Medway maths test

testbuster · Post by **testbuster** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:40 am

I'm told the Medway maths test is getting harder each year - so hard, in fact, that last year the pass mark was just 12 out of 50! I can't understand why this is, as everything usually the complaint is that education is being dumbed down! Also, as it's multiple choice, you could pass by just ticking random answers...

Does anyone know whether I can get hold of past papers? My ds is practising Bond papers, but it would be great to look at the real thing, which I think is quite different and involves lots of problem solving. Do past papers exist?

reddebs · Post by **reddebs** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:27 pm

Nfer Nelson (now GL assessment) produce a set that are like the 'real thing' available from wh smiths amazon etc. be aware that they have only realsed 4 papers and they get packaged differently so make sure you do not repeat purchase in an effort to get more!
Agree that the maths test is hard as the subjects covered have not changed much over the years but the national curricukum has and the test date is now so much earlier than in the past. This means many children have not the full range of subject knowledge on entering the exam. I find this really frustrating as this undermines their confidence greatly.
The exam is stressful enough as it.
regards
reddebs

dadofkent · Post by **dadofkent** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:36 pm

testbuster wrote:I'm told the Medway maths test is getting harder each year - so hard, in fact, that last year the pass mark was just 12 out of 50! I can't understand why this is, as everything usually the complaint is that education is being dumbed down! Also, as it's multiple choice, you could pass by just ticking random answers...

Does anyone know whether I can get hold of past papers? My ds is practising Bond papers, but it would be great to look at the real thing, which I think is quite different and involves lots of problem solving. Do past papers exist?

Is this info reliable? As you say, if correct, just randomly ticking the boxes should get you close to the pass mark.

yoyo123 · Post by **yoyo123** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:42 pm

it MIGHT, but you have a one in five chance of tickong teh right box at random and there are 85 questions. The chance of hitting the pass mark with that method is fairly slim

medwaymum · Post by **medwaymum** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:43 pm

12/50 does seem very low for a passmark I have to say. Somebody once told me the pass mark one year for the math was 37% but this is even lower!
Where is this info sourced from?

medwaymum · Post by **medwaymum** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:44 pm

Sorry Yoyo we posted at the same time - do you think there are 85 questions then?

dadofkent · Post by **dadofkent** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:58 pm

yoyo123 wrote:it MIGHT, but you have a one in five chance of tickong teh right box at random and there are 85 questions. The chance of hitting the pass mark with that method is fairly slim

Do the math.

12 out of 50 is not far away from 1 in 5.

testbuster · Post by **testbuster** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:23 pm

Yes, it was a thoroughly reliable source and I have every reason to believe they were telling the truth! The good news must be if a child does well they must get a very good score.

dadofkent · Post by **dadofkent** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 5:15 pm

I suppose some confusion may arise as to how you define pass mark. As I understand it, in the Medway test, it is not necessary to achieve a minimum mark in every paper, unlike the Kent test. So it could be that the 12/50 was the minimum mark achieved in the maths paper by a pupil who passed the test, because their overall mark was dragged up by good scores in the other two papers.

reddebs · Post by **reddebs** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:49 pm

Good point dadofkent. As the marks are cumalative it is possible to mask a poor maths individual score with a strong creative writing score.
I too had heard of the 37% "pass mark" but not the 12/50 so would be keen to know the source (pm me if possible).
Yes yoyo there are 50 questions in the maths and I thought Kent was 50 too not 85 but correct me if I am wrong.
reddebs

Medway maths test

Medway maths test

Re: Medway maths test