works" magazine (which I'd highly recommend for boys by the way) than fiction. A early reading scheme with more non fiction content might be one way to encourage boys to read more perhaps?

[ginx]

At our school it was about 50/50 according to my dd, who sat Level 6 maths.

Of course, it may be just the boys who actually get Level 6. Or maybe she miscounted.