11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello all

Our DS unfortunately was 21 points away from a place at his chosen Grammar school.We knew this would be the case because on the day of the test he was utterly traumatised by the whole new experience of a public examination in an unfamiliar, formal environment during which he had to wait 40 minutes before the start of the test on his own due to poor exam administration.When picked up by my wife he broke down in tears in the exam room and did not stop crying and shaking for two hours.He later said that he nearly passed out during the test itself, due to raw panic.He is very young for his year, quite sensitive, and knew no-one in his particular test group due to the vagaries of alphabetical placement.We wrote a letter to the LEA admissions office pretty much straight away describing our dissatisfaction with the exam arrangements on the day.We are devastated that our bright son who is predicted 5s in all his year six SATs (and indeed was getting them last year) has fallen foul of a system that seems to reward those that are confident rather than those that are bright.Our question is - Is there any point in appealing bearing in mind how far away from the pass mark he was? (This to us shows exactly how traumatised he was as his score was such a poor reflection of his abilites)
Any advice would be very gratefully received !!

Hi Warks Dad,

I am so sorry to read about your Son. Having just been through the whole appeal process, I can only tell you of our own experience. Our Son was also terribly nervous on the day - didn't eat, kept going to the toilet etc.etc. However, in the appeal this did not seem to carry much weight to the Panel. They basically just said that all the children are in the same situation!

However, I think it very much depends on the panel, on the day, if you do appeal. We are from Bucks and it seemed more like a lottery, as to who got through appeal, and who didn't.

I wish you luck and I am sure there will be someone else who can give some more specific advise as where to go from here.......

All the best

AVWM

Warks dad,

What a dreadful experience for your son to go through. Some children handle pressure much better than others and this extreme should be taken seriously.
I'm glad you put this all down in writing after the actual test rather than after the results.

21 marks is quite a bit out, on the other hand your son did the best he possibly could whilst on the brink of feeling like he was about to pass out.

Since the difference with his mark and his actual academic ability is great I would advice you now start gathering as much academic evidence as you can possibly find.

Standardised test scores Maths/English/Science
Reading age, spelling age
Predicted SATs
Teacher’s recommendations
Any other pieces of evidence you can show High academic achievements.

Please read through the Q&As section, the link is found at the top of this page.

If you need any further help please come back and ask.

Give your son a big hug from me, he has certainly been through the mill.

Wishing you all the best

AM

Hi Warks Dad

That is good advice from Appeal Mum, and most appeals should be 90% academic proof and 10% mitigating circumstances.

I can't comment on the likelihood of an Appeal succeeding at 21 points adrift, as I am not a Warks specialist, but if you tell us what the pass mark is it will give us some idea of the size of the gap you are trying to bridge.

It is excellent that you raised the matter with the LEA in writing after the tests, rather than waiting for the "benefit of hindsight" of the results. It is possible that the invigilator noted your son's distress on the official record of the test, but unfortunately that may not be the case, especially if the administration was poor.

Did you get a reply to your letter?

Sally-Anne

Thanks for your replies.We have given plenty of hugs this week!!We did get a reply to our letter which acknowledged that admin on the day may not have been as it should have been and that they would take our letter into account should he get into the borderline group which he did not.He scored 201 for a pass mark of 222.To be honest we are amazed he did that in the state he was in.He was still suffering on the Monday afterwards and had to be off school because he vomited.Very hard to see him suffer so much when we put him in for it!!!