Are CAT papers a true reflection of 11+ success?

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chocolate
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:12 pm

Are CAT papers a true reflection of 11+ success?

Post by chocolate »

Hi

I have recently received CAT scores for my daughter who has been advised by the school to take the 11plus in September. When practicing 11 plus papers (NFER and Letts) with my daughter, she says they are not like the CAT tests and the CAT tests are much easier. I am interested to know if anyone has any opinions on this, as I remember my son saying the same thing a few years ago (although he did pass and is now at grammar school!) Any feedback appreciated. Thanks
scary mum
Posts: 8840
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Are CAT papers a true reflection of 11+ success?

Post by scary mum »

This has come up 2 or 3 times in the last couple of weeks - do a search on CATs, also look at "General 11 plus topics" from about a week ago.
scary mum
tokyonambu
Posts: 109
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:38 pm

Re: Are CAT papers a true reflection of 11+ success?

Post by tokyonambu »

The CAT tests (see overview) come in about a zillion levels, and the level that will have been taken by a ten year old (C, I think) is designed to provide meaningful and informative results over most of the ability range. An 11+ test doesn't need to provide useful information substantially below its intended range: if it yields zero for children at (to use a sloppy metric) 2c and 3a, so what? It's only really interested in providing information about children who will mostly be getting fives. The CAT test has to resolve over all the levels. So a CAT test will contain some easy questions (which in fact aren't all equivalently easy) so that there is something to distinguish children at the left end of the distribution from each other; the 11+ doesn't need to, because it wants to use as much of its range as possible to distinguish the children around the admission threshold.
workhard
Posts: 132
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 4:31 pm

Re: Are CAT papers a true reflection of 11+ success?

Post by workhard »

Hi all!

I work in secondary schools and I'm afraid I ignore all test data from primary schools. I also ignore nearly all CATs data from Year 7. This info is of little use in the classroom.

We had the same challenge when our DD was in Years 4 and 5. In the end, we took the positive view and decided to just go for it and help our child earn an option of a selective school for herself. We felt that, worst case, she would benefit from the extra study and exam experience.

Do back your own judgement and be optimistic. ... Good luck!

WH
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