Any advice please re- remarking of 11 plus paper.

[notforlong]

Is it possible to view or remark an 11 plus VR paper.

DS was expected to get his first choice of superselective grammar.

He has sat mocks where he achieved nearly 100%

He achieved level 5 at key stage one and is being asessed at level 6 in year 6.

He has an offer from his third choice grammar, so not the end of the world but after getting his scores I find he has got equilvelent score of 50% in VR, which is half of his usual score.

It is only the fact that he is extremely gifted in maths that he has a place at all. Due to the VR being 50% of the mark this could have been disasterous.

When I saw his teacher today she said that other less able students had their first choice and she could not understand what had gone wrong. She said he will not be stretched in the school he has an offer from, which was the whole point of getting into a grammar.

I suppose he could have missed out some questions, but not likely, he was familiar with the papers, he is very organised, he does not suffer from nerves.

So as the VR paper is marked by computer, I am wondering if there has been an error.

Any advice or opinion welcome, thanks.

[kensingtonia]

I am not sure you can ask for it to be re-marked without appealing. I know at one of the Tiffin schools (I think the girls) a number of years ago there was a case where someone appealed and for some reason they had to recheck all the papers as something had gone wrong. Maybe ask the Headteacher at your primary and if they don't know ring the admissions authority. I would imagine it is definite grounds for appeal.

[troisgarcons]

Primary schools have the results well before you do. They query the results (in need).

However I do know two children who were non-selective who successfully appealed
(a) sibling rule (2 marks short)
(b) medical (11 marks short)

[admission]

The honest truth is that there could have been a mistake made but equally possible is that your son had a bad day when doing this paper or made a mistake about what to do in the paper.
You could try asking the school if they will give feedback on the paper as it seems so atypical of his capabilities but I suspect they will not be keen to start something like this because if they remark one, they will end up getting lots of requests.

[notforlong]

Thanks everyone, I was advised by the head to contact csse, so I will do.

I really didn't want to appeal as it puts everything back up in the air, but DS is begging me to find out what happened, so I will try.

[LIZS]

Presumably ds can't account for the low score. Could he have left a double page out and not realised or was it a computerised test? Maybe his answers weren't recoignsied by the ocr machine, which a manual review may pick up. Howver be careful not to raise his expectations .

[Loshad]

notforlong - how can you know his third choice grammar won't stretch him?
If it is a grammar school then they too only have bright kids and will want the best results possible. It really is more than a little conceited to suggest your child is such a genius that a selective school will be unable to stretch him

[LIZS]

He must have performed well above this in the other papers to "pass" for another gs so am slightly as to why such a significant anomaly would n't have been checked already.

[seeker]

Why do you think the grammar he's been offered won't stretch him? In what way?

You can ask for a re-mark, but I think there's a cut off date in some authorities. And a charge. You need to talk to the admissions team at your LEA.

[funchum8am]

Not sure where you are but a half decent comprehensive, let alone your third choice grammar, will stretch your child if he is bright. It is in their interest as well as that of your DS for him to get a string of top grades. I hope you can find out what happened and get your first choice but please don't panic if not, the other grammar school will likely be fine too. Don't let him think his world has ended if the decision stays as it is now.

[longingforsomesleep]

notforlong - google the eleven plus forum. Every area that has selection is different in terms of tests, appeals, whether or not you can see scripts. The eleven plus forum has a section for each of these areas, plus an appeals section and I'm sure you will get good advice specific to your area there.

[seeker]

But do be careful on that forum- I know it seems as if every mumsnetter's child is a budding Einstein, but they are positively average compared to the children of elevenplus forum devotees!

[notforlong]

Thanks everyone for you advice. I know it does sound a bit conceited and many others would just be glad of a getting a good school, but I know his intelligence is far above average. If you imagine Sheldon from the big bang theory, that is what he is like.

Anyone who engages with him in conversation will immediately know that he is not an average 11 year old. He has a lot of autistic traits, and is obsessed with computers, he can write code in three different languages. .

I don't have any problem with him performing below his usual standard, I do have a problem if he has been treated unfairly.

I knew I was taking a risk posting this, you have been quite kind to me, thankyou.

[dandelionss]

The score he gets does not equate to the number of questions he got right, but to where he was on the distribution curve ie how he compared to other candidates.Therefore it is impossible to know whether he performed worse than in his mocks.he might have (for arguments sake) got 98/100 of the questions right but 50% of the candidates got 99/100

[notforlong]

dandelionss, are you talking about the raw score or the standardised score?
Thanks

[Nickmom]

NFL, last year my DD got waitlist at a very academic school. We didn't push too hard to get the place. My DH thought that it might be too agressive and competitive. We put her into an academic secondary. She has now been taken out of the maths class for her year group because she has been completely bored since the first week. She gets perfect scores on the assessment. She is getting extra enrichment work in most subjects. In the end I really wish I had tried to get her into the more academic school. I think she was "off" on the Interview and that is why she didn't get the Place. In hindisight it is where she belonged. DO NOT GIVE up if you think there is a better option for your child. Once they are in and settled it is too hard to move them.

[weblette]

Actually the appeals section of the eleven plus forum, especially the FAQ, is incredibly helpful in terms of specific advice on how to structure it all. The forum mods have tons of experience and several former panel members post too.

Good luck.

[pippop1]

Were the answers to be put on a sep sheet where you draw a line/cross over the correct answer (e.g. a, b, c,d, or e)? I heard a story of a child who missed out a question on purpose intending to go back to it. Unfortunately they did not miss out the question the answer sheet and did not leave a free space.

Therefore, every answer they put after that was wrong as they, for example, put that "a" was the answer to question 21 when it was the answer to question 2. Hence they had a huge number of questions wrong. Unfortunately, this was deemed to be part of the test and they failed to get into the grammar school. Do you think this kind of thing might have happened? It would explain such a poor result.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

The scores for this years 11+ in Essex (I assume that's where you are as you mentioned CSSE) have been well down on previous years- think it must have been a very hard paper. Many parents have been shocked at how poorly their DCs have done where previously achieving above 95% in VR.

I suppose it's worth phoning CSSE - it can't hurt but I know there are alot of very stunned parents in Essex since last Thursday.

I am surprised that a teacher would think he won't be stretched in your third choice schools (and I can guess which one). They all get fantastic results.

[Suffolkgirl1]

Hello,

As BrigitBigKnickers says the CSSE's VR paper does seem to have had much lower scores this year.

However it is possible to have it manually marked and waiting list positions will be adjusted if an error is found (A friends son unfortunately moved down a waiting list because of this a couple of years ago!)

All the Essex Grammar schools are very good and I am stunned at the teachers comment. Don't forget he can remain on the waiting this for his higher choices until next Dec. If CRGS was an option it also has a few places for 13+ entry.

[Stressed6]

Hello
I have just asked for my DD's papers to be re-marked at a super selective school. They said they would let us know in two weeks. She too has got her second choice of grammar school which I am extremely happy with but my DD is unable to come to terms with her score as she believes that she had done extremely well at her first choice school. She was crying bitterly about it and that's what prompted my DH to take this action. It is only for our DD's peace of mind but for us we couldn't have asked for more!

[letseatgrandma]

I presume you mean he has got a place at SHSB or WHSB? I very much doubt that he won't be stretched there!

Are you correct in saying he got a level 5 at the end of KS1?