what score is close to or far away

[devastated mummy]

Dc is 6 marks off the qualifying score. Would you say it's close to qualifying score or far away? Any opinions?

[ToadMum]

How many candidates sat the exam? What was the qualifying score? On a normal distribution of standardised scores, 100 (or 200, or 300 etc depending on how many papers and whether they are standardised separately and added or whatever) represents the mean raw score. The interval 100 to 115 would represent about 34% of the total number of candidates. The nearer the score is to the mean, the more candidates there will be at each point - it's not (34% divided by 15) between 100 and 101, the same between 109 and 110 etc.

[scary mum]

Dc is 6 marks off the qualifying score. Would you say it's close to qualifying score or far away? Any opinions?

Which area are you? In some areas the qualifying mark is 121, in others it is 200, or 300. I'm afraid we need some context in order to be able to help you.

[Mandy21]

The required score where we are is 334 so I would say 6 isn't too far off.

Do you know if there is any internal review - I know here (in at least one of the schools) there is an automatic review for pupils scoring 320-333 (which kind of gives the impression that the school thinks that anyone score 320 of above (so 14 away from the pass mark) deserves a 2nd look. That would imply that the school doesn't think 14 marks is too far away from the pass mark.

The negative aspect of that process is that here, it is done before results are sent out and any of those children who the school thought should be upgraded to a pass get a score of "334R" - means a pass on review. So if you receive a result (here) saying you got a score of 328, they've reviewed your DC paper and deemed their performance wasn't good enough to be upgraded to a pass.

Sorry that got longwinded but wanted to explain that its not an exact science. There are no hard and fast rules I don't think.

[PettswoodFiona]

As others have said it depends on what region you are in and if it is a pass mark type score or a score that is ranked. If it is a ranked score these can go down right up until September and sometimes beyond and can move by 6 marks from offer day to start of term for example. If it is like Bexley where you need a pass then 6 points is probably a significant enough amount to make it hard but not impossible for an appeal. In Kent for example you can get a table of how many scored what your child scored and then see the volumes to see if those in the range between your child and the qualifying score contains a large swathe of people or not which may help you see the bigger picture.

[PettswoodFiona]

Hi Devastated, we haven't heard back from you and hope you haven't been scared away, we are all really friendly on here and want to help but need a bit more information to be able to do so. If you don't feel comfortable posting to the thread then do take a look at what regions we are in either by looking at our profiles or history of our posting and private message someone who may be located in the region that can give you the best guidance.

[devastated mummy]

Ahh this forum is amazing !!! where else can I have such listening ears and the ones who will actually relate to me. Thanks all for that!! No, not scared away lol but defo feeling the appeal atmosphere... I guess people who have been there would understand what I mean. There was no ranking just a pass mark, missed by 6 points. No review. I have read the advice here many times now but struggling with the following:-
* how to tell them how much we need it without sounding like we are begging for something we didn't qualify
* over subscription part.. I'm finding hard to tackle.
* would you say on getting the appeal papers, panel members on their own would have made their mind (yes or no) . Just thinking, they are only human?