Influence of birthdate on scores

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wink

Influence of birthdate on scores

Post by wink »

I have two children.My eldest ,a summer baby,has just passed the 11+.My next child is a winter baby and will do the test in a couple of years.I know that scores are weighted with age ,but by what percentage?Also will the fact that the younger will already have a sibling at the intended school count,and if so by how much?Many years ago my sister,an autumn baby took the 11+but did not get in to her intended school due to her birthdate,despite getting a raw score better than some who did eventually go to grammar school!Does my younger child have to aim for a high pass in each paper?
KE Mum

Post by KE Mum »

I think you probably need to say which area you live in, as from what I can gather, all the areas are different and some don't age standardise at all.
wink

post subject

Post by wink »

We live in West Kent . Our 11+ stress levels were somewhat tempered by the belief that our summer baby had a margin of error allowed,due to her young age! Rightly or wrongly is another subject altogether!we dont make the rules but are governed by them!!
KE Mum

Post by KE Mum »

Here in Birmingham they do give additional marks for the younger children, but I have no idea how many. It has been discussed on other threads and there are links to the NFER website and the age standardisation on this website (but I don't know where they are!).

I noticed that in one area in the South of England they don't age standardise - I am not sure which county. Have a look at the discussions and there will be some information. Sorry to be of little help!!
Guest

Post by Guest »

In what part of West Kent? Most schools around here (Tunbridge Wells area) give priority to siblings, although for a grammar they still have to pass their 11+. Some of them only need to pass within 4% of the school's cut-off level to get in if they have a brother or sister at the school already, and in most cases it puts them at the top of the queue. You need to look at each school's admissions criteria as they are all different.
Essex Girl

Standardised score and age

Post by Essex Girl »

The county where no consideration is given to age is Essex. Don't know if this applies anywhere else though but I believe the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER - they write most county's VR papers) believe that when assessing IQ, which is the "supposed" reason for the Verbal reasoning" that age must be taken into consideration in order for the result to be completely valid. I am not sure what they have down as a reasonable mark by age variation but I don't think the mark difference is great.

You could look at their website and/or give them a call and ask. Not sure what the web address is offhand, sorry.
Proud Mum

Post by Proud Mum »

In Kent the Standardisation (due to birthdate) does not usually affect the score that much. This varies each year depending on how hard the papers are that year.

A rough idea I was given (when enquiring at KCC) was that usually an August birthdate would get 2, 3 or 4 extra marks than a september birthdate. When you think that this is out of 140 it really does not make that much difference.

Given that nearly a whole year difference in age, in a child would give much more concerntration and maturity etc. I think that you have no problem if your child is one of the eldest.
Guest

Post by Guest »

I don't think a years age difference at year 6 makes any difference given that all the children have had the same education since reception
I was an august baby and was top of my class right through school!

I worried that my child would be penalised with being an october baby
However it appears that marks are added on if they are younger rather than marks deducted for being older as she got 277 out of 282, and I am sure even the cleverest child would make some mistakes out of 160 questions.

It appears that marks are just added on for the younger children
Mel

Post by Mel »

Have a look at the Bucks site - there has been some discussion on this.
A general consensus of opinion was that younger children got higher marks, and most of the appeals (ie very close fails) seemed to be from Autumn born children!!!!

Work that one out!

I think it was Patricia that said that seems to be the same year on year.

Mel
Bournemouth

Post by Bournemouth »

I believe Nfer are in the best position to say whether a child born in September has an advantage over a child born in August. They receive the results every year and by way of simple mathematics can tell you how the scores compare. We all know that the older children score higher and that's why Nfer standardise. Even so, I did see a report somewhere that stated the majority of children in grammar are the older half of the year group, so the younger ones are at a destinct disadvantage. The grammar schools don't want to take children that can't keep up and if that means younger children are missing out, so be it.
Having said that, my July born son managed to get into grammar and in a few years time my autumn born daughter will attempt the same. I've always supported my son more than my daughter with school work as she is already flying at school, being one of the oldest, and I don't want her to get bored. So maybe we parents manage to even out the age differences.
Now that I have my daughter to get into grammar it's good to know that standardisation makes very little difference to the scores.
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