2013 Exam results

[unpanickydad]

Hi all,

So this is the week the results come out, I seem to be fretting at the end of my tether.

All we can do is wait I guess.

[Okanagan]

For the avoidance of confusion this Friday (Friday the 13th!) is results day for the Wolverhampton/Walsall/Shropshire consortium - NOT for the King Edward's Foundation Birmingham exam.

[reeyah]

We won't get the results until Saturday or Monday even...they are being posted on Friday

[unpanickydad]

Once we have the results what is the best way to interpret them, in my case for the WGH?

[Okanagan]

They could be quite hard to interpret this year as the rankings could be affected by extra candidates using the early test as a Birmingham mock, with no real intention of actually applying for the Wolverhampton/Walsall schools - reports at the time did suggest that a record number of candidates took the test. So the rankings needed to get places in previous years may not be too useful as a guide, without making adjustments to account for the extra candidates.

Perhaps if someone could get figures for how many took it last year (or in each of several recent years) and what the rankings were to get an offer, and how many candidates took it this year we can make some guesses based on the assumption that extra candidates will probably not actually mean more applications and scale the expected rankings accordingly.

[unpanickydad]

I thought they gave some sort of indication in the results letter to let you know whether it was worth applying.

The Wolverhampton school forms have to be in by the 31st of October. With so many extra children taking this exam its definitely going to skew things.
Doing the opposite of what the early exam was supposed to alleviate.

I guess there could even be a situation where the students who used this as a mock test taking places that they otherwise would not have. Once the new term starts they would have second thoughts due to distance etc and drop out.

[MSD]

I can only comment on QM Boys. Last year approximately 1000 took the test and I know of a boy ranked around 340 was offered a place. They declined it in favour of KES though.

MSD

[Happy dad]

They do give an indication but it is the usefulness of it which is the problem. Last year was I believe the first time Adams had participated in the consortium. The letter said, from memory, they offered to 110 the previous year. Look at what the lowest offer was was for September 2013 intake? QMGS had a similar increase.

This year it will be even harder to judge if, and it is only an if, many took the test as a mock for the Bham or Warks exams in September. We definately know that more took the exam than previous. If they have and perform well, you may have many in the "offer" category who have no intention of accepting a place. So it may happen that places ranked in the 300 or even 400 may actually get a place at QMGS.

For my part, md ds2 took the exam and would seriously consider Adams and QMGS, but if he got offered certain KE schools, that is the place he would accept.

[MSD]

That's two in a row, Happy Dad! Must be quite hectic. How is your boy settling in KEFW?

And all the best for Saturday. I remember our letter arriving around 12pm on Saturday.

MSD

[unpanickydad]

So how does one make the call, heck I'm even moving house so she is closer to her second choice....darn this botheration