Lovely people on the forum, I seek you input again.

DD did a Level 6 practice SAT in November and missed it by 1 mark. From what I gathered from her and others:

1) She said she ran out of time. She did the big(lot of explanation) questions before the easy ones so that once she is done with them she can just zoom through the smaller ones. This technique did not work and she should have done the other way round.

2) This was the first Reading paper she ever did apart from the multiple choice comprehension tests for 11+. We have never read any book to her nor asked any questions about the books she read. She is completely unaware of the AF objectives, even I was until last week, and probably does not know how to tackle various questions.

3) Looking in some forums I learnt that Level 6 Reading is very hard to achieve as compared to Maths. May be because it needs lot of maturity, working closely with the marking scheme and the paper is time constrained. Is this true ?

Last week I got the CGP KS2 Reading workbooks and it knocked me off. I was probably able to answer 10% of the questions. I thought of reading these books and questions/answers together with DD one or two times and then let her write them on her own. Has anyone used these books? Are they worth continuing? Are there any other books that will go through all the AF objectives and explain the concepts with sample question/answers? I remember Tutor master being mentioned on this forum. Is it any good?


[size=50]ps.BTW DD is not stressed by this work. She finds it interesting. I noticed she can answer factual, inference and structure and layout questions correct most of the times. She can answer some of the Language type(figurative language) questions. Questions asking writer's purpose and it's effect on the reader, choice of language and it's effects on reader, explaining build up of some event are either new for her or slightly hard to put in words. She seems to be good at quoting from text, reasoning her answer and using PEEL technique (taught by school) though.[/size]

You have never read a book to her? Not even when she was a little girl? Does she read books herself? DG

Tbh I wouldn't worry about it. So few children get level 6 in Reading (someone will hopefully know where you get the numbers, thinks it's in the hundreds). If she is that close that maybe on the day she will swing it anyway.

There's also a right way and wrong way to answer these questions, and marking them. You may find you have been lenient or harsh in your marking.

That's right. We never read anything. We didn't want to introduce any education till she was seven, however, she had to start school once she was 5yrs old (yr 1).
Yes she reads herself.

Thanks Tinkers. Paper was given and marked by school. How can I find out more about right/wrong way of answering questions?

There are past papers and mark schemes online.

http://www.emaths.co.uk/index.php?optio ... Itemid=506

Really I wouldn't worry about it - level 6 reading is a 'more realstic' level 6 that's why few children get it. The passages are aimed at older children.

I am sure you don't mean you didn't read books? Reading isn't about education it's about the love of words, stories, about life and living.

I can't imagine never having read to my DS - he loved us reading to him at bedtime. We still recommend books to each other and he's at uni now ...

Lots of my children last year who didn't get level 6 reading promptly were made level 7 in their comprehensives! Certainly by Christmas. They were very proud to share their attainment with me when they came back to school to the fair. I worked very closely with our most able in all three national curriculum tests and built up a lovely relationship with the children.

Anyway, the main thing that children fall down on in L6 reading is the inference that is required. Whereas the skills in maths are on the same continuum (e.g. area leads naturally to volume) those in reading are very different. The 3-5 test asks for description but the L6 test wants them to use the skills of deciphering what is underneath the text and to infer meaning and thoughts from that. In working towards 3-5 and training children to pass that test we do not equip them to pass the L6 reading test. Teaching the skills for the L6 reading test and applying those skills in the the 3-5 test stops the children from getting the 3-5 marks. Being exceptional in the 3-5 paper doesn't imply that a child will gain a L6 as inference usually comes with maturity.

The standard for both tests was set by panels of 40 teachers (two for reading and two for maths) of KS2 and KS3 teachers using their knowledge of what just dipping a toe into L6 looks like.

Regarding the percentage of children who obtain L6 reading it is 0.2%, which is ludicrous. Last year the paper was much nicer but to ensure consistency of standard the marks required to achieve that standard were higher.

That's interesting moved.

Intake level 6s in maths are mostly getting 5a at Christmas ... they just don't have the 'using and applying' focus for level 6.