CAN ANYONE DO THE MATHS?!

Eleven Plus (11+) in Medway

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shinds
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:15 pm

CAN ANYONE DO THE MATHS?!

Post by shinds »

Looking at the Medway handbook (p.9) example regarding the weighted scores and trying to work out how they translate into real scores?!

Particularly the sentance. "The minimum weighted score for any test is 70 and the maximum is 140" How does this work if there are 85 or 50 questions.?

lets hope the maths test is easier than this one!
Anne42

Post by Anne42 »

I would also like to know how they work this out , as it seems the younger ones could completly muck up one paper, VR , & still pass . I wish someone would explain it , to save my bP getting any higher . :?

Also as the exam has been bought forward 3 months , i hope they are not going to include questions on work which has not been covered yet .
coping-just

Post by coping-just »

Anne42 wrote:Also as the exam has been bought forward 3 months , i hope they are not going to include questions on work which has not been covered yet .
It is my understanding that there will be questions in the paper that is not even on the curriculum until the last term of year 6! For instance, my daughter has not covered algebra at all, yet looking at papers, there seems to be quite a few algebraic questions.
:?
Anne42

Post by Anne42 »

I'm sure that it isn't going to do their confidence any good , especially if they are near the start of the paper.
guest99

Post by guest99 »

coping-just wrote:
Anne42 wrote:Also as the exam has been bought forward 3 months , i hope they are not going to include questions on work which has not been covered yet .
It is my understanding that there will be questions in the paper that is not even on the curriculum until the last term of year 6! For instance, my daughter has not covered algebra at all, yet looking at papers, there seems to be quite a few algebraic questions.
:?
I think you have to accept that the 11+ doesn't test what has been covered in the maths lessons at school. This is why purchasing practice papers gives you a better idea of what to expect. I was teaching my son algebra several months before the 11+. Thankfully he passed, scoring over 120 on the maths paper.

Unfortunately, schools don't teach VR, so have to rely on a tutor or help your child get loads of practice.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Shinds and Anne42

If you have looked around this site (and the Kent pages) you will probably have found a full explanation of standardised scores. In case you are still in the dark, it works basically like this:

Just giving children "raw marks" (such as "78 out of 80" or "43 out of 50") for each paper makes it hard to compare how children have done across the papers as a whole. For example, a child who scored 50% in a paper with 80 questions and 40% in a paper with 50 questions would have a total score of 60 marks. Another child with 50% in the second subject and 40% in the first would only have a total of 57 marks.

To get round this, scores in each subject are "standardised" to between 70 and 140. These marks don't tell you how many questions your child got right, but how they did in relation to other children. In nationally standardised tests, for example, the questions will have been trialled by a large number of children (eg 10,000). The average score will have been calculated and that will equate to a standardised score of 100. Children scoring more than this average will have higher standardised scores ( for example children on the 75th percentile- i.e. better than 75% of candidates, worse than the other 25% -will probably score around 115). Children on the 95th percentile score 130 etc. Because children sitting the 11+ are brighter than the national average their average scores will probably be higher than usual. Their average marks will probably, therefore, be standardised to about 115.

Because it is recognised that children taking the tests vary in age the scores are "age standardised". This does NOT mean that younger children are given extra marks. It means that, when all the papers have been marked, the examiners will seperate out the list of marks into 12 lists- one for each month of birth of the candidates. Basically, each child's score is then standardised against the scores of the other children born in the same month. If, therefore, the August children score an average of 60 out of 80 in a paper then 60 right answers might equate to a standardised score of 115 for August children. If the September children averaged 63 marks, then they would need 63 right answers to get the same score of 115.

To cut a long story short, to pass the 11+ your child should be in the top 25% (approx) of the ability range of children born in the same month as him. All this standardisation stuff is just an attempt to work out who that includes.

Well done if you got that far! Clear as mud eh?
Anne42
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:56 pm
Location: Medway

Anne42

Post by Anne42 »

Yep , that's crystal clear now ! Thanks for trying to explain :)
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