Queen Mary's High School

Eleven Plus (11+) in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin

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Hopefuldad7
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Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:35 pm

Queen Mary's High School

Post by Hopefuldad7 »

Hi all...(my first post)

I was wondering if anyone knew what QMHS previous years cut off marks has been? My DD got 313 marks and the letter states that if she has 310 and over we should consider putting QM down on the LEA form.

Just wondered if the cut off is 310 every year or does it change? Any idea how they come up with this number?

Thanks

HD7
Okanagan
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Location: Warwickshire

Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by Okanagan »

Last years lowest score admitted was 314. The score required is likely to fluctuate slightly (but not dramatically), from year to year. Hence the school will have come up with their recommendations to apply/not to apply on the basis of the scores they have seen in the past.
Hopefuldad7
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:35 pm

Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by Hopefuldad7 »

Okanagan wrote:Last years lowest score admitted was 314. The score required is likely to fluctuate slightly (but not dramatically), from year to year. Hence the school will have come up with their recommendations to apply/not to apply on the basis of the scores they have seen in the past.
Given that the number who children who sat the test this year, do you think the lowest score admitted it likely to go up or down? My DD has 313, do you think this will secure a place?

Thanks
Okanagan
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Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by Okanagan »

Many of the extra candidates this year will only have been taking the exam because, being well in advance of the Birmingham exams, it provided a free mock. Similarly in previous years there have always been candidates who have taken it as a backup, with their intention always being to apply for the Birmingham grammars, or independent schools.

Take those out of the equation and you are left with roughly the same number of people who actually want to apply for a Queen Mary's place, so the score is likely to be broadly similar to before.

With 313 it is, as the school suggests, worth applying, as you stand a chance of getting a place although there are no guarantees. The only guarantee you do have is that if you don't apply, you won't get a place.
Hopefuldad7
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:35 pm

Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by Hopefuldad7 »

Okanagan wrote:Many of the extra candidates this year will only have been taking the exam because, being well in advance of the Birmingham exams, it provided a free mock. Similarly in previous years there have always been candidates who have taken it as a backup, with their intention always being to apply for the Birmingham grammars, or independent schools.

Take those out of the equation and you are left with roughly the same number of people who actually want to apply for a Queen Mary's place, so the score is likely to be broadly similar to before.

With 313 it is, as the school suggests, worth applying, as you stand a chance of getting a place although there are no guarantees. The only guarantee you do have is that if you don't apply, you won't get a place.
Thanks Okanagan,

Is there a relationship between last years cut off (297) and last years lowest entry score (314) i.e. This year the cut off is 310, so does this mean the lowest entry is likely to also be around 13 points higher (323)?

We are still going to put QM on our list though as encouraged by the school so hopefully may get a place (if the Brimingham scores aren't high enough)

Thanks
Okanagan
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Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by Okanagan »

The closer you get to 300 points the more candidates you will get on each score. So there would almost certainly be more on 297-303 say than on 304-310, and less again on 311-317. Therefore it isn't as simple as adding one at the bottom of a range and one at the top, and the range will cover the same number of candidates.

An increased advisory cutoff, to close to last year's lowest offer, would suggest an probable increase in score required, but nobody has any definite information.

I'd be surprised if the school haven't looked at the home address information for each candidate when coming up with their cutoffs. They will know the areas from which they tend to draw students, and the areas from which candidates who were ranked high enough for a place in previous years didn't actually take one up. So they can make an educated guess about how many of those who did well in the exam are really likely to be looking for a place.

They will have set their cutoff at a level where they expect to have enough candidates to take all the places, plus a reasonable margin for error. So it might just be that they have realised that they ended up with many more candidates in between their cutoff and offer points last year than they needed and decided to be more conservative with their advice this year to avoid too much disappointment at allocation time. Or it might mean that they expect the score necessary to increase.

The only relationship we can state with any degree of certainty is that the lowest entry score is highly unlikely to be lower than the cutoff.
Hopefuldad7
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:35 pm

Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by Hopefuldad7 »

Okanagan wrote: The only relationship we can state with any degree of certainty is that the lowest entry score is highly unlikely to be lower than the cutoff.
The cut off this year for QMHS is 310 - are you saying that the lowest entry is highly likely to be lower than this? Surely not! last year's lowest entry was 314.
Okanagan
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Location: Warwickshire

Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by Okanagan »

Read it again: UNlikley
Wolves mum
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Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by Wolves mum »

On the letter iirc it states that from past experience they have found children scoring 305 or less have not coped at the school (or words to that effect) which is why they have a higher cut off than last years lowest entry point of 297.
indigop
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Re: Queen Mary's High School

Post by indigop »

It makes my head spin.

What is the 297 figure you are discussing? Is this the equivalent figure to 310 this year?

DD got 323. We are heart set on a place there now. I know its not guaranteed but the difference between the 297 and 310 makes me worry even more about the jump in scores this year........I suppose its all a guessing game with only half the information though?
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