Are GL CAT Tests comparable to 11 plus/samples papers

[summersun]

Hi all

My kids do GL CAT 4 tests at their primary school every year for which we get a score for Verbal, Non Verbal, Quantitative and Spatial Reasoning. Does anyone know if the level of these tests is similar to 11 plus reasoning tests? And is it possible to get sample papers from anywhere as then I could compare them to the 11 plus practice material?

Thanks a lot

[mitasol]

CAT tests are based and ranked against the general population. GS exams are based and ranked against the cohort sitting the test so the results are highly likely to be different. A child who ranks for example in the top 30% nationally may very well find themselves ranked below average in a GS test.

CAT tests are not generally available to the public as it would render them ineffective.

[Sorrel]

Up to about 7 years ago our primary school used to run CATs for children in year 4 and 5 and send the results to parents with an indication of what that profile typically meant in terms of grammar admissions. From memory, they said that children in the top decile often got admission to the two most selective schools and those in the 80-90 decile to other grammar schools in the vicinity. They also said that if your child is scoring more in the middle, it might not be the best thing to put them through the stress and effort of 11 plus prep because the chances wouldn't be great. Probably just common sense but intended to give the parents of the bright a nudge if they hadn't had it on their radar and spare a few others being pushed for something they wouldn't be likely to pass. Of course you can have an off day on CATs (as well as on 11 plus), but I suppose they did it twice to mitigate that. Then it changed and everyone did termly tests in reading/ maths etc, the results of which also came with an indication of where they sat on national deciles, but there was no explicit 11 plus link.