Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

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fatbananas
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Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by fatbananas »

Hello,

Can anyone shed some light on what Test A and B mean? I see from the marking criteria on various websites that, taking Test A you can get a 3A if you get between 37 and 55 but if you take test B you get a 3A if you get between 30 and 35. What would determine which test you took?

DS got 35 on Test B, just missing out on a 4C, apparently.
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
mystery
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Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by mystery »

Guest 55 knows. The highest sublevel you can get is higher on the B test than the A test. For the year 4 QCA test B the top sublevel possible is 4a or 5c - I'm not sure which. The A paper is more about testing level 3s in the main I think as the national expectation at the end of year 4 would be 3b ( one whole level up from 2b at the end of year 2). So your son would have been given the B paper to do as he is "above national expectations".
Bromleymum1
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Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by Bromleymum1 »

I think the highest level you can get in year 4 is a 4a. This is using year 4 papers.
fatbananas
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Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by fatbananas »

I see, thank you both.
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
mystery
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Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by mystery »

Bromley Mum, is that definitely right? Using the QCA year 3 paper B you could get a 4c at the end of year 3, so I'd kind of assumed that with a QCA year 4 paper B you could get a 5c. I'll try find out from a teacher.

You can see some of the QCA optional sats papers free online. Whether they are same as the ones that are currently used in schools I don't know.
mystery
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Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by mystery »

OK - found something online about the maths QCA optional test 2003. It gave the level thresholds. Paper A went from 2A to 3A depending on the mark scored, paper B went from 3B to 4A. They must have been expecting him to get some kind of level 4 I presume to give him the higher paper.

So 4A is the highest you can get on a year 4 optional test - and you needed to get at least 48 out of 55 to get a 4A so it's as much about accuracy as anything. There seem to be only 2 years' worth of papers - 2003 and 2006. They are available free online. Some schools give them the same paper again and again I think!

I wouldn't set too much store by it but you might find it helpful to look through them --- trouble is you would never want your child to catch sight of them as if this is what school uses to assess they have few alternatives. Bet you'll see there's nothing in there that you couldn't do quickly at home and have the equivalent of a 4A child by the end of this school year.
wonderwoman
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Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:07 pm

Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by wonderwoman »

You're right there haven't been new tests for years.
mystery wrote:Using the QCA year 3 paper B you could get a 4c at the end of year 3, so I'd kind of assumed that with a QCA year 4 paper B you could get a 5c. I'll try find out from a teacher.
Moving from a 4c to a 5c would represent 2 years progress. If you followed that through you'd expect the y5 paper to give a level of 6c and a test in y6 of 7c. The y5 paper gives the highest level of 5b, but I'm always a bit dubious because there are hardly any level 5 questions on the paper.
I only use the papers as a bit of evidence to back up my teacher assessments. If I want to check a certain level I make up my own test at that level.
mystery
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by mystery »

Yes that makes sense. I read through a year 5 one online a while back and couldn't understand why that was level 5 material so I'm glad you said that. All these different meanings of the same levels are very misleading.
fatbananas
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Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by fatbananas »

Thanks for that research, Mystery! This afternoon DS told me that his maths teacher had told him that she 'wasn't worried' about him, so, presumably, he's doing something a bit better in the classroom. He does have a tendency to make very silly mistakes and, conversely, to over-think things. When I looked at last w/e's maths homework, he'd got two answers correct but had clearly looked at them again, decided they were not right, had crossed out the correct answers and came up with something completely different and wrong. :? :roll:

I think that all comes down to a lack of confidence in his abilities. He doubts himself. I'm glad I've gone back to the middle of S&S mental maths 2. They are generally pretty easy for him, he gets them done quickly and gets a high score and I can see this makes him happy and boosts him a little. I know we've still got just over a year, but I'm beginning to worry we'll run out of time :roll: :wink:
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Optional year 4 maths sats - tests a and b

Post by mystery »

The trouble with the schofield and sims is that it doesn't teach anything. To move successfully through the books the right material has to have been taught. To get ahead faster you may have to teach him some more material. Then you will be able to miss out some sections or whole books on the way.

Try rising star achieve level 3 and achieve level 4.
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