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Test after Test; after 11+, now NFER Cognitive Ability Test

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:19 pm
by shagor21
Dear All,
DS started ICHS from 6-9-2012 and already busy with lots of home works. Now he needs to go through for another test called, NFER Cognitive Ability Test. Any advise, what type of books he should practice for this test? What is GL Assessment Progress in English Test ? Thanks in advance for informative information. Best regards.
Shagor21

Re: Test after Test; after 11+, now NFER Cognitive Ability T

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:24 pm
by hermanmunster
there is no need to buy books, practice or worry about these tests - we had a thread about them recently ... will try to find it

ETA : found it but had forgotten how heated it got :oops: - sorry, best just to let DC take the tests in their stride

Re: Test after Test; after 11+, now NFER Cognitive Ability T

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:21 am
by shagor21
According to letter from ICHS, this is a test that you have to worry. According to students who are in Year 8, this is a test that you have to worry. I am collecting more information but in the mean time, any one to advise whether to worry or not to worry per hermanmunster message above ? Thanks.

Re: Test after Test; after 11+, now NFER Cognitive Ability T

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:25 am
by neveragain*
Please don't worry. They are simply base line one off tests to gather some extra data - and to guide targets. They don't effect anything - indeed if child exceeds targets they just get more praise! They don't get seen by uni or employers or anything - just school tests to help gauge natural ability in a range of things - numerical ability, non verbal and verbal I think. My youngest didn't even tell me he had done them last week and school didn't tell us. Relax, and don't stress over these - your DS done so well to get into a great school, now both of you can relax a bit! Enjoy year 7 x

Re: Test after Test; after 11+, now NFER Cognitive Ability T

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:03 am
by leanmeamum
my son had these in his prep school as well - apparently they were quite easy. Don't worry about them. Their school just used these to collect extra data about their students.

Re: Test after Test; after 11+, now NFER Cognitive Ability T

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:08 am
by hermanmunster
shagor21 wrote:According to letter from ICHS, this is a test that you have to worry. According to students who are in Year 8, this is a test that you have to worry. I am collecting more information but in the mean time, any one to advise whether to worry or not to worry per hermanmunster message above ? Thanks.
seriously Shagor, they are not tests to worry about - if you get too bothered about baseline school assessments then you might find that GCSEs are going to be a real nightmare. :wink:
Mainly the schools use them to monitor progress and set targets. if they don't do well in the tests then the targets will be lower and they will look like superstars for exceeding them..

Re: Test after Test; after 11+, now NFER Cognitive Ability T

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:28 pm
by leanmeamum
yes - my son's school used them for streaming (though they did not admit it) and assessing a child's chances of getting into selective schools. Being a prep, this data was helpful but often proved futile because children can suddenly become focused and race ahead - this often threw their results off-key!!