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Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:28 pm
by Twirl
Hi all,
My daughter did many mock exams and did better than her older sister (her older sister managed to get into Woodford). However, my younger daughter hasn’t done very well in the actual exam. I understand there can be many contributing factors.

Has anyone heard anything about the standard of the paper for this year (admission to 2021)? Have children’s results reflected what they got in mocks compared to peers who got similar mock results (i could only compare with my two girls as I tutored them myself).

Responses will be very much appreciated.

This forum was extremely informative when I first started this 11+ journey with my eldest daughter!

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:52 pm
by scary mum
As you say, many things can affect the end result. If the exam was harder it would be cancelled out by the standardisation - that's why the exams are standardised.

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 12:09 am
by Twirl
Thank you Scary mum - I guess that is a point.
It would be interesting to see the ranking of the scores.
Anyone know when they will publish those?

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 9:13 am
by devg
Hi,

Yes our DD also found the paper hard.

Does anyone have a view about what the cut-off score could be for Woodford this year? Could it be lower than 110.46 which was for last year? or because the scores are standardised, the cut off remains the same?

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:40 am
by Mumsmi
Hi, I’m new here! I have a similar question - my daughter scored 106 - does that pretty Much mean we won’t be offered a place or is there still hope? I do know that some others who sat the test didn’t score as highly as they would have expected so could it be the scores are lower this year?

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 9:49 pm
by Penzy
Mumsmi wrote:Hi, I’m new here! I have a similar question - my daughter scored 106 - does that pretty Much mean we won’t be offered a place or is there still hope? I do know that some others who sat the test didn’t score as highly as they would have expected so could it be the scores are lower this year?
A very popular tuition academy in ilford has posted on their Facebook page that their student has got 130 score in cem

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:55 pm
by Mumsmi
Oh! Pleased for them but not so much for us :(

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 11:42 pm
by devg
Penzy wrote:
Mumsmi wrote:Hi, I’m new here! I have a similar question - my daughter scored 106 - does that pretty Much mean we won’t be offered a place or is there still hope? I do know that some others who sat the test didn’t score as highly as they would have expected so could it be the scores are lower this year?
A very popular tuition academy in ilford has posted on their Facebook page that their student has got 130 score in cem

Are you saying that the majority of the students have scored 130 and that the paper was not that difficult?

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2020 7:58 am
by mitasol
A standardised score does not tell you how hard or easy a test was. Nor does it tell you how may questions you answered correctly. A standardised score tells you how your child performed in relation to the other candidates.

A standardised score of 100 would usually indicate the average score placing you in the middle of the range of candidates.

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You need to keep in mind that the children sitting these tests are likely to be much stronger than the national average. Even so, within this stronger cohort they are being ranked. If they sat the same test and got the same raw score but with a different set of children, they would obtain a different standardised score.

Re: Was the CEM paper for Woodford harder this year?

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2020 9:00 am
by Mumsmi
Thank you for this, it’s really helpful and makes sense!
I suppose the only way for us to know the likelihood of getting a place Will depend on how many children took the test and how many will put the school as their first choice. With our score it’s a long shot but still a shot possibly...