Seems very quiet in Warks these days

[magwich2]

If it helps anyone DS had the following scores last year (standardised - the actual standardisation varied from 7% to 9% august birthday)

VR 131 out of 163

NUMERIC 148 OUT OF 162

NVR 115 out of 145

TOTAL 394 out of 470

The above scores ranked him 7 out of the 1930 who took the test even with a lot of mistakes.

[Okanagan]

ginx - have a look at the last three pages of this http://www.gilesacademy.co.uk/data/cat.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The document is about CAT testing not 11+ but the standardisation process, the standardised scores and the distribution of the scores, will be similar.

[ginx]

Okanagan,

That's interesting and will be useful for interpreting CAT scores as well at the beginning of year 7 (just a year away!)

Thanks. Took me a little while to understand!

[ginx]

J.P.

My dd can remember a little of what was in the paper. She considered it fair, maths very hard. I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you! She found the cloze rather difficult as she didn't know the topic it was about (I believe others struggled) so couldn't even guess the words. I think she said there was another cloze or something similar where she had 6 minutes to insert 28 words. She found that fine. Doesn't mean she got them all right, though!

Don't know if I can tell you any more, except she found the NVR easiest, it didn't have what we'd been told to expect. Comprehension was "fair" to quote her.

[koala]

ginx and JP - how do you know it was a harder test this year? Have you seen and compared the exam papers from this year and other years? A similar number of points each year is required to get into the schools (see KE Consortium Grammar Pass Marks under Bham section - they are consistent - I can't find info for Warks). Yes, the points required to get into Alcester Grammar will be lower by one or two points but this is because they are now offering 30 places more. I also think some posters are in danger of giving too much info away to those who haven't taken the exam yet. Please be careful.

Koala

[Okanagan]

The points required are from the standardised results - the raw scores required to get the same standardised score may very according to the particular test.

[ginx]

koala

Have to admit I have no idea if it was harder this year, maybe there is always a difficult section.

Do moderators check messages? I am trying hard not to say what was in the exam. I had assumed moderators removed any posts they considered inappropriate.

Will be more careful, hope haven't upset anyone, only trying to compare notes. Appreciate the moral support.

[Okanagan]

ginx - I don't think it was your posting that koala was referring to.

[koala]

Points may vary according to a particular test, but there must be many factors contributing to this variance.

ginx - Warks is very quiet this year but would have been even quieter without you! Don't try second guessing how your dd has done - you will find out soon enough. You can never tell how well they have done. One of my dc said he had missed out 5 Qs from one of the sections a couple of years ago. I thought 5 was a lowish number until I asked him how many Qs he should have completed and he replied 15 ! 5 seemed so much smaller than a 1/3rd. He passed comfortably. Now I am revealing too much!!

Koala

[Okanagan]

If I wanted to know what was in the paper could easily find out quite a lot by asking a tutor who I know. I can wait! You are aware tutors ask children what was in a test and can recreate similar questions. They also advice some people to take the test next Wednesday, once they have prepared some children who need the help and have knowledge of content. I am not a tutor.

I am not aware of a single rule from Warwickshire that says you cannot discuss questions or pass on information to other children who sit the test late. I am aware of children who take the test who had no intention of going to a grammar school, simply to report what was in the paper to late sitters. Again it is not cheating as there is no rule against it. It is as much cheating as is using a tutor (CEM say do not tutor). You may say it is morally wrong, but it is not against the rules.

There is a world of difference between tutoring (paid or DIY) to improve vocabulary, comprehension, the application of mathematical technique, etc - all of which are of general benefit to a child's educaton regardless of any exam, or tutors using information about the style of one year's exam to create practice material for future year candidates, and conciously setting out to obtain advance information of the actual content of an exam in order to give some candidates an advantage over others.

It is only "not against the rules" because it would be just about impossible to actually enforce a rule which says "don't talk about it". In all other exam scenarios seeking/obtaining/using such advance information to gain advantage is an offence which would lead to disqualification.