Reading Boys

[GuttedDad]

I seem to be in an impossible situation that no one has been able to advise me on, so hoping someone in the forum can offer advice.

Got the results from Reading Boys this week. Pass mark is 336 and my son got 335.69 a shortfall of 0.31 of a mark, or 0.01%.

The papers were:
Reasoning - 50 questions
English - 50 questions
Maths - 50 questions

I understand that standardisation and age allowance is applied to come up with the final result, however my son has missed out by less than the value of a question and therefore it is all in the way in which the standardisation has taken place. School is adamant that they will not round the result up to the next whole number. They have said the only recourse available to us is a remark of the papers - costing £600 (!!!) and they say that it is extremely unlikely it will make any difference.

I could handle the result if my DS had missed by even a couple of marks - but 0.31 of a mark is unbearable.

In addition, there are some exceptional circumstances, which I won 't go into - but I feel warrant grounds for an appeal, but according to the school, my DS's application will not even be considered by the school as he has not obtained the minimum score required for application. I feel like we are in a catch 22.

What are the options availed to us?

My son's score is not as close as yours on 334.56 but as I thought he had the pedigree to pass the Reading Boys test I also reluctantly took time off from work and made remark request for two papers paying £400, I think on the same day as your husband did, to rule out any possible human error. As I anticipated, there were no changes in the scores and got the scores in a similar looking score letter as the original one but with an extra word 'remarked', I think. Our son had given 6 grammar school tests including Reading and passed in five of them (QE Barnet, Tiffin, Slough, Bucks, Kent) with reasonably good marks to be able to get in the chosen schools. I have a strong and valid reason for not wanting to move out of Reading and my son's teachers feel that he should have surely passed the test but really disappointed with the result. I would be grateful to you for any advice.

[Amber]

Erm, how is it that one person paid £600 and another £400? Was there a special offer on the day you happened to ask? Or do they charge more the closer to the score you get? This story gets worse at every turn.

[Etienne]

Welcome!

Have you seen the Start Page?
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 35&t=35032" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re-mark
As with GS711, we suggest you write to your MP to see if he/she would ask the Department for Education whether it is justifiable for this school (an academy, answerable to the DfE) to charge so much for a re-mark, when Kent and Gloucestershire make no charge at all, and Buckinghamshire LA (acting on behalf of all their grammar school academies) charge only £25.

Don't worry about possibly upsetting the school (it will make absolutely no difference to how they deal with your application/appeal), and don't raise any other issues at this time.

So this is what you get for you £25 from Bucks:
Test 1
Section score achieved max. raw score
comprehension 10 25
Opposite words 13 25
Pictures 12 21
Maths1. 15 24

Test 2
Maths2. 10 16
Matching words 9 28
sequences 20 32
left over words 6 14
missing words 5 18

Raw scores - overall
component score
verbal 43
maths 25
non verbal 32
total 100

Calculation
1. full age standardised score 2. component scores - weighted
verbal 89.29 verbal 44.64
maths 131.51 maths 39.45
non verbal 120.16 non verbal 24.03

3. overall weighted score (STTS) = 108

The raw score to age standardised score calculation to remove the age effect is:

age std score = SD* (raw score-(age*age coefficent) - mean + Mean
standard deviation

1. The three measures (verbal, maths and non verbal) are standardised separately using a mean of 100 and standard deviation of -38.

2. 50% of the verbal age standardised score, plus
30% of the maths age standardised score, ply
20% of the Non verbal age standardised score.

3. the Weighted age standardised score has a mean of 100 and standard deviation of approximately 38. Decimal places are always rounded down.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... an#p409228" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DC17C]

Looks like there were 3 papers and this Dad had only got 2 papers remarked -

[Amber]

Looks like there were 3 papers and this Dad had only got 2 papers remarked -

Oh I see. Possibly on financial grounds - at £200/paper I suppose you have to prioritise. So they made at least a grand in a day from this. Nice one. Wonder which income stream they will declare that one under on the annual accounts?

[future]

Absolutely shocking in the current climate. Someone high up needs a reality check. All we want is a fair trial for our DC

[GS711]

Hello GuttedDad,

I really feel for you and know exactly what you are going through. My DS only sat the Reading exam. We had not contemplated going for a selective school, but my DS had heard about the school from friends and pursuaded us that this was something he wanted and his teacher confirmed it was something he was entirely capable of. Hence, I have no other scores to base his achievement on.

I really feel that the school put us under pressure to have the remark done on the Friday, and if I had known what we would be getting for our money, I would have had second thoughts. I had read that other schools/ LEA provide a proper breakdown of how the mark has been calculated. I wanted to know what standardisation algorithm was used to allow me to see how the rounding had worked - after all that is all my DS needed in his favour. His difference in mark is less than one question, hence I find it difficult to accept that he has not passed without being able to see the calculations.

I feel strongly that the £200 per paper is definitely set at a rate to put people off and discriminates against those who have no access to the funds and is therefore discriminatory and a letter to the local MP would be a good idea to raise the issue. Surely, as with bank charges, the fee should reflect the amount of work undertaken? We know that between us they have pocketed at least £1000 for less than 1 day's work.

What are your plans moving forward?

[GuttedDad]

Hi GS711, being on the same boat I feel the same for you too. For my son, we have decided to go for QE Barnet, wish you and your son all the best.

[aliportico]

I'm sorry to be so nosy, but I'm intrigued by this situation. You currently live in Reading but your son also sat entrance tests for various schools, many clearly far too far for a daily commute. So are you now going to move so he can go to QEB? Would you really have moved to Kent, or were some of the tests just for practice?

I'm really surprised by the amount of people on this board who seem to be ready to move at a moment's notice! With strong family reasons for not moving that you've previously mentioned, I find it hard to understand why it's worth doing. Will you be able to find a suitable school for your other child?

Good luck with it all

[GuttedDad]

Hi, we always wanted him to go to a good grammar school as we always wanted to give him the best possible environment and our target has been the Reading boys as we can't afford sending him to a private school, the other entry exams were thought to be
just for practice and we never thought that we would have to move house. Now the situation is different and we decided to solve the immediate problem at hand first, as I can't see any other solutions. I'm going to be really upset for my two younger children but hoping that it is going to be a temporary one. What would you do if you were in my shoes? I've until tomorrow night to change my decision!