Hi,

In wake of new national Lockdowns, SO stage 2 exams are now cancelled/postponed.

Any idea how places will be allocated ? Stage 1 results seems to be very little to draw a satisfactory conclusion for all deserving students.

Regards

Did they not say in that the email that based on the SET/stage 1 exam, there were too many boys of a similar rank so I'm assuming that they will either have to move to an online exam or they may decide to weight certain subjects differently (e.g. English/VR vs Maths/NVR), with more emphasis on one than the other. But who knows?!

Stage 2 exams cancelled. Will now be based on the SET rankings.

Leaving aside whether there are processes to be gone through such as ?applying to the OSA for a Variation to the school's determined admissions policy for 2021 entry, the admissions policy must include details of how two applicants ranked equally on one criterion are to be split, should there be only one place remaining under that criterion / overall. So having lots of applicants on the same score in the first round shouldn't be an issue even if they encompass e.g. the numbers (PAN-20) to (PAN +20).

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This is what they wrote today:
"To address the problem of not having the Stage 2 Test, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator has agreed that we use only the Stage 1 Test data to create a rank order. In the event of aggregate standardised scores being tied for two or more candidates the final rank order will be determined using a candidate’s performance in the standardised Mathematics section, then, if required, standardised English section, then the standardised Non-Verbal section, then the standardised Verbal section. This order is similar to the current Admissions Policy, which uses the performances in the Mathematics paper, English paper and then the SET if two or more candidates are tied after the Stage 2 test has taken place."

Tbh, sounds like plan for future years?

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

Olaves knows from their past results that many of the top scorers in the more difficult 2nd stage aren't the highest scorers from stage 1. Stage 1 emphasis is speed and accuracy whereas stage 2 is focusing on higher/deeper level thinking. I feel they made the wrong choice this year in delaying the tests and panicked into this decision. This decision will mean many boys who scored in the 40s whose strength is written english will not gain a place that in more normal years would've put them high in the rankings.

We are in that situation scoring 42. We now know there is no hope of a place and are quite sad that the opportunity has been taken away. But it is what it is, and this past year has shown that all the best laid plans can be snatched from under your nose. C'est la vie. We are alive and we are healthy and that is all that matters now.

Yes, I was thinking exactly the same! There were many boys who scored higher than more 'academic boys' in the first round but it must be extraordinarily difficult for SO, same as for all schools. I'm sure there will be plenty of deserving boys who will get through via the waiting list thought I had perhaps expected to some of the verbal (either English/VR) to be weighted more heavily to balance the outcome rather than applying maths as the first tie break.