11 Plus Exams Forum

What acceptable Sat’s level should my son have reached to give him a good chance of passing the 11 Plus exam please?

I realise there is no magic answers and I have heard that Level 4/5 would be ok at the end of Year 5, but would like some more specific advice from the knowledge forum please?

The trouble is that SATs attempt to measure something different from the 11+. There may well be a broad correlation between SAT levels and 11+ passes (no doubt someone on here will know) but when you factor in the different 11+ exams for each county and the percentage of successful children in each, you'll see there is no definitive answer. Some counties only test VR/NVR which don't feature at all in SATs.

If your DC is doing well in school, is eager to learn, seems bright and is happy to spend some time preparing for the exam then it's worth considering the 11+. I wouldn't get too concerned about SATs. This forum is peppered with tales of successful children who did not have level 5's across the board and plenty who were unsuccessful despite their clutch of level 5's.

It depends where you are in the country and how selective the 11+ test is!

If you let us know which area you are in we can comment further.

It will depend on the schools you are applying for as some areas have several grammar schools so overall the top 25-30% of local children would get a place and other areas might have 1 or 2 schools and which are superselective only taking the top so many scorers in the 11+ exam and there is no catchment. In this case is likely to be a child would have to be higher up the ability scale to achieve a place.

My daughter gained a super selective place in a Birmingham grammar school this year (the exams are those set by Durham CEM). She is hitting level 5s now (at the end of Year 6) and was on solid 4s when she took the exam way back in November. The other 3 kids in her school who also passed the exams for the super selectives are on similar levels. Noone has hit level 6s or is outstandingly super bright. They are normal, able kids with supportive parents. Their school, which is in a deprived area where many children speak English as a second language, was put on Notice to Improve in November and has been going through all sorts of change and disruption. I think they probably all had some sort of tutoring.
Hope that gives you some sort of idea of what levels match the 11+ ability set. Not necessarily a dead cert for a superselective, but at least you'll know if you're in the right ball park, which was something I was completely unsure about when my daughter was in Year 4.

My DD passed for 3 Gloucester Grammar schools and was L5b in literacy & 5c in maths at end of yr 5. DS will do test this year and has similar results at end of this yr 5 so worth a go I think but no guarantee of success. Some schools do CAT testing at start of yr 5- you might get an idea of ability in VR and Non VR- above average score is over 115 -a score over 125 would be a good indicator of high ability.

My DD passed for a super selective in Essex and came home with a Level 4a in English at end of Yr 6, so as has been said before they are not a great indicator of what the 11 plus is testing.. If you have a 'gut' feel your DC is bright and at least slightly amenable to some hard work along the way I would say go for it.

I would agree with all the above helpful comments! Although my youngest - my DS - has very high CAT score and only just passed 11 plus. He did get a grammar place though. A few years ago of course I wouldn't have known that he only JU ST passed, only that he'd passed. Schools say they see no real correlation with top scores at 11 plus and GCSE success for example. But the SATS and CATS levels better predictors. If your child is is in top sets at primary, is interested in learning generally and you just feel he/she is bright - go for it, remembering it is just one test, one day and sometimes it doesn't go to plan, and that is not a reflection of your DC! Or indeed, as I had to be reminded as my DSs tutor as well as parent, of you!

Just have a go if you think it's worth a bit of effort unless you have real reason to believe that your child is never in a million years going to pass it. I'm not even sure that top sets, a love of learning, or you thinking that they are bright are necessary conditions. There must be plenty of examples of children being switched off to learning but clever enough for a grammar school, or being understimated by teachers and / or parents.