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NFER tests

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:35 am
by anneste
HI,
My son started Y7 in Sep. He did some NFER tests & his results are Verbal 112, NVR 128 & maths 141 but I have no idea what these results mean!
Help!!!

NFER results

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:42 am
by fm
100 is the national average. As you can see, he is well above that. In our area you would normally have to be scoring above 120 to gain a grammar school place at a King Edward school, although some children have managed it with lower scores. At our primary local school, one of the teachers tells parents 120+ grammar school, 140+ Oxford or Cambridge.

So basically his maths appears fairly outstanding and his non-verbal towards the high end. His verbal reasoning/English skills are still 12 points above the national average but appear to be in a different category. I stress the word 'appear' because these scores are based on one battery of tests.

I am not too sure how helpful it is giving parents/children these scores, especially at secondary school, as it may cause unnecessary concern. For instance you may start worrying his English is poor when actually it's fairly good--just not in the same very high plane as his maths.

Personally I'd take from them that I have a very clever, mathematical child who should do quite well at school, then forget about them.

NFER tests

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:19 pm
by anneste
fm,
Thanks for that & I think you're right. He's always been viewed as gifted in maths & above average in English but he was worrying when he saw the results & I have to admit, so was I, thinking the English was poor. He was scored as having a reading age of 15 and a spelling age of 12 & this with the English score worried him more but as I had to remind him he is 12!!! It just all seems a bit pressurised sometimes. However, as you say it's still above average & he did achieve all level 5s at KS 2. It's good he's bothered but not that he's worried.

Thanks

nfer scores

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:51 pm
by fm
Yes, exactly. It is good that he wants to improve but it is still a well above average score. Assuming he is at a grammar school, parents' and children's views sometimes get distorted at these schools as to what is a good performance because they start measuring themselves against the very best.

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:42 pm
by LZ0702
fm,

Could you advise what is the maximum possible scores achievable for nfer papers (is it 150?) please.

My daughter achieved 138 math, 131 English, 140 Nonverbal Reasoning.

Thanks!

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:39 pm
by fm
I have a blank non-verbal reasoning test devised by NFER- NELSON for 10 and 11 year olds and, on it, is a scale that goes to 140 with the words add 3, subtract 8 below it--I assume this may be the margin of error but someone else may know better. From this I assume on this test you could only achieve up to 143 and would have to use another test to measure IQ above this range.
Also above the score line you have the words:
extremely low - below 70
moderately low - 70 - 85
average score - 85 - 115
moderately high - 115 - 130
extremely high - 130 - 140

These are quite wide bands, as you can see.

Your daughter is in extremely high for all components but I would still treat all NFER scores with caution. Extremely able children can feel the burden of expectation quite keenly.