CAT score, relationship to eleven plus performance, boys

[haeckel]

Here is a poll to tie Year 5 CAT score to likely GS place/place qualified for, for boys.

Stanine 6 = CAT score 104-111
Stanine 7 = CAT score 112-118
Stanine 8 = CAT score 119-126
Stanine 9 = CAT score 127 and above

I stopped at Stanine 7 in the end, because only 10 poll options allowed.

[slackmum]

Do you only want this year's intake to complete the poll or also last year's to get the bigger picture?

[Tolstoy]

Do you want three combined or just their V.R CATs score?

[haeckel]

I was thinking of the CAT score as being the 3 sub-scores combined. That's what I've registered on the poll.

As for how far back it would be useful to go, maybe going back a couple of years would still be relevant to now? I'm not sure how much it would be likely to change.

[Tolstoy]

Just read Milla's comment above and thought I should mention that with my DSs the son with the lower scores scored far higher than the one with the higher scores. The only area he did out score his brother was reading age. I think this is an important point for people to know.

[Etienne]

There are some observations in our Appeal Q&As about the usefulness of CATs:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... ication#b4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[haeckel]

I set these polls up after a discussion in another thread about what could be used instead of eleven plus to gauge which children might benefit from grammar school education. CAT was suggested because it is not tutored for in the same way as eleven plus.

I guess if you did use CAT score for GS entrance it would get tutored for, but at the moment anyway perhaps it doesn't.

You would expect a difference between CAT score and eleven plus score in Gloucestershire to some extent because the Glos. eleven plus is verbal reasoning only, whilst the CAT score is a combination of verbal reasoning, Non verbal reasoning & Maths.

Also, the eleven plus is often tutored for of course, so results are skewed both for those who do and those who don't tutor.

ETA: In the example given in the Q & A, surely you would expect the eleven plus test score to be lower than the CAT score, because the CAT score is standardized across the whole population, whilst the eleven plus is standardized across those children who are entered for the eleven plus, which is likely to be a significantly more able population. The Q&A is perhaps a bit misleading. It would be for a Glos. audience anyway; not sure how it works in other areas.

[Etienne]

You would expect a difference between CAT score and eleven plus score in Gloucestershire to some extent because the Glos. eleven plus is verbal reasoning only, whilst the CAT score is a combination of verbal reasoning, Non verbal reasoning & Maths.

This is why any comparison - in this situation - should be with CAT VR, not with the overall CAT result.

In the example given in the Q & A, surely you would expect the eleven plus test score to be lower than the CAT score, because the CAT score is standardized across the whole population, whilst the eleven plus is standardized across those children who are entered for the eleven plus, which is likely to be a significantly more able population.

I agree, but (1) how much lower? and (2) how many people are just going to make a simplistic comparison?

The Q&A is perhaps a bit misleading

I hope not - we start with a clear warning not to make a simplistic comparison:

Different tests measure different things, might be carried out under different conditions, and could be standardised differently.

The example serves to illustrate how difficult it is for parents to understand the significance of CATs in relation to the !!+.

[yoyo123]

Also, the eleven plus is often tutored for of course, so results are skewed both for those who do and those who don't tutor.

who is to say that if CAT scores were used for grammar school entry they would not be tutored for?

there is certainly a market in SATs practice material

[mike1880]

CATs, if I understand them correctly, are not very different from the B'ham 11+ and there's definitely no shortage of tutoring for that. Much of it horribly misdirected, I might add, but tutoring none the less.

Mike